History - Kings Orange Rangers

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the other officers. There were three serjeants, two or three corporals and forty -eight privates. In
addition there were a number of camp followers, both women and children. 114 Letters from the
Provincial Secretary and Colonel Goold commended Captain Howard to Perkins. 115 The two
men met for the first time on December 14th to see the buildings which had been appropriated
for the use of the King’s Orange Rangers. The last entry in the diary for the year 1778 states in
part: “A General Harmony is kept up between the Inhabitants & the Officers of the Army,
Stationed here.” 116
1779
It was not long before the Rangers began to demonstrate the unreliability which had dogged
them virtually from the time of their establishment. On February 9, 1779, 6 of the 7 of Captain
Howard’s men on “Point Guard” [Fort Point] deserted. Only the corporal remained at his post.
They stole a boat belonging to Sheriff Joseph Tinkham and made for Port Mouton. Howard sent
Ensign John Cameron and 7 men after them by land. Lieutenant Neal Stewart and 7 other men
went in George Briggs’’s boat by water. The wind “breeses at S.W., & snows. the boat returns
without getting out of the Harbour.” That evening Simeon and Abigail Perkins, Joseph
Tinkham, Rev. Israel and Bethiah Cheever dined with Captain Howard. 117
On February 11 Lt. Stewart returned from Port Mouton with some of his men having left
Ensign Cameron there with his and two of Stewart’s men in order to pursue the deserters. They
were believed to be in Port Joli as the six had been sighted on the 9th going past Port Mouton
with “a man in a Blue Dress in the Boat.” On the 16th Captain Howard and Perkins discuss
sending provisions to Cameron. They settle on using a boat owned by Mrs. McLearn. The
following day Cameron arrived in Liverpool in Mr. Arnold’s shallop with five of the deserters
as well as one of the men from HMS Hunter who had deserted from her when she had been in
Liverpool the preceding December. 118 The sixth deserter was reported sighted in the Yarmouth
area on March by Peter Collins, who provided the information while delivering potatoes from
Yarmouth to Perkins on March 31st. 119
In the meantime the first of what were to be many altercations had arisen between town and
crown. On the night of February 14 Samuel Doliver and Serjeant Frederick “Fadey” Phillips 120
113
In 1778 Stewart had been in Captain Forbes Ross McDonald’s Company. Ibid.
114
Elizabeth Mencke, Comparative Study of Liverpool and Machias MA Thesis, Public Archives of Nova Scotia,
Fiche M268
115
Ibid. pp.225-6.
116
Ibid. p. 226
117
Ibid. pp. 226-7.
118
Ibid. pp. 227-228.
119
Ibid. p. 232.
120
Phillips was the son of Matthew Phillips of Newark, New Jersey. He remained in Liverpool after the American
Revolution and took over his father-in-law’s tavern business. He and his wife Rebecca Lewin had three children all
of whom died before reaching maturity. His tavern was the site of many events including the wax-works exhibition
which T H Raddall turned into the short story . Philip’s tavern for many years served as a garage and was located
behind the Seth Bartling house on Main Street. It was torn down in the 1940s. His brother, Jesse who was a
corporal in the King’s Orange Rangers, also settled in Liverpool after the Revolution.
King’s Orange Rangers