The following was taken form an article listed in the Canadian Archives, which I obtained through the New Rochelle Library.

"The outbreak of the American Revolution in 1776 found Caldwell in action again, and at the storming of Norfolk he was again wounded. The Virginians speedily ousted Lord Dunmore from his capital and he and his little Army took refuge in the British fleet and escaped in New York. Seeking further action and recovered from his wounds, William Caldwell solicited letters of recommendation from Lord Dunmore to Colonel Caldwell of the 8th Regiment then serving at Niagara.

Caldwell's Castle: It is not stated but it may be surmised that this Colonel was a relative of our William Caldwell. The ancestral home was Caldwell's Castle at Lake Eren, County Fermanagh, Ireland. This Castle, now a ruin, was used as a vantaage point as recently as World War II by Air raid watchers. Through the letters of recommendation from Dunmore and the influence of Colonel Caldwell, William Caldwell received the appointment of Senior Captain to Butler's Corps of Rangers in 1776.

In his subsequent service to this famous Corps in the campaigns in the Province of New York and Pennsylvania, through the years 1776 to 1780, he earned a high military reputation in handling a partisan corps in the operation with the resident Indians. One of the most famous actions was the so-called massacre of Wyoming. In this action fought July 3, 1776, near Wintemute's Rangers Right was led by Capt. Caldwell, and the Left by Col. John Johnson, while the Indians formed a line of skirmishers along the front. When the Indians made a movement interpreted by the 300 Continentals' leaders that the Indians had succeeded in surrounding his rear, an order was given to "face about,"
but in the noise of the battle the Continentals believed it was an order to retreat and soon the Continentals were in a disorderly rout, and almost the entire force was killed or captured, only a few escaping by swimming the river and taking refuge in the nearby moutains. The Massacre followed that night. In the Indian fashion, many of the prisoners were tortured and then killed with tomahawk blows. "Queen Esther," an Indian leader whose village was among the Senecas, was present and personally killed sixteen of the prisoners. The prisoners were arranged around a large flat rock and each held there by an Indian. "Queen Esther" then proceeded around the circle, a
maul in one hand and a tomahawk in the other, and using them alternately killed every one. Thomas Campbell, the American poet of the Revolution, subsequently wrote the poem, "Gertrude of Wyoming" which gave a highly colored account of the tragic aftermath of the battle.

The poem instantly was hit, wherever circulated and did much to fix in the public mind the image of the British and Indians perpetrating a blood bath. In this respect the battle was an American propaganda victory forever afterwards. . .the names of Butler, Johnson and Caldwell had to bear this stigma in American history. Nevertheless, the leadership of these three men operated so effectively that for most of the Revolution the American Continentals had no control of New York Province from a few miles westward of Schenectady."

Please note that nothing has been added or substracted in this article and more will be forthcoming. The articles are writteen in extremely small print. I must enlarge them first and then patch together and then have my wife retype them.

It is evident that both sides did terrible things to each other. Any comments would be appreciated.

Jerry Gagnon