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- Source: http://www.goudsward.com/gungywamp/pattee.html#F&I
Selected Articles
Pattee Family Research Newsletter
The Pattee Family in the French & Indian Wars
by Marie Scalisi and David Goudsward
That which is known in Europe as "The Great War for the Empire" is known in North America as "The French and Indian Wars," part of a series of co nflicts waged sporadically from 1689 to 1763 across the globe. The Pattees, comparative latecomers to the wars, were involved primarily in the last conflict of the series, the "Seven Years' War."
Peter Patee is documented as a participant in the King P hilip's War, a strictly regional conflict between New England and the Indians, but it is also likely that he and his sons Richard, Samuel, and Benjamin all had some part in the unrecorded defensive actions around Haverhill.
From the European standpoint, the "Seven Years' War" (which ran 9 years as North America counts it) started as merely another skirmish between British and French forces. The specific issue of this, the last of the disputes, was who owned the Upper Ohio Valley. This masked a larger qu estion as to who would control the heart of North America. The English had more settlers, almost a 15:1 ratio, but the French, who settled the area first, had such an advantage from exploration, trade, and Indian treaties that they were a force to be reck oned with. As early as 1749, the Governor general of New France had ordered the area cleared of British, with the purpose of restricting English settlements to the region east of the Appalachians. Where previous conflicts had been provincial, with America ns doing most of the fighting for the British, this conflict saw the significant commitment of British troops to American soil.
An unprovoked assault by Colonel George Washington on French troops resulted in a retaliatory strike by the French against Co lonel Washington's hastily constructed Fort Necessity. The fall of the fort in 1754 effectively launched the war, which spread to every part of the globe where either of the combatants had territory. The first four years were disastrous for the British and American colonists due to the superior French militia in North America. These catastrophic losses included the annihilation of General Braddock at the Monagahela River and the massacre at Fort William Henry.
By 1758, the English began to turn the tide due to three factors;
(1) William Pitt the Elder, the British Prime Minister, insisted that winning in North American was the key to winning worldwide. Pitt allowed Prussian allies to do most of the fighting in Europe. This freed British troops to concentrate on North America.
(2) Increasingly superior British financial and industrial resources magnified French economic troubles as France bordered on bankruptcy.
(3) The British and Americans were becoming more skilled in wilderness fighting techniques. Starting in 1758, the British were successful in a blockade of French ports and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, strangling the French supply lines. This enabled the British to win battles at Louisbourg, Fort-Frontenac, Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Fort-Duques ne (Pittsburgh), and Fort-Niagra. The war climaxed on the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759 when Quebec was forced to surrender and both the French commander Marquis de Montcalm and England's James Wolfe were fatally wounded.
Within a year, Montreal had fallen. This heralded of the rapid surrender of the rest of Canada. Against this vast picture came the Pattee family...
A) SETH PATTEE served from September 15 to December 16 1755 as clerk of Captain Jonathan Poor's Company, which took part in the expedition that year to Crown Point. During the 1756 expedition to Crown Point, he was clerk of Captain Samuel Wa tts' Company in Colonel Nathaniel Meserve's Regiment. Promoted to sergeant, he served in Watt's Company, attached to Colonel Whitcomb's Regiment in 1760.
B) RICHARD PATTEE was a sergeant in Captain Jacob Bayley's Company, Colonel Nathaniel Meserve's Regiment in 1757. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Goffe, this company was one of those stationed at Fort William Henry wh en it surrendered to the French. As a war veteran, Richard received a land grant in what is now Grafton County, New Hampshire.
C) JEREMIAH PATTEE enlisted in Captain John Parker's 1st Georgetown Company training band on May 4 1757. By 1762, he was a Lieutenant in the 3rd Georgetown Company, Colonel William Lithgow's Lincoln County (Maine) Regiment.
D) EZEKIEL PATTEE also served under William Lithgow as a Sergeant at Fort Richmond. That fort was dismantled, and a new one, Fort Halifax, was built at the juncture of the Kennebec and Sebasticook Rivers. Here Ezekiel spent part of each year impressed with the region, he settled in the area by 1759.
E) BENJAM IN PATTEE served with his brother Jeremiah (C) in Parker's 1st Georgetown Company as a drummer. Between 1759 and 1763, he joined his brothers Jeremiah (C) and Ezekiel (D) at Fort Halifax.
F) EBENEZER PATTEE also served in the 1st Georgetown Company with his brothers (C)(D)(E).
G) ASA PATTEE took part in the 1756 expedition to Crown Point with his uncle Seth (A), as a corporal in Watt's Company.
H) PETER PATTEE served as a private in Captain Francis Peabody's Company from May 26 1760 to April 1761. Salem, MA town records show that he was chronically ill upon his return home. Cared for successively by his brother John and his c ousins Richard and Jerediah, Peter was last treated in 1779 and died shortly thereafter.
I) ZEPHENIAH PATTEE served as a private alongside his brother Peter (H) in Peabody's Company.
J) ELIPHALET PATTEE served with his father, Seth (A), as a private in Watt's in 1760.
K) JEREDIAH PATTEE is listed as "Jediah Pete" of Captain Bayley's Company, Colonel Goff's Regiment, in a bill for "victualizing" soldiers who "eat at the house of Mr. Jonathan Rice innholder in Sudbury on the return from Ft. Wm He nry after was in the French possession in Aug 1757." Surviving the massacre as did his Uncle Richard (B), Jerediah served as a private from March to November of 1757.
The family took part in major actions, including the following:
1) The Crown Point Expeditions. The French constructed Fort St. Frederic at Pointe a la Chevalure (Crown Point) in 1731. Located near the southern end of Lake Champlain, it was primarily in response to the English construction of a fortified t rading post at Oswego, NY in 1728. The British had planned to take the fort early in 1755, but were delayed by the late arrival of the New Hampshire regiment. While enroute to the fort, the English troops were ambushed by the French and driven back to the ir own camp. The English rallied to force the French back into Fort St. Frederic. The final death count was about 216 English and Colonials and in excess of 400 French. This battle, lthough actually never approaching the Crown Point fort, was considered a morale victory after the slaughter of General Braddock and his troops earlier in the year. Any thoughts of a second assault against Crown Point evaporated when the enlistment expiration date, October 6, came. Seth and Asa Pattee were among the replacemen ts for the New Hampshire regiment which arrived on October 31. The troops objected to attacking the French position so late in the season, and the command reluctantly acquiesced. Before dismissing the troops, Commander William Johnson had the men construc t a fort, which was christened after a grandson of the King - William Henry. Despite repeated musterings and occasional forays, it was not until 1759 that Crown Point would fall to the British forces.
2) Fort William Henry, the structure built by the second wave of the 1755 Crown Point troops, was a disaster waiting to happen. Colonial forts were of three designs. The fastest was a stockade of vertical logs, the archetype of the TV "Cowboys and Indians" cavalry forts. A trench was dug, logs placed in it, and earth packed around the logs. The log was flattened where it faced the one next to it, so that bullets could not pass between the logs. This type of fort was effective only until the arrival of the enemy's artillery, the pounding of which then blasted the fort into splinters. The second type was much stronger, cribbed timber walls were filled with earth, then faced with logs. This was an excellent defense against artillery, but only until the logs rotted away, usually in very few years. This was remedied by the third type, which replaced the log facing with stone. They were effective, but time cons uming and expensive. Two French forts, St. Frederic and Carillon, were of the third type, and within striking distance of Fort William Henry, of the inferior second type.
The capture of a fort was a matter of logistics - if the offensive forces could bring sufficient artillery into range, the fort would eventually fall. These sieges still followed formal European rules, in which heavy artillery was brought up and fir ed at the fort until a wall collapsed. Thus breached, the fort commander was assumed to have done all he could, and was allowed to surrender without military censure. If there was no surrender, and the breach had to be stormed, no quarter was given to th e defenders. Montcalm's siege of Fort William Henry in August of 1757 was such a standard operation, planned to be just another of the overwhelming defeats suffered by the English early in the war. 3000 French Militia, 3000 Canadian regulars, and 2000 Ind ians marched against the fort.
The assault proceeded in the normal manner. The French worked their trenches forward, advancing the fort. The English, ravaged by smallpox, shot back. As British guns exploded and no relief arrived, the garrison became i ncreasingly discouraged. After three days of constant French cannon fire, the British had exhausted their ammunition and raised the white flag. The French, not wanting prisoners of war, allowed very liberal terms: the British were to take their baggage an d arms and march south to their nearest fort. They were to leave their supplies and ammunition.
Before the terms were finalized, Montcalm held a conference with the Indians chiefs and secured assurances that the Indians would not harm the defenseless British forces. However, the moment the British abandoned the fort, the Indians rushed in and killed the wounded left behind. Despite this early forewarning, Montcalm sent only 400 men to protect 2000 British with empty muskets against 2000 Natives. The British had been concentrated in a camp on the hill near the fort for the night. As dawn rose, the guards were withdrawn. The Indians immediately swooped in and killed the wounded, in the sight of both the English and several French & Canadian officers who made no attempt to intervene. The 400 French escorts arrived and the column left camp.
The Indians demanded plunder and the English surrendered their baggage. This did not appease the Indians, who began snatching guns and clothing from the line, and tomahawking all who resisted, included the few children and women who accompanied the troops. An unknown Abenaki Indian apparently shouted a war whoop, and the Indian pack turned from plunder to butchery. 150-200 English and Am ericans were killed, and hundreds taken prisoner. The survivors, many stripped of everything but breeches, divided into two groups. One group fled through the woods to the protection of Fort Edwards to the south and the rest fled back to the fort for prot ection by the French. The New Hampshire battalion, which contained Jerediah Pattee and his Uncle Richard, was in the rear, and faced the full brunt of the massacre. Out of 200 men, 80 were killed or taken prisoner.
4) Fort Halifax. In 1754, everyone knew the war was inevitable, and began preparations. Canada could assault the British colonies by three routes; through the Champlain Valley, through the Mohawk Valley or by a river route. This route, the St. L awrence to the Chaudiere, across the Notre Dame Mountains and down the Kennebec to the sea, was difficult (as Benedict Arnold's army would learn in 1775), but it was practical for a fast-moving raiding party. That summer, Governor Shirley decided the thre at was too great, and sent John Winslow to eliminate it. Winslow sailed up the Kennebec to the present site of Augusta, ME and built Fort Western. He then headed upstream to the area near Waterville and built Fort Halifax. The town of Winslow, named after him, grew up around the fort. This blocked the threat from the east, and allowed New England to only fear attacks from the west. To Fort Halifax came the Pattee brothers Ezekiel and Benjamin. Their brothers Jerimiah and Ebenezer may also have been garris oned here.
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Occupation: He was a Ferryman.
By 19 Jan. 1719/20 Richard Pattee was in full possession of the Pattee
Farm and Ferry. He later sold the Pattee Farm and Ferry to Nathaniel
Peaslee for 600 pounds.
His wife was excuter of his estate on January 11, 1741/42. (Essex County
Probate Records.)
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Source: WFT Volume #14, Tree #2011
Richard (2), like his father, was a cordwainer and a ferryman. He called
himself "yoeman" in a deed to his sons, Peter and Seth, in 1728. His father
Peter (1) named him, as eldest son, in his will and Richard gave a mortgage for
256 to pay legacies.]
Peter (1) deeded him his farm and ferry business on 1 Sep 1716.
From information sent to me by Linwood Patee of S. Burlington, VT 1988 also
dates of births and spouses.
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