154

Thomas Weld.

Diary kept on the Saratoga front during the French and Indian War.

Various places, 28 April to 1 October 1756
[63] manuscript diary pages. 12mo, 6 x 3¾ inches, original plain wrappers, minor dampstaining, signed on front wrapper "Thos. Weld Journal"; moderate wear to contents, one leaf removed without loss of diary text. With complete typed transcript.

Thomas Weld (1736-1756) was a young doctor from Attleboro, MA who went with the British Army to the frontier north of Albany, skirmishing with the French and Indians through the summer of 1756.

The diary begins with a description of Weld's journey from Boston to Albany, which took nearly four weeks by water. This section is a good colonial-era travelogue in its own right. He spends 9 May in Newport, RI: "We went to view the town house library & the other parts of the town & . . .  went to Castle Island [Castle Hill?] & had the curiosity to observe the manner of the[ir] trying whales. Then we went to the fort, where it was very entertaining to see 20 negros in a string wheeling rocks to repair the fort, & much more so to observe the manner of their honouring us, which was by giveing 3 huzeas & waveing the caps." In a few short lines he covers America's first library, the Redwood Library founded in 1747; the whaling industry; and slave labor in America's largest slave-trading port. He passes through New York City on 18 and 19 May, where he was not a fan of the dangerous Hell Gate which separates Long Island from the Bronx: "We passed through the gates of Hell which is the most hideous & dredfull place that ever I saw, but we had a quick & a safe passage through. . . . I went on shore at York and took a walk to view the citty, which is very butifully situated on a point in the river. Their fort is exceeding strong. The walls are built all with turf & they are 44 feet thick & without the fort is a fortification where is 70 cannon planted." Arriving in Albany on 24 May, he reports on a group of 6 deserters who had been hung as deterrence: "The first thing remarkable that offered to view was six stout men in the bloom of strength, hanging all on one gallus with there feet on the ground, which was a very affecting & awful site." 


For the next four months, Weld moved frequently between the British fortifications and camps north of Albany: Saratoga, Stillwater, Fort Edward, Halfmoon, and more, with a nervous eye on the French stronghold at Ticonderoga, at the head of Lake George. His first proper scare was on 11 June, on the way to Fort William Henry: "On our journey, we were alarmed with a discovery of enemies, but were not atact by them, and when we came to the place where our retreet was faught last year, I saw several of the dead bodies of those that were slain lay almost half out of the ground, with there bone sticking up. But the moisture of their bowels was not exhosted, but sent forth a very irksom sent." 

American Indians were a constant presence in this world: some as steadfast allies, and some as terrifying agents of the French. On 25 June, "at Stillwater this evening, I had the curiosity to go to an Indian dance, which was very entertaining." On 8 July, the victims of a raid in Hoosick were located, "8 of which they found dead & buried them. 1 had a thom hawk stuck in his back." Four days later, Weld heard that "the Indians had kild and scalp'd a man within three miles of this citty." 

One of the fun side stories in this diary is the frequent appearance of Robert Rogers, then a little-known captain but soon to gain fame as the leader of the frontier Rogers Rangers. Dr. Weld's diary and the much-beloved Rogers journal corroborate each other on many points. On 13 June, Weld writes: "at 7 at evenin Capt. Rogers went of in battoes with his party in order to waylay the Narrows." The published Rogers journal of that date notes that he "embarked with a party of 26 men in battoes upon Lake George, to revisit the French advanced guard." Five days later, Weld writes: "Capt. Rogers return'd with his party from Tirantanoga but brought no scalps nor prisoners with him, but lost one of his men who left the company and went half a mile from them after his pack, and could not be found afterward." Rogers notes his return with vital intelligence on French forces at Fort Ticonderoga that day, "except one man who strayed from us, and who did not get in until the 23rd, then almost famished for want of sustenance." On 26 and 27 July, "this evening Capt. Rogers returned from Albany and with him came Mr. Gibbs who I very much surprised to see. . . . at ten o'clock Mr. Gibbs went from this fort with Capt. Rogers & his company." This short visit to Saratoga was unrecorded in the Rogers journal. On 2 September, Weld writes: "this evening Capt. Rogers returned from his scout of 19 days and brot with him a French prisoner, his wife, and a girl of about 7 or 8 years old which he took within half a mile of the fort at Crown Pint." Rogers describes these prisoners at length, asserting that the girl was more like 14 years old. Five days later, Weld writes: "this day Capt. Rogers sat out with scout of 17 men for the advance guard at Ticonderoga." Rogers describes his daring reconnaissance to Ticonderoga at length. On the 11th, we learn of the return: "Capt. Rodgers returned with his scout from Ticonderoga and informs us that the French had got a saw mill, and were very buisey at work on it." Finally, on 17 September, Weld writes: "Capt. Rodgers went out on a scout for 8 days to South Bay," a lesser expedition which Rogers did not mention in his own published journal. One thing we learn here: the exploits of Rogers and his rangers were of great interest to his fellow soldiers, long before they fascinated the reading public.

Rogers is not the only military history celebrity to make his appearance here. Richard Gridley, later the chief artillery officer in the Continental Army, is mentioned on 30 June and 5 July (when Weld "supt in Col. Gridley's tent with his son"). General John Bradstreet, famous for his logistical prowess in moving troops with bateaux and whaleboats, is noted on 11 July: "News of our battoes being destroyed was contradicted and turned in our faviour. Col. Broadstreet with his party kil'd 500 of the enemy, which they found dead on the shore, & took 4 prisoners." Colonel Timothy Ruggles, Lord General Loudoun, Colonel Phineas Lyman, Governor William Shirley, General James Abercrombie, and General John Winslow all make cameo appearances.

Combat was intermittent but jarring. On 2 August, Weld "arived at Fort Edward, and at 10 in the evening as I sat at supper . . . the drums beat to arms in the camps, all hands turned out. A man came in start naked who brot news that a party of men that went out to mend the roads were attact by the enemy. Immediately the Gen'll sent out a party of men who met with the enemy & had a warm engagement. One of our regulars was killed on the spot, Capt. Titcomb was wounded & 3 of his soldiers but not mortally." 

The front was quiet for a few weeks, until 19 September: "Between the hours of 2 & 3 a man . . .  came in from the west scout comanded by Capt. Hodges. The man was shot through the sholder, and informed us that he believed the whole was cut off by a body of Indians which surrounded them. Directly a detachment of men was sent out, but meating one that had escaped who informed them that there was a very large body, and accordingly they turned in. . . . They found Capt. Hodges and 9 men whom they brot us all scalped, and some with their heads of, but night comeing on, they could not make any further search." The next day, during the funeral for these victims, "the Indians came within 10 rod of our sentry, and stabed a man and scalped him. . . . Capt. Canady returned from a scout of six weeks with 1 French scalp & 2 prisoners [which] he left with 2 Mohawks. He s'd the Indians were almost starved to death." The two prisoners were brought in on 25 September by their loyal Mohawk guards: "The two Indians came in with Capt. Canadie's prisoners, and were rec'd with much joy as being very valuable fellows." 

Finally, we will end with Weld's great culinary innovation on 24 August: "I sup'd on a stew pye made of a rattlesnake with a number of gentlemen, and we all made a very harty supper." 

Weld's lively diary comes to an end on 1 October 1756. He was sent home to Massachusetts, where he died at Brookfield on Christmas Eve, just 20 years old. 

Provenance: Thomas Weld's sister Sarah Weld Alden (1738-1796); her son Timothy Alden (1771-1839), who mentioned it in the first volume of his book "Epitaphs and Inscriptions": "Dr. Weld kept a journal, from the time of his departure from Boston till a little before his death, the most of which is still in existence"; his daughter Elizabeth S.W. Alden Gibson (1800-1886); her daughter Elizabeth S. Gibson Craighead (1824-1902); her last surviving child Robert W. Craighead (1857-1948), who had no children; his first cousin once removed Margaret B. Craighead Alexander (1871-1954) of St. Mary's, MD; gift to a family friend in 1950; thence in the family to the consignor. 

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