Raiders and Rebels

In early May 2019, I signed a publishing agreement with a US publisher, Beacon Publish Group. They agreed to publish my biography of “Pirate” Bill Johnston. I don’t have a release date yet, but will let you Bill Johnston fans know.

The working title is:

Chieftain of the Thousand Islands
The Life and Legend of Bill Johnston

I began researching Johnston in 1973—not to say I worked on it every year since. I have been active in building up my info since 2010.

The contents of the book go far beyond the material on this blog. It provides detailed evidence of his spying and scouting work for the Americans in the War of 1812. It expands on the circumstances of his arrest in 1813. There are more stories about his "quiet" years between 1814 and 1838, and more about his long retirement years.

The contents show where other historians have gone wrong, why they are wrong and how they made their mistakes.

As with any legendary figure, Bill Johnston's history has been embellished with misfacts. This post aims to correct the commonest errors.

After Bill Johnston skipped bail in mid-April 1839, he returned to the Thousand Islands. As they had in the summer of 1838, the Canadian and US military launched joint patrols to find him.

With the end of repatriation of Hunter prisoners, transport to the penal colony dominated every remaining prisoner's thoughts through the long hot summer.

Late on July 26, 1839, a Hunter gang carrying heavy trunks boarded a small schooner, the Guernsey, at Oswego, New York. The ship sailed at midnight. At daybreak, the strangers emerged on deck, drew weapons from their trunks and took over the schooner.

After Colonel Nils von Schoultz ordered the two schooners being towed by the steamer United States cut loose early on November 11, 1838, they sailed downstream under a sliver of moon. Guided by just the loom of the shoreline, the helmsmen sought the lamplights of Prescott, Upper Canada, the predetermined target of the Hunter invasion.

Compared to the series of rebel raids in the winter of 1838, summer was quiet along the border. Other than the ineffectual Short Hills raid and Bill Johnston's mischief, Upper and Lower Canada faced no serious threats. Farmers, by far the largest faction of the rebel armies, needed to stay close to their crops. But, as harvest season approached, the Hunters Lodge and Robert Nelson's Patriotes began to plan new campaigns, for soon the farmers would be free to march.