Antoine Robidoux - Santa Fe based Mountain Man and Fur Trader

Antoine Robidoux (22 Sep 1794 – 29 Aug 1860) (my 4th cousin 6x removed) was a Santa Fe NM based fur trapper and trader of French-Canadian descent. He was best known for his exploits in the American Southwest in the first half of the 19th century.

(The following is edited from wikipedia)

Robidoux was born in 1794 in Saint Louis, the fourth of six sons of Joseph Robidoux III, the owner of a Saint Louis-based fur trading company, and his wife Catherine Marie Rollet dit Laderoute. 

Antoine spoke English, French, and Spanish. In his early years he helped his father extend his business westward, and by the 1820s was focused on developing trade routes in the intermountain corridors of what was at the time the Mexican province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. In the summer of 1824, Antoine may have joined a party led by Etienne Provost that traveled to the Uinta Basin to trade for pelts. 

He eventually established a permanent residence in the capital city of Santa Fe, and in 1828, he took for his common-law wife Carmel Benevides (1812–1888), the daughter of a Spanish captain who was killed fighting the Comanche and subsequently the adopted daughter of the provincial governor.

In 1829, Antoine and his younger brother Louis Robidoux petitioned for and were granted Mexican citizenship, which freed them to trade and settle in Mexican territory without having to worry about expensive tariffs and other international restrictions, as well as near-exclusive license to trap and trade in the Ute country of what is now western Colorado and eastern Utah. 

By 1830, Antoine had become a prominent citizen of Santa Fe in social and economic circles. He was even elected the first non-Mexican alcalde of the ayuntamiento (the municipal council), though his political career was short-lived.

Around the same time, and possibly in partnership with Louis, Antoine established Fort Uncompahgre near the confluence of the Gunnison River (then known as the Río San Xavier) and the Uncompahgre River in west-central Colorado. 

Though the exact date of its completion is unknown, Robidoux's post was arguably the first permanent trading operation west of the continental divide. 

In 1832, Robidoux purchased the Reed Trading Post, a single cabin built by William Reed and Denis Julien four years earlier at the confluence of the Uinta and Whiterocks rivers in northeastern Utah, and rebuilt it much larger as Fort Robidoux, also called Fort Uintah and Fort Winty. The fort was visited by many well-known pioneers and mountain men during its years of operation, including Marcus Whitman, Miles Goodyear, and Kit Carson.

Westwater Canyon inscription

Robidoux spent more than a decade managing both trading posts and exploring the Western interior. He is especially well known for having carved a famous rock inscription on a wall of Utah's Westwater Canyon during this time. Likely ascending a trapper's trail from the canyon's mouth on the Colorado River, Robidoux left the following record of his presence engraved on a sandstone bluff:

ANTOINE ROBIDOUX

PASSÉ ICI LE 13 NOVEMBRE

1837

POUR ETABLIRE MAISON

TRAITTE A LA

RV. VERT OU WIYTÉ

The inscription was not again brought to public attention until 1933, when Charles Kelly first photographed it. It has since yielded many interpretations in attempts to more accurately pinpoint the precise dates of Robidoux's operations in the area. The most direct translation from the French reads "Antoine Robidoux passed here 13 November 1837 to establish a trading post at the Green or Wiyté River", but the accuracy of this translation has been a matter of controversy among historians.

Specifically, it has been suggested that the word "Wiyté" was actually intended to read "Winté", and that deterioration has made the appearance of the third letter ambiguous; though the Green and the White are both names for rivers in Utah, "Winté" may instead be a reference to the Uinta River, which was at the time commonly called the "Winty". If this alternative translation is correct, then the inscription appears to suggest that Robidoux had not yet established a trading post on the Uinta River by 1837. This contradicts evidence that he purchased and rebuilt the Reed Trading Post on the Uinta River in 1832, five years earlier.

A simple solution is that the year engraved in the inscription has also been misinterpreted, and that the original message reads "1831" instead of "1837"; this would be a logical fit with the notion that Robidoux may have been searching for a place to establish a new trading post in late 1831, shortly before he eventually did so when he bought the Reed Trading Post. Yet there is evidence that Antoine Robidoux was actually in Missouri selling furs and procuring supplies in November 1831, making it impossible for him to have carved the inscription at that time.

A third solution is that 1837 is actually correct and that Robidoux was, in fact, planning to build a third, unidentified trading post in a new location at the time, which either never materialized or was built and subsequently lost to history.

Later life

Both Fort Uncompahgre and Fort Robidoux were evidently attacked and destroyed by Utes in 1844, just as the fur trade was declining with changes in the European market. These circumstances prompted Robidoux to quickly abandon his fur enterprise and return east to St. Joseph. 

Over the next decade, he worked in various capacities as an emigrant guide and a U.S. Army interpreter. 

In June 1846, Robidoux enlisted as an interpreter with General Stephen W. Kearny's expedition to California during the Mexican–American War.

The Battle of San Pasqual

The Battle of San Pasqual, also spelled San Pascual, was a military encounter that occurred during the Mexican–American War in what is now the San Pasqual Valley community of the city of San Diego, California. The series of military skirmishes ended with both sides claiming victory, and the victor of the battle is still debated.

On December 6 and December 7, 1846, General Stephen W. Kearny's US Army of the West, along with a small detachment of the California Battalion led by a Marine Lieutenant, engaged a small contingent of Californios and their Presidial Lancers Los Galgos (The Greyhounds), led by Major Andrés Pico. After U.S. reinforcements arrived, Kearny's troops were able to reach San Diego.

Among those in the battle were the 26 Mounted Rifle Company, and our relative Antoine Robidoux...

26 Mounted Rifle Company, commanded by Acting-Captain (Sgt.) Samual Gibson (later commanded company B of 26th Arkansas Infantry Regiment) and longtime Kit Carson and John Fremont associate, Acting-Lieutenant Alexander Godey: including Antoine Robidoux(interpreter), Philip Crosthwaite, Beatitude Patitoux, William (Col. Owl) Henry Russel, Daniel Sexton, Franklin Sears, Thomas Burgess, Jean Neutral, Private Henry Booker.

Antoine was severely wounded (he had received three lance wounds in the back) at the Battle of San Pasqual in December and later applied for a government pension.

Robidoux died in 1860 in St. Joseph, Missouri, at the age of 65.

1860 Obituary from St. Joseph, Missouri Gazette

Here’s a good tale about Antoine from The State Historical Society of Colorado. VOL. VII. Denver. Colorado, July, 1930. No. 4. “Antoine Robidoux, Kingpin in the Colorado River. Fur Trade, 1824-1844”… https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v7n4_July1930.pdf

Joseph Robidoux and our ever deepening web of fur traders

JOSEPH ROBIDOUX IV (1783–1868), FOUNDER OF ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI, MY 4TH COUSIN 6X REMOVED

The following is edited from wikipedia and my family tree…

Joseph Robidoux IV (1783–1868), Founder, established the Blacksnake Hills Trading Post that eventually developed as the town of St. Joseph, Missouri.

His buildings known as Robidoux Row are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was a center for his family enterprise of fur trading, which he operated with his five brothers along the Mississippi and especially the Missouri River systems.

BIOGRAPHY

Robidoux was the oldest of the six sons of Joseph Robidoux III (born in Sault-au-Recollet, Montreal,12 February 1750-, date of death unknown) and Catherine Rollet (born in Saint Louis, Missouri October 20, 1767, died in 1868). Joseph Robidoux IV was born in Saint Louis, Mo like six of his seven brothers who survived to adulthood. 

He was born August 5, 1783. Joseph Robidoux IV was the grandson of Joseph Robidoux (Born in Laprairie, Québec in 1722) and Marie-Anne Leblanc (date and place of birth unknown). He spent most of his childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father introduced him and his brothers Francois, Pierre Isidore, Antoine, Louis, and Michael to the fur trade at an early age. (Weber, pp. 36) 

In 1799, at the age of 16, young Joseph began accompanying fur traders up the Missouri River.

CAREER

1803–1822

In 1803, Robidoux's father sent him to organize a trading post at Fort Dearborn, the site of present-day Chicago. His early success there annoyed other traders, who engaged Indians to harass the young man and eventually drive him from the area. During this time he fell in love with the daughter of the village blacksmith, but he did not give his permission for the marriage because according to him some of the Robidoux's had surrendered their soul to the devil

In 1805, Joseph's wife of four years, Eugenie Delisle, died. She and Joseph had had two children, a daughter, Messanie, who preceded her mother in death, and a son, Joseph F. Robidoux, who use the given name of Joseph became a trader himself.

In 1809, the senior Robidoux established a trading post near the site of present-day North Omaha, Nebraska. He operated his trading post in the Council Bluffs area until 1822, when the American Fur Company bought him out and offered him $1,000 a year not to compete with them. A later post at the North Omaha site was operated by and named for Jean Pierre Cabanné. 

During the years of the War of 1812, the Robidoux brothers had to pull back their activities to the St. Louis area.

In 1813, the widower Robidoux married Angélique Vaudry, with whom he had six sons and one daughter (Faraon, Julius, Francis, Felix, Edmond, Charles, and Sylvanie).

1823–1842

Robidoux returned to St. Louis, where he worked as a baker and confectioner. In 1826, he was hired by the American Fur Company to establish a trading post at the Blacksnake Hills (near the site of present-day Saint Joseph, Missouri.) He remained their employee for four years, at the salary of $1,800 a year, before becoming an independent trader. Built prior to 1830, Robidoux's home was located on the northwest corner of 2nd & Jules Streets in Saint Joseph. The first building in the settlement, the house was later removed to Krug Park as a historic attraction.

Robidoux prospered in the years between 1830 and 1843, employing as many as 20 Frenchmen to engage in trade with the Native Americans to the west of his post. When Missouri entered the union in 1821, the state's western boundary was based on the Kaw River mouth in the Kansas City West Bottoms (approximately 94 degrees 36 minutes West longitude). The land where St. Joseph is now located belonged by treaty to the Ioway Tribe and the combined Sac Tribe and Fox Tribe. Robidoux was a licensed trader and legally allowed to be in the area as a trader.

Robidoux was the most spectacular example of several enterprising white settlers who encroached on Indian land. Faced with the possibilities of more encroachment, the tribes in 1836 agreed to sell what is now the northwest corner of Missouri for $7,500 to the federal government in a deal at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It was presided over by William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame). The transaction, called the Platte Purchase, added an area almost the combined size of Rhode Island and Delaware to the State of Missouri.

During this era, one of his slaves, Jeffrey Deroine, sued for his freedom, claiming abuse by Robidoux. Deroine lost the case, but his friends later purchased his freedom, and Deroine rose to prominence for his skills as a trader and linguist, becoming a well-known U.S. Government translator and diplomat.

1843–1868

In 1843, Robidoux hired two men, Frederick W. Smith and Simeon Kemper, to design a town for him. Under Kemper's plan the town was to have been called Robidoux, a feature Kemper thought would appeal to the trader. But, Robidoux preferred Smith's plan, as it featured more narrow streets, thus leaving more land for him to sell in the form of lots.

Plans for the town were filed with the clerk of Common Pleas in St. Louis on July 26, 1843. Shortly thereafter, Robidoux began selling lots, with corner lots going for $150.00 and interior lots $100.00.

Saint Joseph prospered quickly in the years after its founding, growing from a population of 800 in 1846 to 8,932 in 1860. Joseph Robidoux remained a prominent citizen. His early trading offices are known as Robidoux Row; the complex is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. He led in many development issues until his death, at the age of 85, in 1868. Present-day Saint Joseph retains the downtown streets which he named for his children and his second wife Angelique.

FAMILY

Robidoux was an early fur trader. He later transitioned into operating a trading post along the route of western migrants, operating a major trading post in the area of Scott's Bluff from 1849–1851. 

Robidoux had an Indian wife, probably Shoshone, whose tribe would often visit his trading post. His daughter, Mary, married the Ioway chief Francis White Cloud and therefore Robidoux was grandfather to James White Cloud and Jefferson White Cloud, who would also be named Ioway chiefs.

Joseph was married three times. His first wife was Eugenie DeLisle (1704–1805). Joseph and Eugenie had two children:

• Messanie (died early)

• Joseph (b. 1802)

Joseph’s second wife was unknown, but was said to be Native American. The couple had one child:

• Mary Many Days (1805–1884).

Joseph’s third wife was Angélique Vaudry, great-granddaughter of Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, one of the early founders of Fort Michilimackinac. Joseph and Angélique had six children that lived to adulthood:

• Julius (1814–1844)

• Antoine (Faraon) (3 March 1816 – 1840)

• François (b.25 February 1818)

• Felix (5 May 1820 -1873)

• Marie-Agnés (10 March 1807 – 1900)

• Charles (10 July 1831 – 1851).

Joseph had two illegitimate children with Angeline Caroline Jones. Joseph Henry Robidoux Papst born in St. Joseph, MI in 1853 and Madora Rubidoux Papst born in 1855.

Joseph died on 27 May 1868, and was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in St. Joseph. His body was relocated to the Mount Olivet Cemetery in 1908 after the original cemetery was abandoned. Sadly, he did not die a rich man, having a penchant for gambling like his brothers.

Roubidoux is the namesake of Roubidoux Creek, a stream in Missouri.

OUR LINEAGE FROM JOSEPH ROBIDOUX IV:

Joseph Henry Robidoux IV 1783-1868 -- my 4th cousin 6x removed

Joseph Marie Robidoux III 1750-1809 -- Father of Joseph Henry Robidoux IV founder of St. Joseph, Missouri

Joseph Robidou II 1722-1771 -- Father of Joseph Marie Robidoux III

Joseph Robidou 1701-1778 -- Father of Joseph Robidou II

Guillaume (William) Robidou 1675-1754 -- Father of Joseph Robidou

Andre Robidou dit L’Espagnol 1643-1678 (my 9th great grandfather) -- Father of Guillaume (William) Robidou

Jeanne Robidoux 1673-1736 -- Daughter of Andre Robidou dit L’Espagnol

Marie Anne Lemieux 1706-1777 -- Daughter of Jeanne Robidoux

Marie Josephe Poupart 1725-1799 -- Daughter of Marie Anne Lemieux

Pierre Barette dit Courville 1748-1794 -- Son of Marie Josephe Poupart

Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville 1779-1815 -- Daughter of Pierre Barette dit Courville

Marie Emélie (Mary) Meunier Lagassé (Lagace) 1808-1883 -- Daughter of Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville

Lucy Passino (Pinsonneau) 1836-1917 -- Daughter of Marie Emélie (Mary) Meunier Lagassé (Lagace) -- 2nd great grandmother

BROTHERS ROBIDOUX

Six sons Joseph Robidoux III and Catherine Rollet were all famous fur traders and explorers:

• Antoine Robidoux, 4th cousin 6x removed, Trader Santa Fe NM: had a trading post in southwest Colorado and was at the Uinta river in Utah in 1837. He also worked around Taos, NM and Santa Fe.

• Francois Robidoux, 4th cousin 6x removed, early California explorer: trapped and traded in Indian villages, attended business in St. Louis, and traded on the northern plains of Kansas and on the Yellowstone.

• Joseph Robidoux IV, 4th cousin 6x removed, St Joseph Founder: became the most well known of these as he was the eldest and took over his father's fur business. This business took the Robidoux brothers far into the lands to the west. In 1826 Joseph established a trading post at the site of St. Joseph Missouri. In 1843 he platted a town out at this site and named it "St. Joseph".

• Louis Robidoux, 4th cousin 6x removed, Riverside CA Founder: began trading over the Santa Fe Trail as early as 1822. He settled in Santa Fe about 1824. Here he married Guadalupe Garcia. He built a couple of flour mills in Santa Fe. In 1844 he moved to California (near Riverside) and operated the Rubidoux mills in the community of Rubidoux. The mill was discontinued in 1862.

• Michel Robidoux, 4th cousin 6x removed, Trader at Fort Laramie: worked as a trapper in the Gila River region in New Mexico and Arizona and to Ft. Laramie in Wyoming in the 1830s.

• Pierre-Isidore Robidoux, 4th cousin 6x removed, Trader Nebraska Territory: traded on the plains of northern Kansas and upon the Yellowstone river and in Santa Fe. He headed wagon caravans along the Platte River to where the north and south Platte joined, and along the north Platte to Ft. Laramie.

Seeking My Last Best Place

My view of early Montana... a painting by Charles M Russell,
"When White Men Turn Red"

I’ve had a love affair with Montana for over 70 years.

My first visit to ‘Big Sky Country’ was in 1950 when my folks went to visit mom’s aunt and uncle near Kalispell.

I have deep roots in Montana…

My 2nd great-grandparents, John Galway Brown and Lucy (Pinsonneau) Brown, settled their before 1900.

My great-grandparents, Abraham Lincoln Brown and Neva (Plympton) Brown homesteaded in Creston about 1905.

My grandparents, Frank and Lydia, married and homesteaded in Kalispell in 1912.

Mom was born in Kalispell in 1914.

Leaving California

As a native Californian, and until recently, I’ve always loved my home.

Sadly, during the past couple of decades, California has become a politically hostile environment for me.

I no longer feel safe living here.

The political LEFT has embraced illegal immigration, has all-but destroyed the 2nd amendment, and has allowed homelessness and crime to run rampant in our cities.

Hit and run automobile deaths, gang shootings, and homeless caused disease is breaking news daily on local television.

Incidents of homeless people attacking citizens is out of control, and it is dangerous to go to any major public event.

My Montana Association

I’m a long time student of Montana history. For the past fifty years I’ve collected and read everything I could find by authors including: James Willard Schultz, Frank Bird Linderman, Charles Marion Russell, Will James, B.M. Bower, Con Price, Teddy Blue Abbott, Granville Stuart, Will James and Ivan Doig.

I’ve become a huge fan of Charles Marion Russell’s cowboy, Indian and mountain man art. It was his art that inspired me to spend more than a decade as a Western folk artist.

In addition, my study of family genealogy has led me to discover ancestors and relatives with a fur trade connection between Montana and French-Canada.

Finely, in 1995, I bought a Montana born and raised horse in Cody, Wyoming. I brought him to California in 1996, and ’Sunup’ lived with me until his death in 2013.

Montana Discoveries

For seven decades I’ve visited ‘Big Sky Country’ in an effort to learn more about its history. 

I’ve studied her cowboys, her Native Americans, her gold rush, and her fur trade.

I’ve visited her capitol, her museums, her monuments and Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks numerous times.

I even floated on a 150 mile solo canoe trip down the upper Missouri River.

Changes this year (2019)

We are now in our late 70s, and change seems to be happening at warp-speed.

We’ve been an equestrian family for the past 25 years, but sadly my wife’s horse died in June, so I sent my horse to live with a friend in Missoula in August. Horses should not live alone and we were too old to buy another horse for a companion.

What We’re Looking For

Being realistic, native Californians probably wouldn’t fare well in the cold winters of Montana, so we are looking for a summer home.

What would be ideal for us is a rustic feeling cabin, close to shopping and medical help, but in a forest setting with beautiful Montana scenery. 

Not too old because the last thing I need is a ‘home improvement job.’ 

One or Two bedrooms, probably less than 1000 square feet, and absolutely must be single story.

Being near water for trout fishing and canoeing would be a bonus.

Someplace near Lolo, Montana would be perfect.

Who knows, if I’m alive in another ten years, maybe what I end up with could be ‘My Last Best Place’ to live and die.

Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.

More Memories of Old Montana

Grandma at Cayuse Prairie school, 1907

Granddad's record elk, c. 1912

Aunt Stella and her class in a log cabin school, c. 1911

Granddad (left) and brother Len deer hunting, c. 1912

My grandparents Kalispell homestead #1, c. 1914

My grandparents Kalispell homestead #2, c. 1914

Granddad hauling firewood, c. 1915

Frank and Len in Montana Militia, c. 1912

Granddad (left) logging with a sled, c. 1916

Mom and sister Hazel in Creston, c. 1926

Yours truly with the biggest fish at Strawberry Lake, 1950

A stump ranch - the richest folks I ever knew

Hangin' out with Lon and Dale in Kalispell, 1950

Ridin' with mom and dad in Kalispell, 1950

Thanks for the memories

2024 Update...

I'll be 82 in a few weeks. The economy, and my health is so bad I cannot afford to move. I spend too much time thinking about the good ol' days, and that's okay cause I don't see a very good future for America. Trust in God and keep your powder dry.

End of an era and a cowboy lifestyle

Zinger and Joyce in Chatsworth, 2004

On June 28th of this year we said good-bye to Zinger, a beautiful paint horse, who had been part of our lives for 20 years. 

Zinger had lived an exceptionally long life in horse years. He was 33 years old when he left us.

Kasidy May and yours truly, 2013

With Zinger gone our little home ranch was a mighty lonesome place for Kasidy May, my 16 year-old Quarter Horse mare.

During the past 19 years we’ve shared our Chatsworth home with lots of equine pals. Three others have passed away in the last six years.

Our little herd on a cold, windy day, 2009

For the past 25 years we’ve had every sort of cowboy adventure you can image. We’ve been on thousands of trail rides, ridden many parades, been on more than a few horse camping trips, and have participated in every kind equine event held in Chatsworth.

Biggs and his cart in Chatsworth, 2005

Now in our late 70s, and between Joyce’s battle with non hodgkin's lymphoma (now in remission for 3 years) and my osteoarthritis neither of us have ridden in the past year.

Last month a good friend offered to bring Kasidy May to Montana, so she can retire with her horses in a beautiful pasture.  

We accepted the offer, and during the past six weeks I’ve sold off our horse trailer, all our saddles, bridles and other tack.

Looking back over the years — it’s been quit a ride…

I learned to ride in 1950, on my uncle Lon’s ranch in Kalispell, Montana when I was just seven years-old.

Dad bought me my first horse in 1953, and during the next decade I rode all over California.

During the 1980s and 1990s I bought, sold, and traded cowboy antiques and horse trappings around the West, and in 1995 I bought a horse in Cody, Wyoming. 

I brought him home to California in 1996, and Sunup (above) lived with me for the next 18 years. He died in our backyard in October 2013.

Zinger (above) was actually Joyce’s horse, but he and I had some wonderful adventures together. In the photo above we are in the surf at Morro Bay, California.

I bought Kasidy May (above left) when she had just turned four in 2007. Cash (above right) came to live with us in 1997. He died in 2014.

Kasidy May and I participated in Cowboy Mounted Shooting during 2007 and 2008. 

I bought her in Missouri, and we traveled together in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as California. 

She’s had quit a life… she was born in Kentucky, and has lived in Missouri, Colorado, and California, and is now going to retire in Montana.

With Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander, 2018

During the past 25 years I’ve been very active in the ‘Horse Community’ and in 2018, I was honored for starting the “Chatsworth Day on the Horse” fifteen years earlier.

So ends an era and my cowboy lifestyle. 

My heart is heavy, but I know I have left a legacy for others who are interested in Chatsworth’s equestrian history.

The West is dead, my friend

But writers hold the seed

And what they saw

Will live and grow

Again to those who read.

-- C.M. Russell

Oliver Bailey (1738-1822) — A Hero of Two Wars

Oliver Bailey, our 6th great-grandfather, was born 25 JUN 1738, in Haddam, Middletown, CT; and died 14 OCT 1822 in Granville Township, Pennsylvania.

Obituary

Military Record

French and Indians War:

In 1758 Oliver served the King of England in the French and Indians War with Captain Jonathan Latimore's Fifth Company of the Third Connecticut Regiment. In 1760 Oliver served the King of England in the French and Indians War with Captain Ichabod Scranton's Fifth Company of the Second Connecticut Regiment

Revolutionary War:

During the Revolutionary War Oliver was a private in the 8th Company of Capt. Cornelius Higgins of Haddam, Col. William Douglas' 5th Battalion, General Wadsworth's brigade, raised June, 1776, to reinforce George Washington's army at New York; he fought in the battles of Long Island and White Plains".

The following battle accounts are from Wikipedia…

The Battle of Long Island

The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. It was fought on August 27, 1776 and was the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776. It was a victory for the British Army and the beginning of a successful campaign that gave them control of the strategically important city of New York. In terms of troop deployment and fighting, it was the largest battle of the entire war.

After defeating the British in the Siege of Boston on March 17, 1776, commander-in-chief General George Washington brought the Continental Army to defend the port city of New York, then limited to the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the British Navy during the campaign, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British under the command of General William Howe landed a few miles across the harbor from Manhattan on the sparsely-populated Staten Island, where they were slowly reinforced by ships in Lower New York Bay during the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Washington knew the difficulty in holding the city with the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the Narrows, and he moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing that it would be the first target.

On August 22, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay in southwest Kings County, across the Narrows from Staten Island and more than a dozen miles south from the established East River crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights. Unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and captures, although a stand by 400 Maryland troops prevented a larger portion of the army from being lost. The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated the entire army to Manhattan without the loss of supplies or a single life. Washington and the Continental Army were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

Retreat from long island

The Battle of White Plains was a battle in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on October 28, 1776, near White Plains, New York. Following the retreat of George Washington's Continental Army northward from New York City, British General William Howe landed troops in Westchester County, intending to cut off Washington's escape route. Alerted to this move, Washington retreated farther, establishing a position in the village of White Plains but failed to establish firm control over local high ground. Howe's troops drove Washington's troops from a hill near the village; following this loss, Washington ordered the Americans to retreat farther north.

Later British movements chased Washington across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. Washington then crossed the Delaware and surprised a brigade of Hessian troops in the December 26 Battle of Trenton.

Our Lineage

Oliver Bailey (1738 - 1822) -- 6th great-grandfather — A Hero of Two Wars

Thomas Bailey (1765 - 1854) -- Son of Oliver Bailey — Served in the War of 1812

Smith Bailey (1789 - 1862) -- Son of Thomas Bailey — Served in the War of 1812

Orange Bailey (1811 - 1905) -- Son of Smith Bailey

David Solomon Bailey (1837 - 1915) -- Son of Orange Bailey — Served the Union in the Civil War

David Jackson Bailey (1865 - 1949) -- Son of David Solomon Bailey

Frank Jackson Bailey (1886 - 1968) -- Son of David Jackson Bailey — Served in the Montana Militia during WWI

Updated 2020 -- French and Indian War (1758-1760)...

Oliver Bailey, our 6th great-grandfather, in the French and Indian War (1758 - 1760)

1758, in the Third Connecticut Regiment, under Colonel Eleazar Fitch, he participated in the disastrous expedition against Fort Carillon.

The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, was fought on July 8, 1758, during the French and Indian War (which was part of the global Seven Years' War). It was fought near Fort Carillon (now known as Fort Ticonderoga) on the shore of Lake Champlain in the frontier area between the British colony of New York and the French colony of New France.

In the battle, which took place primarily on a rise about three-quarters of a mile from the fort itself, a French army of about 3,600 men under General Marquis de Montcalm and the Chevalier de Levis decisively defeated an overwhelmingly numerically superior force of British troops under General James Abercrombie, which frontally assaulted an entrenched French position without using field artillery, a lack that left the British and their allies vulnerable and allowed the French to win a decisive victory. The battle was the bloodiest of the American theater of the war, with over 3,000 casualties suffered. French losses were about 400, while more than 2,000 were British.

1759, in the First Connecticut Regiment, under Major-General Phineas Lyman, he participated in the Ticonderoga expedition.

The 1759 Battle of Ticonderoga was a minor confrontation at Fort Carillon (later renamed Fort Ticonderoga) on July 26 and 27, 1759, during the French and Indian War. A British military force of more than 11,000 men under the command of General Sir Jeffery Amherst moved artillery to high ground overlooking the fort, which was defended by a garrison of 400 Frenchmen under the command of Brigadier General François-Charles de Bourlamaque.

Rather than defend the fort, de Bourlamaque, operating under instructions from General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and New France's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, withdrew his forces, and attempted to blow up the fort. The fort's powder magazine was destroyed, but its walls were not severely damaged. The British then occupied the fort, which was afterwards known by the name Fort Ticonderoga. They embarked on a series of improvements to the area and began construction of a fleet to conduct military operations on Lake Champlain.

The French tactics were sufficient to prevent Amherst's army from joining James Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. However, they also tied up 3,000 of their own troops that were not able to assist in Quebec's defense. The capture of the fort, which had previously repulsed a large British army a year earlier, contributed to what the British called the "Annus Mirabilis" of 1759.

1760, in the Second Connecticut Regiment, under Colonel Nathan Whiting, Oliver, now a drummer, participated in the British attack on Montreal.

The Montreal Campaign also known as the Fall of Montreal was a British three-pronged attack against Montreal which took place from July 2 to 9 September 1760 during the French and Indian War as part of the Seven Years' War. The campaign conducted against an outnumbered French army led to the capitulation and occupation of Montreal, the largest remaining centre of French Canada.

Under the overall direction of Jeffery Amherst, British forces numbering around 18,000 men would converge on Montreal starting in July from three separate directions. One under Amherst from Lake Ontario, the other under James Murray from Québec and the third under William Haviland from Fort Crown Point.

After eliminating French positions along the way all three forces met up and surrounded Montreal. Many Canadians deserted or surrendered their arms to British forces while the native allies of the French sought peace and neutrality.

The French military commander Francis de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis was resolved to make a last stand in the city despite overwhelming odds. He was however overruled by Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal the French civilian Governor who persuaded him to surrender. Lévis tried to negotiate a surrender with 'Honours of War'. The British refused to accept this, and the French reluctantly were forced to sign an unconditional surrender on 8 September. This effectively completed the British conquest of New France.

Oliver Bailey, our 6th great-grandfather from Connecticut, was clearly in battle against Michel Vielle, our 5th great-grandfather, a soldier in the Régiment de la Reine.

SEE Michel Vielle’s story…

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2018/05/great-grandfather-was-soldier-in_24.html?fbclid=IwAR1chSS9k56NRv3T0uVDmpHCxYNnQBULMGCtYmjLd0SfmCqk9w8tELTZvFM