Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I wrote you by the last Post; since which we have arrived at the place I mentioned. We came down the River in flat Boats, forming one of the most agreeable views in the world; perhaps equal to Sir Jeffery’s1 move down the Lakes, last War. We have constant information, by Deserters, 226 Informants, & others, that the British will certainly move from New York by the 10th. Octr. what credit must be given to this information, it will not do for me to say; some of the Enemies movements are certainly in favor of this report, others are much against it, upon the whole, it will be best, to suspend our opinions for a short time.
You may see by a New York paper, which I have inclosed to Mr. Hastings, postmaster, that Charlestown must be evacuated before this, & a Letter addressed to the Citizens, plainly to me, points out the plan that will be perseued by all the Refugees in America.
My best Love to Mrs. Paine & my Daughters & believe me ever your Friend
During the French and Indian Wars, Sir Jeffery Amherst (1717–1797) took command of British forces in America in 1758 and led a flotilla of various craft down Lake Champlain in Oct. of the following year. The flat-bottomed boats, which proved particularly effective, had been produced by Amherst’s naval officer Joshua Loring (1716–1781), a native of Roxbury, Mass. (Dictionary of Canadian Biography; A. B. McLeod, British Naval Captains of the Seven Years’ War: The View from the Quarterdeck [Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2012], 155).