Papers and Correspondence : 1758-1784.

Call Number:
HIL-MICL FC LMR .H3F7P3
Category:
Military
Creator:
Haldimand, Frederick, Sir, 1718-1791.
Material Description:
115 microfilm textual records (232 volumes) ; 35 mm
Background:

Frederick Haldimand was a Swiss-German from the Commune of Yverdon in Switzerland. From an early age he was interested in following a military career, but as Switzerland offered little for an ambitious young man, he pursued his interest in a foreign army. In 1748 he became an officer of the Swiss Guards in the Dutch Army. In 1756 a number of officers, including Haldimand, his friends Henry Bouquet, Augustine Prevost, Samuel Johannes Holland, and Frederick Wallet DesBarres, transferred to the British army. Haldimand received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 2nd Battalion of the 60th, or Royal American Regiment. He saw active duty throughout the Seven Years War and was promoted to full Colonel in 1762.

Later the same year he was appointed Military Governor of Trois Rivières, Quebec, and in 1767 arrived in Florida as brigadier of the Southern Department with responsibilities for the military affairs of both East and West Florida, remaining there until 1773. In that year he was transferred to New York and later became acting commander-in-chief at Boston when General Gage returned to England. Following a period of leave in England and Switzerland in 1777, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Northern or Canadian Department with headquarters at Quebec, and with authority over both civil and military affairs. He continued in this capacity until the end of the American Revolution, and until he had concluded arrangements for the settlement of the Loyalists and the Six Nations Indians who had remained loyal to Britain. In November of 1784 he sailed for England and lived in London for the rest of his life, dying on a visit to Switzerland.

Contents:

The Haldimand Collection is a valuable resource for the study of events in North America from the beginning of the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War) to the end of the American Revolution and the early period of Loyalist settlement. The Papers contain the correspondence and records of Frederick Haldimand in his role as a military officer, commander, and governor at various locations that included Trois-Rivières, Florida, New York, and Quebec. Besides Haldimand and his secretary, the correspondents included military leaders, governors, and the secretaries of state and war. The collection contains documents such as minutes of council; reports of meetings; military returns; general orders; abstracts of warrants; musters of regiments; returns of provisions and stores; statistics; memoranda; memorials from officers and soldiers; returns of ordnance; registers of commissions; letters to Haldimand and copies of his outgoing correspondence; musters of townships and settlements of refugee Loyalists; returns and correspondence relating to prisoners; and personal papers. Subject matter is vast due to the circumstances of war and include government; British military affairs; Loyalists; native/indigeneous affairs; and foreign relations and diplomacy.

Some of the correspondents include military commanders as General Jeffery Amherst, Thomas Gage, Sir John Burgoyne, Henry Bouquet, and Sir Henry Clinton; various civil and military officials such as the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Barrington, Secretary at War; Lord Dartmouth and Lord George Germain, Secretaries of State; the Governors of Quebec, James Murray and Sir Guy Carleton; British ministers, including the Earl of Shelburne and Lord North; officers of Loyalist Corps such as Robert Rogers, James Rogers, Sir John Johnson, John Butler, and many others; Indian Department officials, Sir William Johnson, Guy Johnson and Daniel Claus; several governors and lieutenant governors; and many letters by Robert Matthews, Haldimand's military secretary.

Arrangement: The material is arranged by Additional Manuscript (Add. MSS) numbers. Example of this is the following first few entries taken from the Catalogue of Additions to Manuscripts of the British Museum in the Years 1854-1860 :

Add. MSS 21,661. Correspondence of General Haldimand with General Sir Jeffery (afterwards Lord) Amherst, K.B., Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in North America, on military affairs; 1758-1777. There are also a few letters from - 1.Brigadier-General John Stanwix and Major A. Monypenny, his secretary; Albany, New York, 1758, 1759, ff. 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 15; 2. Colonel William Amherst; New York, 1759, ff. 13, 151; 3. Captain James Loring, Onondaga; 1760, ff. 88, 92; 4. (Pierre Rigaud) Marquis de Vaudreuil, commanding at Montreal, respecting the capitulation of that place, 8 Sept. 1760, f. 120.

Add. MSS 21,662-21,665. Correspondence of General Haldimand with General Hon. Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief in North America, on military affairs, 1758-1777. In four volumes. Original letters and drafts, written during General Haldimand's commands at the following places: 21,662. Three Rivers (Troix Rivieres) in Lower Canada, 1758-1766. At the end of this volume are some letters from General Gage to Colonel William Taylor/Tayler, Acting Brigadier-General at Pensacola, Florida, 1766; 21,663. Pensacola, 1766-1768; 21,664. St. Augustine, Florida, 1769-1770; 21,665. Pensacola and New York, 1771-1777, at the latter place for some time acting Commander-in-Chief during the absence of General Gage.

Add. MSS 21,666. Correspondence of General Haldimand with: 1. Brigadier-General John Stanwix, commanding the Camp, Governor's Island, near New York, etc., Aug. 1756-March 1758; 2. Lieut.-Colonel James Robertson, New York, etc., Dec. 1757-Jan. 1775; 3. Major-General James Abercromby, Commander-in-Chief in North America, March 1758-May 1759; 4. Lieut.-General Hon. James Murray, Governor of Quebec, Jan. 1762-March 1775.

Add. MSS 21,667. Copies of reports of the state of government of Quebec, in 1762; and of Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres) and Montreal in 1763, rendered by respective governors - Generals James Murray, Sir Ralph Burton, and Hon. Thomas Gage.

Add. MSS 21,668. Transactions of General James Murray's administration during his government of Quebec; drawn up in answer to complaints made against him, 1764-1766.

Add. MSS 21,669. Correspondence of General Haldimand during his government of Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres), with Brigadier-General Sir Ralph Burton, Governor of Montreal, 1762-1765. At the beginning are a few letters from Major-General Sir Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief, to Governor Burton, 1760-1763.

Add. MSS 21,670. Correspondence of General Haldimand with Colonel Sir William Johnson, Bart., of Johnson Hall, New York, and Colonel Guy Johnson; together with other papers relating to Indian (native/indigenous) affairs, 1759-1774. There are also letters from - 1. Frederick Smyth, Chief Justice of New Jersey, Perth-Amboy, 5 Aug. 1773, f. 64; 2. Colonel Samuel Cleaveland, Brunswick, 5 Oct. 1773, f. 84; 3. Major Isaac Hamilton, 18th Regiment, Amboy, 25 May 1774, f. 143; 4. Stephen P. Adye?, Deputy Judge Advocate, Amboy, 28 May 1774, f. 146.

Originals:
The original records are held by the British Library.
Archival Ref. No.:
British Library Additional Manuscripts 21,661 - 21,892 inclusive.
Finding Aids:

A Microfilm Shelf List, which correlates reel numbering with Catalogue numbering, is available in print with the Loyalist red binders and online (see Electronic Finding Aids (Haldimandfinding).

The annually published Report on Canadian Archives, for the years 1884-1889, contain a Calendar (or list of documents) for the volumes of the Haldimand Papers which were transcribed by the Archives from the originals in Britain. Archives' volumes are identified as B-1 to B-232. The Reports are shelved in the Government Documents Department (HIL-Gov FN45 .R426).

  • Online: The above Calendar is available and searchable electronically via Internet Archive's website archive.org.
  • Online: Transcripts done by Library and Archives Canada is available electronically via Heritage Canadiana website.

Nominal Index: Library and Archives Canada (LAC) prepared a nominal index to four volumes of the Haldimand transcripts which relate directly to Loyalist regimental roles and returns of Loyalist settlers. Both the index and the transcript volumes are available on one reel of microfilm which is shelved in the Loyalist Collection at MIC-Loyalist FC LMR .H3F7P3.

  • Online:  Nominal Index is available from the Heritage Canada website. and shown as LAC microfilm reel C 1475.
  • Microfilm: Nominal Index available with this collection; Index volumes are found in volumes 105, 166-168

A breakdown of the contents into subsections was published in, Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts of the British Museum in the Years 1854-1860. [London]:Trustees of the British Museum, 1965. The sections are organised by Additional Manuscript numbers. Throughout the reels of microfilm, the relevant pages from the Catalogue have been included on the film. This is available in print with The Loyalist Collection red binders.

  • Electronic copy - See Electronic Finding Aid section for a scanned copy from the Catalogue of Additions....Use the microfilm shelf list in the Electronic Find aid section (Haldimandfinding) to find the reel number for the Additional Manuscript Number (Add. MSS Number) of interest.
Haldimandfinding.pdf 503.html Health and Medicine in the Haldimand Papers.pdf 506.html
Notes:
Since the microfilm copies of the Additional Manuscripts in the Loyalist Collection and the Transcript volumes in LAC are not identical, a conversion list which correlates the Additional Manuscript numbers, the B Volume Transcripts, the Calendar in LAC Reports, and the microfilm reel numbers in The Loyalist Collection has been prepared.