Farmers and Honest Men
By Horst Dresler
181 pages, softcover: $24.95
Reviewed by Tim J. Todish
After the French and Indian War, the English home government felt that it was only fair that the American Colonies bear some of the cost of supporting the troops that had defeated the French and continued to protect the frontier against hostile Indians. The tax measures adopted were very unpopular, and the seeds of revolution were planted. Some colonists objected to the very idea of taxation by the mother country, while others resented the way that they were levied, with no meaningful representation in Parliament.
In his book, Farmers and Honest Men, Horst Dresler tells the amazing story of a group of families, and the Ruiter family in particular, who chose to remain loyal to the Crown during America’s War for Independence. Not all Americans embraced the cause of liberty. It has been estimated that as many as one third remained loyal to England. The American Revolution was in a sense our first civil war, where all too frequently brother was pitted against brother and neighbor against neighbor, each fighting for what they believed.
Henry (Henrich) and John (Johannes) Ruiter, two brothers of Palatine German heritage, were farming in the Colony of New York, west of Albany, when hostilities broke out. Many of the Palatines, including the Ruiters, remained loyal to England. Both Henry and John became captains in a Loyalist unit headed up by Francis Pfister, an experienced officer and engineer who had served in the 60th (Royal American) Regiment during the French and Indian War. They spent the winter of 1776–1777 in Canada and then moved south as part of Gen. John Burgoyne’s summer campaign. Their unit took part in the Battle of Bennington, in which Pfister was killed. When Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga, they were at Fort Ticonderoga and so luckily managed to escape capture by the Americans.
The Loyalist lot was not an easy one. The Patriots saw them not as enemy soldiers, but rather as traitors, and they and their families often received harsh treatment. Because of the very real danger of reprisals after Saratoga, Burgoyne ordered all of his Loyalist troops quickly to retire to the safety of British-held territory.
When the Loyalist forces were reorganized after Burgoyne’s surrender, both Ruiters were reduced to lieutenant, but by the spring of 1788, they were captains again. As provincial troops, they performed a variety of essential duties. Some of them worked on the fortifications at Fort Chambly and many were engaged in scouting, dispatch carrying and escort duties. They also served as woodcutters, carpenters and laborers. In the spring of 1780, the Ruiters’ companies were assigned to a regiment known as the King’s Rangers. It was raised by the famous French and Indian War Ranger Robert Rogers and his older brother, James.
With Corwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in 1781, the fighting was essentially over, but the formal peace was not signed for two more years. Although the agreement specified that the Loyalists would not be mistreated and that their property would be respected, the reality was often quite the opposite. Many were forced to leave everything they had and flee to Canada for their own safety. The King’s Rangers were officially disbanded on December 23, 1783, and the Ruiters, along with many other Loyalist veterans, began a long and often frustrating struggle to obtain land grants in Canada on which to settle and raise their families.
An interesting point discussed in the book is that during this period Vermont was still part of New York, but its residents were attempting to gain separate status. The British authorities in Canada conducted talks with the Vermonters in an attempt to gain their loyalty, but they were unsuccessful and Vermont eventually became an independent state.
After the war, the Ruiters settled near Missisquoi Bay at the northeast end of Lake Champlain and remained there when many other veterans of the King’s Rangers, including James Rogers, moved west to found what became Upper Canada.
John Ruiter died on March 8, 1797, while during the years of tension with Great Britain after the Revolution, Henry continued to serve his country as a member of the militia. He was a major in 1794 and a lieutenant colonel by 1796. In spite of his age, he served during the War of 1812, as did a number of his other family members. Henry Ruiter died on August 1, 1819, at seventy-eight years of age.
The text of this book is supplemented with genealogical tables and copies of many historical documents such as muster rolls,pay records and legal papers. Unfortunately, many are difficult to read in the book’s small format, but they are all properly cited so that serious readers can easily locate the originals.
In Farmers and Honest Men, historian and longtime reenactor Horst Dresler gives the reader an interesting and personal look at a little-told side of the American Revolution. At the end of that war, a British officer noted that Capt. Henry Ruiter was “a Farmer & an Honest Man.” After reading this book, one can only conclude that the officer’s assessment was correct, and Dresler tells his story very well. With its fascinating text, many illustrations, maps and reproduced historical documents, Farmers and Honest Men is a must for anyone interested in this period of American history.
Farmers and Honest Men was published by Anything Printed, of Woodstock, Vermont, in 2007. To order, please contact: Anything Printed, 414 Woodstock Road, Woodstock, VT 05091; (802) 457-3414. You can also order online at <store.scurlockpublishing.com>.
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