In spite of his unusual name, de Peyster was a British subject. His family were of French Protestant descent, and fled to Holland at the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. (The history of the family is traced by John Malcolm Bulloch in the Bums Chronicle, 1930.) The Colonel's grandfather, Colonel Abraham de Peyster, married a Dutch kinswoman, Catherine de Peyster, in 1684. Their seventh son, Pierre, married Catherine, daughter of Arent Schuyler, one of the sons of Philip Schuyler. The elder of their two sons was Bums's friend, Arent Schuyler de Peyster. He seems to have spent his boyhood partly in Britain, partly in Holland, though brought up on British traditions. He joined the British Army in 1755. His regiment, the 50th Foot, had been raised in America in 1748, by the Governor of Massachusetts, William Shirley, who, in 1745, had directed the siege of Louisberg with de Peyster's uncle, Colonel Peter Schuyler. Next, de Peyster held a commission in the 5 1st Foot, also a regiment raised in America and which at one time had three Schuylers in it. Forty-seven years of his service, however, were spent in the 8th Foot, later the King's Liverpool Regiment. With it, de Peyster campaigned in Germany during the Seven Years War. His main service seems to have been in Canada. From 1768 to 1785, he apparently did service as a Military Administrator, handling the Indians with such tact that when he was about to return to England, they sent him a letter, thanking him, for all that he had done for them. The last seven years of his service were spent in England and Ireland. He retired to Dumfries in April 1794.

He had married Rebecca Blair, sister of John M'Murdo's wife, Jane, and, like her, a daughter of Provost Blair of Dumfries. On his retirement, de Peyster settled at Mavis Grove, on the Nith, three miles from Dumfries. There, he threw himself eagerly into the Volunteer movement, becoming Major Commandant of the Dumfries Company of which Bums was a member in 1795. Colonel de Peyster must have been physically tough, but'beneath a rugged exterior he concealed a warm and affectionate heart', as one Bums editor put it.

Burns is generally considered to be the author of a letter bearing twenty-five signatures, including his own, asking Colonel de Peyster to suspend asking a public subscription 'for defraying the exps of our Association. That our Secretary should have waited on those Gentlemen and others of that rank of life, who from the first, offered pecuniary assistance, meets our idea as highly proper but that the Royal Dumfries Volunteers should go abegging, with the burnt out Cottager and Shipwrecked Sailor, is a measure of which we must disapprove.' Please then, Sir, to call a meeting as soon as possible, and be so very good also as to put a stop to the degrading business, untill the voice of the Corps be heard.' De Peyster led his Volunteers on the occasion of Burns' funeral.

In 1813, he published in Dumfries a book of verse, Miscellanies by an Officer, only three copies of which are still known to exist, all of them in America. According to Bulloch, this includes 'threnodies on Nelson, Sir John Moore, the Marquis of Comwallis, and Mrs de Peyster's parrot'. He died as the result of an accident, and was given a large ftmeral. He is buried in St Michael's Churchyard. His wife died in 1827.

In Sketches from Nature, published in 1830, John McDiarmid, who knew de Peyster, wrote: 'No man ever possessed more of the principle of vitality. Old age, which had silvered his hair and furrowed his cheeks, made so little impression on his inner man that... up to... his last illness his mind appeared as active and his intellect as vigorous as they had ever been. When the weather permitted, he still took his accustomed exercise, and walked round the billiard table or bestrode his gigantic charger, apparently with as little difficulty as a man of middle age.'

Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 9.

De Peyster, Arent S.
Letter to Sinclair, March 12, 1780.
pp. 378-379.

Submitted by James Sellars, July 4 1999

DETROIT the 8 March 1780.

SIR,

I think it necessary to send the Express by Land, to acquaint your Excellency with my having received a Letter, from Mons Louis Chevallier of St Joseph's (brought by his son Aimable) acquainting me with the Rebels having totally evacuated the Illinois country. Thirty Indians also arrived from the Omat, and Post Vincent, in consequence of my Invitation, they are now on their way back, having promised that the Rebels shall not recross the Wabash.

Lieut Caldwell of the King's Regt Capt McKee, Mr Elliot, the three Girtys, & about fifty Indians, consisting of the principal chiefs of the Mingoes, Shawnese & Delawares are also arrived, who reports that the Rebels failed in their attempt to establish a Fort at Cooshocking, but that they had quite surrounded the Indian Hunting ground of Kintuck, by having built small Forts at two days journey from each other as will appear by the Indian Map of that country.

The Indians further say that the rebels intend to cross the ohio in the spring, & build a fort at two days journey from their principal Village on the Little Miami. They therefore require of their Father to fulfill the promise made by former Commandants who assured him that when the Enemy should approach their Villages, Troops should be sent to their assistance, they produced Lt. Governor Hamilton's Belt and other strings to this effect, as a proof of their assertion, saying that it was now time to fulfill the promise, or they would be shortly under the disagreeable necessity of falling back and thereby become a burden to their father or else quit their ground & go to the Southward.

The principal Chiefs of the Hurons. Pottawatamies, Chippawas, Ottawas, Ouiattons, Miamis, Ouiats and the Pirorias, with the Keekapoos, being present in Council declared, that if I would send a few Soldiers, 'till a larger body could be spared, they would all rise & assist their elder brothers, and act in conjunction in future for the good of the King's Service. I see the necessity of sending some soldiers & I therefore propose to send one Capt. one Lieut. & about fifty men with two small pieces of ordnance to help them to knock down the Pickets of the first Fort.

To this party I shall add all the Indian officers and as many volunteers as may offer from the Settlement- this may for a while keep up the spirits of the Indians, 'till you Excellency's pleasure is further known.

Their route shall be up the Glise and down the Great Miamis to the Ohio. I flatter myself that this early movement, if accompanied by the great number of savages I expect, will facilitate Lt. Gov'r Sinclair's partys in their enterprises down the Mississippi, divert the attention of many from Niagara & be of some use to B. Gen. Campbell, if he has not already taken New Orleans.

An Express is arrived from Michilimackinac, which I have the honour to forward.

I am Sir, with great respect
Your Excellency's most humble & obed't Serv't
At. S. DE PEYSTER
To His Excellency the Comm'd in Chief.

endorsed:- A 1780. From Major De Peyster 8th March Rec'd 17th May By Express [B 122 p 467]
#
Historical Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, vol. 9.

De Peyster, Arent S.
Letter to Sinclair, March 12, 1780.
pp. 580-581.

Submitted by James Sellars, July 4 1999

DETROIT 12th March 1780

DEAR SIR-

I am favoured with your letters of 15th Feb'y. Missabogs arrived on the 7th Inst. with Thebault. I have detained him whilst I could dispatch an express to Niagara, in hopes also that my express might return from thence in time to send with him, but I have given over hopes therefore least Assin grow impatient, I now dispatch your Courier.

If it was in my power to send or encourage Artificers to go to Michilimackinac, I would readily do it, but I am at a loss for a number sufficient to carry on the necessary works here. I have passed the word for Cannon & ammunition & Capt. Grant has forwarded your letter to Lt. Col. Bolton, and to the Commissioner without whose order, nothing more than a supply of Pitch, Oakum & such trifles, for the repairing Batteaus, or the vessels stationed at your Post, can be sent. When I Commanded I was never able until the last year to obtain wherewith to repair a Batteau, I wish you better luck.

I am sorry to hear that the Wiandot has not yet arrived at Michilimackinac, should she still make her appearance, you will then have more than your Proportion of Rum, but should she be lost on short notice you shall have some sent to you.

Your movements down the ------- shall be seconded from this place, by my sending a part of the Garrison with some small Ordnance. All the Indian officers, & as many volunteers as can be got, Joined by a very considerable body of Indians.

Their Route shall be to the Ohio, which they shall cross & attack some of the Forts, which surround the Indian Hunting ground in Kentuck. I have had the Wabash Indians here by invitation, they have promised to keep Clarke at the Falls, about sixty of the Michilimackinac Indians have been here upon a visit, some of them have engaged to join the Wabash Indians. It would be therefore wrong in me to send any message to La Fourch. As I am convinced you will see more of them in the Spring than can possibly...... [the rest not included]
#

Letter from Major Arent De Peyster
To Lt. Col. Bolton
Dated at Detroit, May 16th, 1780

Source: National Archives of Canada
Copied from British Library (formerly British Museum)
Haldimand Papers
Letters from Officers commanding at Niagara, n.d., 1777-1780
MG 21, Add. Mss. 21760, (B-100), pp. 370-373

Submitted by Lois Sutherland Wark, Philadelphia, 28 June 1999

Detroit 16 May 1780

Sir:
After the most severe winter ever remembered at Detroit, this is the earliest we think prudent to venture a vessel for Fort Erie.

Captain Bird left this [sic] on the 12th of April, I received letters from him yesterday dated the 9th [of] May, when he expected to pass the carrying place in four or five days.

Enclosed you have a copy of a letter from Capt[ain] McKee to Capt[ain] Bird. The letters came by Lieut. Hamilton of the 47th Regmt., who offered to go a volunteer, which I granted upon receiving a letter from Capt[ain] Aubrey, who seemed desirous Mr. Hamilton should go.

I the more readily consented, from the scarcity of officers in garrison and from assurances from Lt. England that you wished the difference subsisting between those Gentlemen might be accomodated. Mr. Hamilton returning from the Glaisse was owing to sickness. Capt[ain] Bird is delighted with the activity of Mr. Cruck (?) upon all occasions, and says he supplys the want of an officer so well that it will not be felt.

Lieut. Caldwell will deliver (p. 371) you this letter, who goes as far as Niagara, to solicit your further leave, agreeable to the promise I made him the last Fall. He will be able to give you or his excellency a satisfactory account of the Shawanesse Country, having wintered with them.

The Prisoners daily brought in here are part of the Thousand Families who are flying from the oppression of Congress, in order to add to the number already settled at Kentuck, the finest country for new settlers in America, but it happens unfortunately for them, to be the Indians best hunting ground, which they will never give up. And in fact, it is our interest not to let the Virginians, Marylanders, & Pennsylvanians get possession there, lest in a short time they become formidable to this Post.

A Brother of Mons. De Quindre arrived here yesterday from St. Josephs, to which place all the Pottawatamies had returned, not daring to advance too near Post Vincennes, after having been told by a Canadian trader that it was garrisoned by 4000 French troops, and that Count D'Estaing had sent the cannon from (p. 372) Jamaica thither, which he had taken, and that the Governor of New Orleans had taken all the English settlements on the Mississippi. It is cruel that a single lying rascal, however improbable his story, should stop three hundred Indians; but this will ever be the case whilst Post Vincennes exists. A few of the Indians went on his order to see their old friends the French, but only found the Place Garrisoned by Twenty Three Rebels.

Capt[ain] Grant has my leave to wait upon you at Niagara, he will give you a clear account of the state of the Navy. I must observe that he has been indefatigable the whole winter, whereby he has caused much work to be put out of hand, which will be a considerable saving to Government.

The new fort will be constant employment for this Garrison for some time to come - the ditches filling faster than we can sod (?), owing to severe weather, and springs breaking out in all parts, which brings down the earth in great clods.

I am, this instant, agreeably surprized to hear that (p. 373) the Wyandot is hauled up on the east shore of Lake Huron, with all her cargo safe, if what the Indians report be true, for there is no letter from the Master.

I have the honor to be Sir,
Your most Humble & Obedient Servant

(signed) A. S. De Peyster
Lieut. Col. Bolton

P. S. Monsr. Maisonville is a Capt. of Militia at this place, and the only man of the Canadians who is really serviceable to Government in that line. I beg leave to recommend him to your notice.

F286 Endorsed: Copy of a Letter from Major De Peyster to Lt. Col. Bolton, dated At Detroit May 16, 1780

#Letter from Major De Peyster
To Lt. Col. Bolton,
Dated at Detroit the 4th July 1780,
enclosing copy of a letter
From Capt. Bird to Major De Peyster,
Dated Ohio River June 11th, 1780

Source: National Archives of Canada. Copied from British Library (formerly British Museum) Haldimand Papers MG21, Add. Mss. 21760, (B-100), pp. 407-409

Submitted by Lois Sutherland Wark, Philadelphia, 28 June 1999

Detroit July 4th, 1780

Sir: This instant I received the enclosed from Capt. Bird, which I send to overtake the sloop. You see that my little expedition will have missed of doing great things, from the want of resolution in the Indians, who are not fond of going in search of Rebel troops.

A Prisoner Woman just brought in from the Falls declares that two thirds of the People there wished for Capt[ain] Bird's arrival, in order to join him, being sick of oppression.

I am Sir
Your Humble & Obedient Servant
(Signed) A. S. De Peyster
Lieut. Col. Bolton

#

Letter from Major Arent De Peyster
To Col. Bolton
From Detroit, August 4th, 1780

Source: National Archives of Canada
Copied from British Library (formerly British Museum)
Haldimand Papers
MG21, Add. Mss. 21760 (B-100), pp. 441-442
Microfilm Reel H-1446

Submitted by Lois Sutherland Wark, Philadelphia, 28 June 1999

From Detroit, August 4th, 1780

Sir,
I have the pleasure to acquaint you that Capt[ain] Bird arrived here this morning with about one hundred & fifty prisoners, mostly Germans who speak English, the remainder coming in. For in spite of all his endeavours to prevent it, the Indians broke into their Forts and seized many. The whole will amount to about three hundred & fifty. Their chief desire is to remain and settle at this place as you will see by the enclosed letter received two days ago from Captain Bird, which I now send to give you his opinion of those people. Thirteen have entered into the Rangers and many more will enter, as the prisoners are greatly fatigued with travelling so far, some sick and some wounded. I shall defer sending them down least it be attended with bad consequences. The remainder to save provisions I shall distribute in different farm houses to help in the harvest. In the mean time we shall be able to know His Excellency's Pleasure before the subject should it be approved of to settle them. I have a grant from the (p. 442) whole Pottewattamies Nation of Five Thousand Acres of excellent land upon the river from near the River Rouge to the Pottewattamies Village, exclusive of other lands heretofore granted to different people, which they are desirous to have settled.

In a former letter to the Commander in Chief, I observed that it would be dangerous having so many Prisoners here - but I then thought those small Forts were occupied by a different set of People. I have the Honor to be

Sir
Your most obedient
&c.
Most Humble Servant
(Signed) A. S. DePeyster
(Duplicate)
Col. Bolton

P. S. Please excuse the hurry of this letter. The Indians engross my time. We have more here than enough. Were it not absolutely necessary to keep in with them, they would tire my patience.