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ContentsOral History and an Act of Bravery Chronology of the History of the Canadian Postal Service What if 1775 is important because of the invasion of Canada Interesting Additional Information Text for this section is by Benoît Long, webmaster for the Philip Long GENWEB, unless specifically indicated.1775 - The Year it all beganAlthough this site is specifically dedicated to the role and heroism of our ancestor Philip Long in the American Revolution, we will not attempt to create a site that repeats the history of the Revolution. There are many valuable resources on the internet on the subject, and we will make available a list of those resources that we have used or consider important for any researcher to discover. We wish to refer the reader to the On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies where they have an excellent chronology of the War but also have an immense library on-line. We reproduce here the section of the letter from Philip Long to His Excellency, Lord Sherbrooke, dated September 4th, 1816. Of particular note, given that this was an error in the original manuscript from Mgr. Lang, his letter was addressed to Lord Sherbrooke (Sir John Coape, a man with a distinguished military career), a man that was known to Philip Long, and not to Lord Drummond. We can only imagine the circumstances of these men knowing each other in some fashion. We will speculate on the origins of this acquaintance when we reach 1811.
To help the reader and researcher, we reproduce here the key known elements of Philip Long's career in the military. Given the above letter , it is believed to have started in 1775:
An act of braveryIn 1775, Philip Long is believed, again from oral history as relayed by Mgr. Ernest Lang, to have engaged in an act of bravery. It has been told and re-told in the family so many times that we tend to believe that such an act did take place although we are not certain of the exact nature of this act. Given that this act is so important to many of us, we wish to reproduce here the text of Mgr. Lang's book on the subject:
There are many interesting parts to this story. We certainly want to believe that this is in fact what occurred in those early days of the Revolution. It is difficult to separate facts from fiction in this tale, particularly because Mgr. Lang was so enthusiastic about our ancestors accomplishments that the reader cannot but feel the excitement that he felt writing those words. One interesting part of this tale of course is that our ancestor was already mingling with the mails perhaps as early as 1775. We know that this was a focus of much of his career and life. We can probably safely deduce that he was already engaged in the delivery of the mails even in Provincial America in or around 1775 when the conflict began. We know that he was a member of Provincial regiments that were in fact cavalry units and he would have been very good with horses. In 1775 and prior to that date, the mails were carried through an embryonic network that was organized through and for military/government purposes. We have not undertaken a systematic research of the organization or network of the postal system at that time in the British Provinces but it may be an important source of information that could point us to what life our ancestor may have had. Of course, we caution the reader to the fact that his being involved in the postal system is a supposition and is not at all an historical fact. From the History of the Post Office in British North America, 1639-1870 by William Smith, we understand that this system of mails was critical to the colonies, that it represented a strategic asset and channel of communication that was costly to operate and maintain and required significant time and effort to keep open at all times during the year. We do not know the exact consequences of this act of bravery by our ancestor. Did it change the course of a battle? how significant was it militarily? from the words of the Agents Deane and Kavanagh, what did the words "escaped to the British with American mails" really imply? was Philip once a supporter of the patriotic cause and this of bravery forced him to the British camp? is there any evidence of similar acts in the war or at that time that would or could be that of our ancestor? These questions and many others have perplexed researchers for many years and continues to this day to fascinate all of us. Mgr. Lang and my brother Ghislain always maintained that this act in and of itself was sufficiently important to have given Philip Long special privileges and recompense. We doubt the validity of this view at this time given the facts of Philip life. Our belief is that Philip Long did receive some esteem for his act but it did not translate itself into any special title, position etc ... that we have ever been able to ascertain. Certainly prior to 1783 there is no such indication. After 1783, his knowledge of fairly important individuals in the higher circles of the British military Council in Quebec City is probably more happenstance than anything else. If he served in the 4th Regiment (likely but being researched by Donald) after 1783 for a time until he was employed fully as a courier between Halifax and Quebec City, then he likely would have met Sir John Coape who had command of the Regiment for a time. Coape would become Lord Sherbrooke. As well, in his position at the head of the Lake Temiscouata gave him ample opportunity to meet every important person who traveled from Quebec to the Maritimes. As well, he was chosen to settle at this particular location and that in itself demonstrates a certain measure of respect for his abilities but in view of the difficulties and suffering that this position brought to Philip and his family, it is not clear this a great priviliged. Finally, Philip was likely known, appreciated and noticed more specifically because he undertook to settle in a very strategic location at the head of Lake Temiscouata. Everyone of note, from Governors to Monseigneurs, lowly soldiers of the 104th Regiment or travelers stopped or stayed at his lodgings. His and his family's impact on the local history of Lower Canada is undeniable. No one to our knowledge has found any evidence for this act of bravery but we do believe that such an act did take place given that its story is so specific and has remained relatively unchanged for the last three generations (based on previous conversations with Rosario Lang and Claire Masson). Key Events of 1775Please refer to the following chronology of the year 1775.
The history of 1775 is obviously well remembered for the shots that were fired at Concord and Lexington - famous for "starting" the Revolution. In my family, we have always understood that Philip Long would have been part of some action in the Southern Provinces of the British colony which included every State south of Vermont and New Hampshire down to Florida. Therefore, all of our energies have been spent locating Philip's birthplace from known US origins, that is, Philadelphia, anywhere in New York, and even (for a time), Virginia, North/South Carolina and Georgia. These locations have been reasonable assumptions on our part but have yet to bear the long awaited fruit. Philip Long does mention the year 1775 but not the context or events that made it momentous. He was writing to Sir John Coape, a man who had had a distinguished military career and was now Lord Sherbrooke. We easily draw the conclusion that he is referring to the events of 1775 in the context of the the start of the War, particularly as he is later to be represented as an American Loyalist. However, the real first large scale conflict of this Revolutionary War actually took place also in 1775 but not on American soil. The campaign to take Canada was one of the first and best organized events to further that objective. If it had succeeded, it would have totally reversed the fortunes of the war, and certainly changed forever the history of the people of Canada as we know it today. However, it did fail. Is it possible that in the context of writing to the Governor of Canada in 1811 that Philip Long was actually referring to the effort, and his part in it, to thwart the campaign to Quebec City and Montreal? If this was the case, could it mean that our ancestor was actually a member of the (a) postal system in the Northern Province rather than the the Southern Provinces, or (b) a member of the military in the Northern Province already or, (c) a resident of the Northern Province who got embroiled in the conflict after participating in some fashion in the Northern campaign on the side of the British? Unfortunately, such conjectures are only helpful if they us build credible scenarios about his likely / possible origins. Research continues. Chronology of the History of the Canadian Postal Service
Interesting Additional Information
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This site was last updated 10/14/06