JOHN SAXE LOYALIST

Hang the Tory spy John Saxe could rightly have expected to hear these words when he was in prison in Esopusnow KingstonNew York in 1779 Then fortyseven years old he had staunchly maintained his loyalty to the King of England to whom he had proclaimed his allegiance when he arrived in Philadelphia in 1750 Indeed John Saxe was already a subject of the King of England for the young man was born in 1732 in Saxony in the Electorate of Hanover which was ruled by the Princeelector who was also King George II of England John Saxe could surely have been regarded as a spy for he worked for the Kings menalthough not in uniform or with an official position in a military unitand that would be considered spying Perhaps he actually was a spy or maybe he was just a German and Englishspeaking guide for the Ansbach Jaegers The truth of the matter will probably never be known but legend has it that he escaped or was released from prison Perhaps his employers the Livingstons arranged for his release He was their miller It is however known that Saxe returned to his family in Rhinebeck on the east side of the Hudson River and he remained there until after the end of the Revolutionary War As a suspected Loyalist his property was then confiscated by the state John Saxe and his wife and their eight sonsone just a babe in armsand many other families including some of his kinsmen then made their way up the Hudson River They crossed the height of land into the watershed of Lake Champlain and settled in the wilderness at the northeastern corner of that lake at what was then and still is called Missisquoi Bay This book is the story of the Loyalist John Saxe and of his children and their descendantssome of whom were very successful while others were ordinary men and women who eked out a living on the frontier Some settled in Canada and were loyal to the Crown whereas others were American patriots heroes in the War of 1812 and the Civil War and some who were distinguished in public service law bu