Historic Book Reprint
A reprint of the book published in 1902 entitled 'Elizabeth Hicks - 'A True Romance of the American War 1775 - 1783' has been reprinted.
A brief account of the book follows:
ELIZABETH HICKS 1762-1842
In 1902, William Hardwick, 7 Choubert Road, Peckham, London, published a book entitled :
ELIZABETH HICKS
A TRUE ROMANCE OF THE AMERICAN WAR 1775-1783
ABRIDGED FROM HER OWN MANUSCRIPT BY HER DAUGHTER FANNY BIRD COMPLETED AND EDITED BY HER GRAND-DAUGHTER LOUISA J. MARRIOTT
The Dedication reads : "To the memory of my cousin Henry Charles Byrde, J.P., D.L., of Goytre House, formerly Major Ceylon Rifles and Hon. Colonel 4th V.B. South Wales Borderers, whose love and reverence for our Grandmother led him to earnestly desire the publication of her history, this little book is affectionately dedicated by the Editor".
In the Preface, Louisa Marriott says, "I have long wished to carry out my dear mother's earnest desire that I should prepare for the press, and edit the history of her mother's remarkable life, which I have not hitherto had leisure or opportunity to accomplish.
I have carefully studied the manuscript written by my grandmother, after the death of her husband, and completed by her in the year 1814. This is in such minute detail of conversations and incidents, of no importance to the history, that I have chiefly used my mother's abridgement, written at the age of nineteen, after reading the manuscript for the first time.
I have compared this abridgement with the original, and introduced passages in my grandmother's own words, especially in that part which was written subsequently to the abstract, and concluded with a brief account of her life in England, gathered from the recollections of my mother and myself".
The book has six chapters :
1. Banishment from early home on account of war.
2. Life in the Backwoods.
3. Capture by Indians.
4. Life in the Indian Camp.
5. Rescue, and Life at Detroit.
6. Life in England.
The following is a brief summary of the fascinating story of this remarkable woman who, after hair-raising adventures with North American Indians, spent the last fifty-seven years of her life in Monmouthshire, forty-nine of them living at Goytre House built by her husband in 1793.
Elizabeth Hicks was born on the 18th May 1762, near James Town on the river James, Virginia, U.S.A. where her father farmed his own estate. When the War of Independence broke out, her father was offered a commission in the American Army which he refused. As a result he was treated as a rebel and his estate confiscated. He thereupon moved his family to a place of safety in Augusta County. At this time his son, Thomas, was twenty years of age and Elizabeth ten. Mr. Hicks then drew out what money he had in Stocks and set off for the "Back" settlements to search for suitable land which he could buy. He was away for a year and a half and his anxious family had almost given up hope of seeing him again when he returned to report that he had bought land and he wanted Thomas and Elizabeth to go back with him immediately to prepare the place for the family. They left on horseback with a guide and a manservant on a journey of about 350 miles and, after three or four days travelling, they were met by a detachment of soldiers commanded by a Captain Gilmore who had been fighting Indians. He warned them that the Indians, who were paid by the number of scalps they produced, were employed by the British to kill settlers.
Eventually they arrived safely at their destination where Elizabeth was very upset to find only a log cabin in which to live. They found some cattle wandering around and Elizabeth became the housekeeper, cook and dairymaid, while the men set about building a house. After three months, the house being almost completed, Mr. Hicks decided to go and fetch the rest of the family, leaving Elizabeth in the care of her brother.
The winter passed quietly until one morning a party of soldiers, headed by Captain Gilmore, unexpectedly arrived. He told them that the Indians were out on the war-path, that it was no longer safe for them to remain at the farm and that they must go with him to the Block House (a small fort) where, after many alarms, they arrived safely.
The following day, the Indians attacked the Block Houses but were repulsed, suffering heavy losses.
When things had quietened down, the family, accompanied by Captain Gilmore and some soldiers, returned to the farm. They found that the Indians had indeed been there and had left the farm in a very bad state. Captain Gilmore set his men to work in the fields and garden until one day he received orders to proceed to Fort Pitt some 60 miles downstream from the Block Houses.
In June orders were issued that all settlers should proceed immediately to the Block Houses and an urgent warning was given that the Indians were gathered ready to attack again. When the Hicks family reached the Block Houses, they found that further instructions had been received that the garrison and all settlers should hasten to Fort Pitt. After only three days there, when Elizabeth and her brother heard that a boat was going back upstream, they decided to return. At the deserted Block Houses, to their intense relief and joy, they found their father with the rest of the family newly arrived. Thus the whole family was reunited after a period of some twelve months worry and anxiety.
They all then returned to the farm where they remained for only a short time before there was still another alarm and, the Block Houses having been evacuated, they had to leave for a fort called Point Pleasant.
While there, Captain Gilmore, who had been paying increasing attention to Elizabeth, asked Mr. Hicks for her hand in marriage but the thirteen year old girl wouldn't agree saying that she would not marry until she was at least seventeen.
Some months passed, with the time spent between the farm and Point Pleasant where the family was when fever broke out. Two of the younger children died. All the rest had recovered when Elizabeth contracted smallpox. She was isolated in a small bungalow which Captain Gilmore had had built for her. Here she was nursed very diligently by the army doctor who had also fallen in love with her. She recovered, only for her mother to fall a victim to smallpox ten days after giving birth to a baby. She, the baby and two of the younger children died. This tragedy struck in January 1775, when Elizabeth was 13 years 8 months old.
For many months they remained at Point Pleasant and, when she was fifteen, Elizabeth consented to become engaged to Captain Gilmore.
Her father was all this time becoming increasingly impatient to return to the farm and, during the temporary absence of Captain Gilmore at Fort Pitt, he made a decision to leave. One day in June 1777, he, three sons, three daughters, two maids and eight men embarked in boats and proceeded up-stream.
That night, instead of remaining in the boats in the middle of the stream for safety, they landed to make tea and were immediately surrounded by a band of Shoney Indians who killed and scalped all the men. The women and children were carried off by the Indians, Elizabeth, a brother, a sister and a maid being claimed by a certain Indian warrior. He gave her to understand that he would be her "uncle". They were taken to the Shoney settlement where they lived with the women of the family. The "uncle" started to pay her attention and tried to make her marry him but she steadfastly refused. His efforts to starve her into submission were only thwarted by one of the "grandmothers" who befriended her. When all else failed, she was sent away to a Windot Indian settlement more or less as a slave to a family of nineteen. Here one of her duties was to milk a cow twice a day and, as the cow grazed on the opposite side of a stream, it meant a double crossing twice a day. As a result, she contracted ague and became very ill. The Windots sent her back to the Shoneys where the sympathetic "grandmother" nursed her, giving her various brews and concoctions until she was cured.
Just about this time, a Captain Bird of the British garrison stationed in Detroit heard rumours about a white girl living in the Indian settlement. He went there, made discreet enquiries, and eventually met her. As to be expected, after her cruel experiences, she eyed every male with distrust and would have nothing to do with the Captain. But he was patient and persistent, and after several visits he eventually persuaded her to escape with him. He arranged to meet her outside the settlement at dead of night where he would have horses waiting. All went well and he installed her, with a housekeeper, in a house in Detroit where he could visit her during off-duty periods. By this time he had fallen in love with her and they were married in Detroit in 1778.
In January 1785, Captain Bird with wife and three children arrived in England. He visited his sister at Oldbury Court near Bristol and found lodgings for his family at Clifton where another daughter was born on the 8th February.
In his journeyings looking for a house in which to settle down, he visited Monmouthshire and eventually purchased Goytre House estate. The house itself being unsuitable, he made arrangements to have it rebuilt and, during the period of rebuilding, he rented another house about a mile away into which they moved on the 17th March 1785. Two boys and two girls were born to them there. In 1793, the growing family moved into the newly built Goytre House where four more daughters were born.
Captain Bird, still an officer in the 54th Foot, was shortly afterwards called to active service in the war against France. On the 13th August 1800, he left England to join the expedition to Egypt but died of fever two days after leaving Spithead. The widow, Elizabeth, was left alone to bring up twelve children.
This remarkable woman, Elizabeth Bird (changed in 1863 to "Byrde") (born Elizabeth Hicks), lived on until the 4th June 1842, by which time five of her daughters had predeceased her. She was buried at Goytre Church.
Note: Goytre House is now renamed 'Aderyn' (which is Bird in Welsh!)
and is now a Brain Injuries Unit.
Comb bound copies of the book can be supplied to order at £10, they can either be collected or posted (UK postage cost £2) overseas please ask, payment by BACS preferred but cheques accepted, proceeds go to St Peter's Church Goetre.
To order click on book below and complete contact us
or send a text message to 07472 391669.
We have 6 copies available as of 15/05/22.