Butler's Ranger Part 2

Butler2 Earl Plato
Cruikshank’s work about Butler’s Rangers helped me to pursue some background history of a few of Fort Erie’s first soldier settlers. Two ancestors that I researched decades ago are listed in the document - NEW YORK STATE-CONFISCATION OF LOYALISTS (copied by Dr. H.C. Burleigh from original lists) 1780-1783: Burleigh used the following headings: Name; Town; County; Addition; Indictment When Found; Judgment When Signed:
BOWEN, Cornelius; Tribes Hill; Tryon; Yeoman; 14-5-5; 14-7- 1783. - PLATO, Christian; West District Manor; Albany; Yeoman; 9-6-4; 29.12. 1783. Plato had a $100 reward ( a considerable amount for the day) on his head. He was a recruiter for the British Crown and was coonsidered a spy according to the American documents. Both men served in Butler’s Rangers throughout the American Revolution. Both men were yeomen free holders in the Colony of New York at that time. Both these men had pledged allegiance to the British Crown and when the American Revolution broke out they had property and homes confiscated. They would fight for their losses and loyal they would remain.
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Years ago a locally respected lady in our Bertie Historical Society castigated me when she said, “You’re not a descendant of Butler’s Rangers are you?” I said, “Yes,” proudly. “They were a terrible bunch!” She proceeded to inform me of some of the exploits of my forefathers. In the years that passed I learned that most of her knowledge had come from American publications. She had relatives across the border. Cruikshank had worked in the U.S.A. for some years and doubtless knew the “spin” American historians had portrayed about Butler’s Rangers. The old b&w motion picture- Drums Along the Mohawk - starring the late Henry Fonda helped to promote the concept of a cruel, vengeful, ‘commando-like’ elite, military group known as Butler’s Rangers. Cruikshank systematically tried to dispel many of the American entrenched view of the Rangers after over a hundred years of what I feel consisted of much historical ‘brainwashing’by many American historians. Cruikshank uses the military records of both British and American sources to make his case. Thank goodness he did or I would have had to accept the distorted picture of Butler’s Rangers.
Next: A different view