ow held as a
military burial ground, was named after this officer.]
He told them that he had been offered by the rebels the command of a
party of men to march forward and attack Fort Cumberland, and if they
(the rebels) should be successful, they were to be reinforced, and at
once proceed to Halifax, set fire to the town, and sack it.
In their proceedings the rebels, who were in constant communication with
the New Englanders, and who were instructed by them, were talking of
forming this plan in order if possible to keep General Howe's army from
being largely reinforced.
Captain Godfrey, though very weak and ill, offered his service to
General Massie, if the latter would arm two schooners and put on board
of each of them one hundred regulars besides a crew of twenty-five men.
He proposed to proceed to Fort Cumberland and secure the place in case
an attack was made. His offer was declined. He then bid adieu to Halifax
and sailed for England, where he and his family arrived on January the
8th, 1777.
He lost no time in applying to Lords North and Germain, who after proper
examination found his claims for losses in the colony well founded; and
were generously pleased to order him the annual sum of one hundred and
fifty pounds for the temporary support of his family. This sum was
afterward reduced to one hundred and twenty pounds, and finally
altogether withdrawn.
He then put his distressed condition before the government, and his case
was again tossed about from Lord to Lord, and from board to board, and
finally brought up again before the Lords of Parliament, and from it was
sent back to the Lords of Plantations and Trade. From thence to the
Lords of commission for services and losses in America, and the Lord
only knows where else it was sent, until it was sent out to Nova Scotia
in 1784.
Thirteen years had elapsed since the Captain experienced his first
misfortune in Nova Scotia, and more than seven years had elapsed since
his second loss, then his case was sent out to Nova Scotia.
During all this long time he had exercised the greatest patience, and
his loyalty to his King (George the Third) was never for a moment
shaken.
He had lost in lands and goods about twelve thousand pounds sterling by
settling in a British Colony where Indians and rebels destroyed his
prospects, and yet he had received no redress for the hardships he and
his family had endured, and the great wrongs inflicted upon them. His
wife
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