William Clapham

William Clapham (Clappan) was a Captain in the British Army who was stationed in Nova Scotia during Father Le Loutre's War. He was appointed captain in Boston in 1747 and sent to defend Annapolis along with Jedidiah Preble and Benjamin Goldthwait.[1][2] After the Raid on Dartmouth (1749), Clapham raised a company of 70 men to fight the Mi'kmaq.[3] Clapham relieved Gorham in the Battle at St. Croix.[4] He was involved in the Battle at Chignecto.[5]

The first raid on Halifax happened in October 1750, while in the woods on peninsular Halifax, Mi'kmaq scalped two British people and took six prisoner: Edward Cornwallis' gardener, his son, and Captain William Clapham's book keeper were tortured and scalped. The Mi'kmaq buried the son while the gardener's body was left behind and the other six persons were taken prisoner to Grand Pre for five months.[6][7]

Ezekiel (Eziekiel) Gilman abandoned the saw mill in the wake of the Raid on Dartmouth and Clapham took charge of it.[8] In the Raid on Dartmouth (1751), Captain Clapham and his company of Rangers were stationed on Blockhouse hill. He and the company are reported to have remained within the block-house firing from the loop-holes during the whole raid. A court martial was called on 14 May, the day after the raid, to inquire into the conduct of the different commanding officers who allowed the village to be destroyed.[9] By June, Clapham's Sergeant had been acquitted.[10]

In the same year, Clapham was tried for killing a prisoner after having gagged him too tightly.[11]

References
  1. Moody, Barry M. (1974). "Goldthwait, Benjamin". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. Murdoch, Beamish (1866). A History of Nova-Scotia, Or Acadie. Vol. II. Halifax: J. Barnes. p. 121.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. Murdoch (1866), p. 162.
  4. Murdoch (1866), p. 175.
  5. Salusbury, John (2011). Ronald Rompkey (ed.). Expeditions of Honour: The Journal of John Salusbury in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1749-53. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-7735-3869-6.
  6. Wilson, John (1751). A genuine narrative of the transactions in Nova Scotia since the settlement, June 1749, till 5 August 1751 : in which the nature, soil, and produce of the country are related, with the particular attempts of the Indians to disturb the colony. London. p. 13.
  7. Akins, Thomas B. (1895). History of Halifax City. Nova Scotia Historical Society. pp. 18–19.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)– History of Halifax City at Project Gutenberg; Atkins puts the month of this raid in July and writes that there were six British attacked, two were scalped and four were taken prisoner and never seen again.
  8. Murdoch (1866), p. 181.
  9. Akins (1895), p. 28.
  10. "Extract of a Letter from Halifax in Nova Scotia dated June 25, 1751". The London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer. 20. 1751. p. 341.
  11. McCormick, Chris; Green, Len, eds. (2005). Crime and Deviance in Canada: Historical Perspectives. Canadian Scholars’ Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-55130-274-4.
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