Herkimer's Bateaux Coy.

The bateaux was the pickup truck of the American Revolution. Everything that needed to be carried and would fit on one of these agile workhorses was loaded on and moved. When the KRR used them to move into rebel territory they were frequently sunk with rocks and re-floated when the attacking company was on their return journey.

A dedicated team from Duncan's Company of the recreated regiment now field a small group of bateaux.

For detailed information on the history, uses and specifications of bateaux please refer to an article entitled Bateaux and 'Battoe Men': An American Colonial Response to the Problem of Logistics in Mountain Warfare, written by New York State Museum’s Senior Historian, Joseph F. Meaney.

Bateaux are uniquely linked to the Loyalists of the Bay of Quinte, their movements during the American Revolution and their settlement of what became the Province of Ontario. In lists of Loyalist military units can be found references to Harkimer's Batteau Company (used as transport during St. Leger’s expedition), Van Alstine's Batteau Company (used as transport of wounded after Saratoga) and the Royal Bateaux Volunteers.

Herkimer’s Batteau Company refers to Capt. Hanyost Herchermer who settled at Herchemer’s Nose (now Lemoine’s Point) in Kingston Township. Capt. Herchemer’s grandson, Lawrence Herchemer, was a Commissioner of the North West Mounted Police.

Van Alstine's Batteau Company refers to Maj. Peter Vanalstine. The historic plaque at the U.E.L. Heritage Centre & Park in Adolphustown, Ontario reads: On June 16, 1784, a party of some 250 United Empire Loyalists landed from bateaux near this site and established the first permanent white settlement in Adolphustown Township. They had sailed from New York in the fall of 1783 under the leadership of Major Peter Van Alstine (1747-1811), a Loyalist of Dutch ancestry, and passed the winter at Sorel. Van Alstine was later appointed a justice of the peace, represented this area in the first Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and built at Glenora the earliest grist-mill in Prince Edward County.

In the Old U.E.L. lists is found the name Jeptha Hawley, Lt. of Batteaux. Hawley’s house is historically designated on the main street of Bath, Ontario (Loyalist Parkway) and is one the oldest inhabited dwellings in the province.
There were at least two black soldiers in Capt. Herchemer’s crew, George Minks, who settled in Camden East Township and later moved to Toronto, and Tanno Fonda also referred to as Janone Fundy.
Herkimer’s Bateaux Coy became part of the re-enacted KRR based on the success of tactical re-enactment Thunder-on-the-Reach at Adolphustown in 2003. United Empire Loyalist Heritage Centre & Park started operating reproduction revolution-era bateaux in 1999 when they acquired a 32-foot military style and a 17-foot Mohawk River style from Peter Ferri, a longtime battoeman and bateaux builder from Stockdale, Ontario.

In 2003, the U.E.L. Heritage Centre & Park purchased the 27-foot Black Snake from the Thousand Islands River Heritage Society in Mallorytown, Ontario. Crewed by various contrarian members of 1st Bn , Duncan’s Coy, the Black Snake usually uses 4 active musketmen as crew as well as a gunner operating a 1lb. swivel gun.

Captain of Batteaux, Brandt Zätterberg, has crewed with Peter Ferri since 1999. Zatterberg is a descendant of Nicholas Peterson, a veteran of the Defence of the Blockhouse at Bergen Wood, New Jersey. On September 29th, 1787 Nicholas Peterson made a claim for losses that included “a boat which was cut to pieces by the Rebels because he used it for carrying Provisions to the King’s Army in 1776.”

Basic Batteaux Commands for Contrary Battoemen