STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

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John McKinstry

" John McKinstry was at the battle of Bunker's Hill where he acted a brave part in repelling the overwhelming force of the enemy. From that time to the surrender of Yorktown he was constantly in the field with a commission of captain often commanding a partisan corps in bold and daring enterprises. In Canada he had become a terror to the enemy. At Cedar Keys, 30 miles above Montreal on the St. Lawrence, he was taken prisoner and soon bound to a tree by the savages and surrounded with faggots. All hope of escape had fled. A torturing death seemed inevitable as the torch was ready to be applied and the war dance was arranged. The Captain uttered what he supposed was his last prayer. At that awful moment Heaven reminded him that he was a Mason and had heard that the ruling chief Brandt, belonged to the same time honored fraternity. He gained his eye and gave him the proper sign; he was instantly released and treated with great kindness and exchanged in a short time. Many instances are on record of a similar character and others of a different nature where a brother has been rescued from the jaws of death. General Freegift Patchin, of my native place was rescued by Brandt when a prisoner in Canada under exactly similar circumstances. I have often heard it from his own lips. If all mankind were true Masons and no black sheep in the flock; a harmony would succeed before unknown. The instances above cited should silence every objector to an institution pure in principle but sometimes dishonored by the unworthy. Capt. McKinstry resumed the business of agriculture when the Army was disbanded and lived in the esteem of his countrymen in the town of Livingston, N. Y. until 1822 when his mourning neighbors performed the last solemn duty of placing him in his grave."

Source: The Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by L. Carroll Judson