ENOS IN HISTORY

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ENOS IN HISTORY

Before the 19th century, there were a few interesting Enos.

JACQUES de HENNOT - Huguenot Freedom Fighter

Jacques de Hennot (1540-c. 1631) was alderman of Valenciennes, France, in 1560, 1561, 1566 and "Treize Homme" (literally "Thirteenth Man," whatever that was) in 1577 (MSS, 550-767). This militant Huguenot (French Protestant) is generally considered the immediate ancestor of the American family.

He was lieutenant of the guard formed by the Huguenot citizens of Valenciennes to resist the Roman Catholic Spaniards, who were trying to subdue Hainault, Normandy and the low countries. After the Spaniards captured Valenciennes, de Hennot and most of the rest of his group fled to Protestant England, toward the end of the 16th century.

The background to Jacques's life and adventures was the terrible wars of religion that followed the Protestant Reformation in Europe. The years 1562-1598 saw France and its neighbors convulsed by eight civil wars. The overt reason was religion, but various monarchs and nobles used it as an excuse to do some political housecleaning. In France especially, top-shelf nobles tried to take advantage of the chaos to wrest power from the king. Factions tore each other apart. The weakened monarchy literally had to reconquer Paris in 1594 and drive the Spanish from the kingdom in 1597. King Henry IV finally reestablished the monarchy's legitimacy when he legally recognized French Protestants and gave them freedom of worship.

Our gallant Jacques reportedly fought like a terrier but surrendered twice at Tournay, the first time with Guy de Bres (the celebrated Huguenot preacher, executed there in 1567), the second time after the death of the latter. He was then taken under guard toward Lisle, but was saved in a bloody rescue by a band of Huguenot horsemen. After that escape, the establishment seems to have lost track of him. Still, Jacques was pursued by order of Theodore Cresia, commander of the Italian Cavalry under the Duke of Alva, a Spanish henchman who gave orders to capture Jacques dead or alive. The good commander promised "an honorable sum" to anyone who delivered Jacques dead, or a double amount if the said de Hennot should be delivered alive. ("Confiscations et ordonnances concernant les troubles survenus a la fin du VXI Siecle)- Royal Archives, Brussels), where also is found the decree confiscating all the lands and goods of said Jacques de Hennot and branding him an outlaw.

The next trace of Jacques is in documents at the British Museum relating to the religious wars in Flanders. There, among the names of the refugees, is Jacques, "late lieutenant of the military guard at Valenciennes." He settled in the County of Essex, north of London.

ROGER ENOS - Revolutionary War General

Like most early American Enos, Roger Enos (1737-1808) was born in Simsbury, Conn. He stuck an "s" at the end of the name because of the family's French origins. His 32-year military career led him from Connecticut to Vermont, where he established the Vermont Enos family and got a town named after him (Enosburg).

Roger was a son of David Eno I (1702-1745) and a brother of our line's ancestor David Eno II, so he would be our great (etc) grand uncle.

Roger generally is considered the most distinguished member of the American Eno family, and it's very bad form to criticize him. According to historian Henry R. Stiles, Roger was "highly educated, handsome in appearance, and a man of more than ordinary ability."

He was in the colonial military service under the British before the Revolution, and in the French and Indian wars, being promoted to ensign in 1760, adjutant in 1761 and captain in Col. Israel Putnam's regiment in 1764. He also took part in the Havana campaign of 1762. He was afterwards a member of the commission to survey lands in the Mississippi River valley.

While he apparently did have some talent as an officer, the story in our branch of the family, at least, is that Roger's career often was a comedy of errors. While having the best of intentions, he was a renowned bigmouth and, supposedly, undercover British spies would seek him out, buy him an ale or two, and he'd spill the beans about the next campaign.

At one point, poor Uncle Roger was even accused of treason by, of all people, Benedict Arnold!

People still argue about Arnold's December 1775 expedition to seize Québec City, and one of these debates concerns dear Roger, then a lieutenant colonel in the 16th Connecticut Regiment. Forty-six years old at the time, Roger was placed in command of the last of Arnold's three divisions.

In brief, Roger's 350 troops were starving, and, separated from Arnold, Roger decided to break off the march and return to southern New England. In fairness to him, to attack Quebec with 18th century technology as winter was setting in wasn't the most brilliant military decision by his superiors, Arnold among them.

To those struggling on ahead of him, Roger was little more than a deserting scoundrel. To those who sat at his court-martial, however, he was a far-seeing leader who made the right choice. Some historians call him a traitor to this day; others say he saved the expedition by withdrawing 350 men who couldn't be fed. The answer, as usual, probably lies somewhere in between. Even Arnold, furious at first, later seemed strangely ambiguous in his judgment, saying only that Roger's departure had "surprised" him because that was not what he had ordered Enos to do.

Arnold's command style may actually have been a catalyst that led to Roger's decision. Arnold was in the advance party, some three or four days ahead of him, and Arnold and Roger exchanged letters. There was no face-to-face discussion, no verbal exchange of views, and no word by Arnold of what Enos could expect on the journey ahead. Instead, Roger was left to interpret events for himself.

There was no sign of trouble between the two men (in contrast to some of Arnold's other subordinates, who were out-and-out defiant before Québec). Both also could see the trouble the expedition was in. At the end of October, Arnold sent a letter to Roger requesting that he send back his sick troops and then bring up as many men as he could with 15 days' provisions. Roger held a war council on the 25th, and the men attending either misinterpreted Arnold's letter or took upon themselves more authority than it transferred. A vote was taken, not to decide whom to send home but whether all of them should return. Four officers wanted to return, and five others wanted to continue. Ironically, the tie-breaking vote was cast by Roger himself.

Roger quickly learned, though, that Arnold was overestimating the amount of food that was left, and that changed his mind. Roger sent ahead what food he could spare and then returned to Massachusetts while other officers took a few men ahead with the provisions. When word of Enos' departure reached Arnold a few days later, Arnold was "surprised." But one of the men with him, understandably feeling betrayed and not aware of Enos' dilemma, used the word "traitor" in his diary, and historians since then have picked it up and carried it on.

On December 1, 1775, Roger was court-martialed, but most of the hostile witnesses were with Arnold in Canada. His defense was that he didn't have enough food to do what Arnold wanted, and the rest of the expedition had no food at all. It would have been foolhardy to continue, he insisted. Roger's explanation was corroborated by the officers who had returned with him, who naturally painted themselves in a favorable light. Enos was honorably acquitted. He went on to a distinguished military and political career in both Connecticut and Vermont during the remainder of the war and afterward, being, among other things, promoted to general.

In the long run, the 350 men who returned with Roger probably would not have made a difference in the abortive attack on Quebec the night of December 30-31. And even had the city been taken, they certainly would not have prevented the British from regaining Quebec in the spring of 1776. But then, Roger had taken home more food than he relinquished, and the court-martial never heard both sides of the story. Even today, it is still difficult to determine whether Roger's actions were despicable or praiseworthy.

Later, in 1781, Roger became Vermont's military commander and was one of the few men who was in on the captured secret correspondence of General Sir Frederick Haldimand, governor of Canada and commander of British forces there.

In another rather humorous debacle, Roger in 1781 commanded the army that pretended to resist the British invasion from Canada. The invasion fizzled because it consisted mostly of unmotivated French Canadian troops serving under the British, and these honest Quebecers rather admired the Vermonters. A French Canadian general, on behalf of his troops, actually apologized to Roger at one point for inadvertantly killing one of Roger's' men during one of the rare engagements in that place and time.

After the Revolution, Roger Enos basked in fame and served Vermont in many capacities for the rest of his life.

His daughter, Jerusha Enos, married Revolutionary hero Ira Allen (brother of Ethan Allen, Vermont's answer to Daniel Boone) and his son, Pascal Paoli Enos, was one of the four proprietors of the original site of Springfield, Ill., and, later, was a friend of a young lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.