Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan Jehu Hay Journal |
Jehu Hay, a native of Chester, Pa., entered the British army in 1758. Promoted to lieutenant in the 60th or Royal American Regiment in 1762, he arrived at Detroit on August 23rd of that year and remained there throughout the siege imposed by Pontiac in 1763. In 1763 he married Marie Julie Reaume and two years later was appointed commissary of Indian affairs at Detroit by Sir William Johnson.
In 1778 Hay accompanied Lieutenant Governor Henry Jamilton's expedition against Vincennes. Hamilton and Hay were captured by George Rogers Clark in February, 1779, when the Americans retook the fort. The prisoners were sent to Virginia and were not exchanged until 1781, when they went to England together. Hamilton won political promotion, and Hay was given his friend's post as lieutenant governor fo Detroit in 1782. Illness and political jealousies prevented Hay from reaching Detroit again until July, 1784. he died there on August 2, 1785.
Diary kept at Detroit during Pontiac's siege by Jehu Hay from May 1, 1763, to June 6, 1765, 212 pp.
This diary is one of the best sources on the siege of Detroit because of Hay's detail and his advantageous position.
Purchased, 1936
The Hay Journal has been published as The Diary of the Siege of Detroit in the War with Pontiac; Also a Narrative of the Principal Events of the Siege by Major Robert Rogers, ed. Franklin B. Hough (Albany, 1860) and The Siege of Detroit in 1763: The Journal of Pontiac's Conspiracy, and John Rutherfurd's Narrative of a Captivity, ed. Milo M. Quaife (Chicago, 1958).
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