42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 
     
    
   
   
    
     Being anxious that the Island should not be undefended, 
     
     the Secretary of State gave instructions to raise an independent 
     
     corps, this corps, however, was never completed, owing it was 
     
     said, to the smallness of the population which had been 
     
     considerably reduced by recruiting officers who had previously 
     
     enlisted a large number of young men for the regular service in 
     
     the revolting colonies. But in 1778 four companies of 
     
     .provincial troops, under Major Hierliker, arrived here from 
     
     New York. An engineer officer and an architect also came to 
     
     erect a barricks, and as the ordnance property to the south of 
     
     the town had not been cleared of the forest, a site was chosen 
     
     at the east corner of King and Queen Streets, opposite the 
     
     Court House, where the barracks was built and the troops 
     
     quartered; their presence was hailed with joy and would be 
     
     the means of—it was hoped—greatly reducing the chance of 
     
     another successful attack on the town during the continuance 
     
     of the war with the Americans. 
     
    

    
     The monotony, betimes, was broken during summer by the 
     
     arrival of His Majesty’s war- -ships, and occasionally American 
     
     privateers which had been captured at sea, making the town 
     
     lively by their presence. 
     
    

    
     In October, I779, a transport, having a regiment of Hessian 
     
     troops on board, bound for Quebec, encountered heavy gales 
     
     of wind 1n the Gulf of St. Lawrence and was compelled to take 
     
     refuge here The troops were landed but with difficulty found 
     
     accommodation during the winter. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In June, 1780, they left for their destination. Years after, 
     
     on receiving their discharge, many of them returned to the 
     
     Island and settled down 1n various parts, where today many of 
     
     their offspring are tillers of the land. 
     
    
   
   
    
     After an absence of five years Governor Patterson returned 
     
     to the Island and resumed the reins of government, relieving 
     
     the Hon. Mr. DesBrisay, who had succeeded Callbeck as 
     
     Administrator. 
     
    

    
     The population of the Island had not increased very rapidly, 
     
     yet for its better security and preservation, it was desirable to 
     
     organize a militia force from amongst the scanty inhabitants. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The General Legislature therefore, in 1783, passed a militia 
     
     law by which it was enacted, “That all male inhabitants 
     
    
   
   
    
     between the ages of sixteen and sixty, being British subjects,