William Caldwell ( ranger ) William Caldwell ( c . 1750 – 20 February 1822 ) , was a Scots - Irish immigrant to North America who became a soldier with the British Indian Department . He fought against the American rebels in the American Revolutionary War , especially with Butler ' s Rangers , based near upstate New York . After the war , together with other Loyalists , Caldwell was granted land in Upper Canada ( now Ontario ) . He helped found the town of Amherstburg , near the mouth of the Detroit River . He also served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the War of 1812 , and from 1814 - 1815 as the Superintendent of Indians in the Western Department . He was a merchant and farmer in Amherstburg . Early life and education . William Caldwell is believed to be the son of William and Rebecka Caldwell of County Fermanagh , Northern Ireland . As a young man , he immigrated to Pennsylvania in the British colonies of North America in 1773 . Career . His initiation into combat was in the Wyoming Valley , Pennsylvania when Pennsylvanians fought against Connecticut settlers . In 1774 , he served in Dunmore ' s War . In 1775 , he was appointed an officer in the British Indian Department . With the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , Caldwell served with Lord Dunmore ' s forces in the attack on Norfolk , Virginia ( 1776 ) , and was injured . Recovered of his wounds , Caldwell went to Fort Niagara , where he was appointed captain in Butler ' s Rangers on December 24 , 1777 . In the ranger campaigns , Caldwell was " a very active Partisan " , according to the commandant of Fort Niagara . Leading his troops into battle , he exhibited a ruthlessness that the Americans would never forget . On July 3 , 1778 , he was present at Battle of Wyoming in Pennsylvania . In September 1778 he led an attack on German Flatts in the Mohawk Valley of central New York , together with the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant ' s leading his Iroquois forces . They destroyed all of the buildings and grain in the area , and killed and captured much livestock , leaving the settlers ' struggling through the winter . Based out of Detroit , Caldwell led a force of about 50 rangers in many battles and expeditions in Kentucky and the Ohio Country . In 1782 , he led his rangers and Shawnee allies in victories over the Crawford expedition and at the Battle of Blue Licks . After the war , Caldwell settled in the Detroit region that became Upper Canada . Together with other Loyalists , he was granted land in what became Amherstburg on the Detroit River and became a merchant . His partner was another Loyalist , Matthew Elliott . With the outbreak of the War of 1812 , Caldwell was given command of a group of between 40 and 50 volunteers from the Canadian militia , called Caldwell ' s Rangers ( or the Western Rangers ) . He fought at the Battle of the Thames and the Battle of Longwoods , among many other actions . Marriage and family . Before his marriage , while in Fort Niagara , Caldwell had a relationship with a Mohawk woman . They named their mixed - race son , born about 1782 , Billy Caldwell . The boy was first raised with his mother ' s people . In 1783 Caldwell married Suzanne Baby , daughter of Jacques Baby dit Dupéron . Together they had eight children , five sons and three daughters . In 1789 his father brought the boy Billy Caldwell into his family and gave him an education . Billy Caldwell later lived in the United States after 1818 , where he became a prominent representative of the Potowatomi people in Illinois and Iowa . He was sometimes known to them as " Sauganash " , their term for a British Canadian . Career . In the War of 1812 , Caldwell was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel . He gained commissions for all his sons by Suzanne in the regular army ; Billy Caldwell was given a captain ' s commission in the Indian Department . After the war , in 1814 , Caldwell was appointed Superintendent of Indians in the Western District , with his son Billy as his second - in - command . William Caldwell died on February 20 , 1822 in Amherstburg , Upper Canada .