THOMAS NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY
His Education in Scotland.--His winning character.--He enters the
army.--Malcolm Fraser's counsels to a young soldier.--Thomas
Nairne's life at Gibraltar.--His desire to retire from the
army.--His return to Canada in 1810-11.--His life at Quebec.--His
summer at Murray Bay, 1811.--His resolve to remain in the
army.--Beginning of the War of 1812.--Captain Nairne on Lake
Ontario.--Quebec Society and the proposed flight from danger to
Murray Bay.--Anxiety at Murray Bay.--The progress of the War.--An
American attack on Kingston.--Captain Nairne on the Niagara
frontier.--Naval War on Lake Ontario.--Nairne's description of a
naval engagement.--Sense of impending disaster at Murray Bay.--The
American advance on Montreal by the St. Lawrence.--Nairne's
regiment a part of the opposing British force.--The Battle of
Crysler's Farm.--Nairne's death.--His body taken to Quebec.--The
grief of the family at Murray Bay.--The funeral.
At his father's death Thomas Nairne was the only surviving son. In 1791
the father had written of this boy, born in 1787 and thus only four
years old: "Tom continues very stout but not easy to manage and [I] am
afraid it will be difficult to separate [him] from his mother. He does
not speak a word of English; neither do your sisters Mary (now called
Polly) or Anny speak any other language than French; but I intend to
send them all to Quebec next summer, where it's to be hoped they will
soon learn to understand a little English." So to Quebec Tom was sent to
begin his education. By 1798, when only eleven years old, he had gone to
the relatives in Scotland and Nairne's friend, Ker, writes of him: "I
think Tommie one of the sweetest tempered fine boys I ever saw and he
will, I doubt not, be the comfort and delight of you all." Polly was
there too--"a very good girl ... of great use to her Aunts to whom she
pays every attention." Tom, like his brother John, was carefully
instructed by his father. He must look after himself, dress, care for
his clothes, and keep clean, without troubling others. Especially must
he try to think clearly and speak distinctly--truly a sound beginning of
education. His brother's death in 1799 made him an important person, the
pride of his house. "There are many Tams now in this parish," wrote his
father in 1801, "even a part of it is named St. Thomas, all in
compliment to our Tom." At the time of his father's death in 1802, a boy
of fifteen, Tom was attending the Edinburgh High School. Before me lies
a coverless account book of octavo size in which are written by some
careful person, in clear round-hand, recipes, scraps of poetry, problems
in arithmetic and geometry, and among other things, "Tom's Expenses,
1796." A quarter at the High School costs 10/6, "Lattin books," 4/-,
school money is 3/-, a ferret 3d., and so on. His sister Polly's
expenses are entered in the same book and that young lady's outlay was
more formidable. Items for the milliner such as "making up a Bonnet.
3/6," (young ladies still wore bonnets) are frequent. Miss Polly spent
6/- on ear-rings. Once when she took a "Shaise" it cost her 2/-, while
"Chair Hire" is sometimes 1/6 and sometimes reduced to the modest
proportions of 9d. No doubt for her health's sake she bought for 1/- a
"Sacred Tincture" which, we may hope, did her good.
Thomas Nairne was an attractive boy. He lived with his father's executor
and friend, James Ker, an Edinburgh banker, a wise, prudent, far-seeing,
man. Mr. Ker was married to Colonel Nairne's niece and he received Tom
as his own child. The boy was the inseparable companion of Ker's son
Alick. Tom won praises on all sides. An Aunt wrote seriously that she
had feared he was too good to live; and she comforted Nairne's grief at
his son John's death by the thought of what Tom will be to him. He is "a
happy chearful pleased little fellow always quiet at home"--but also
"happy and at home wherever he goes." So thoughtful, she adds, is he
that, entirely on his own motion, he deems it proper to write to his
mother; one of these letters is before me--beautifully written in a
large but well-formed schoolboy hand. "A very promising sweet young
man," was the renewed judgment of his business-like guardian upon Tom
in 1803, when he was a boy of only sixteen. By that time, it was thought
that Tom had exhausted the advantages of the Edinburgh High School. The
Edinburgh accent of the day did not suit the taste of his fastidious
guardian, who hoped that in an English school a better manner of speech
might be acquired. Tom's cousin and companion, Alick Ker, a boy a few
years older, was going to school at Durham and thither also went Tom.
The lads "are the greatest friends in the world," wrote his watchful
aunt; "Alick does not know how to exist without Tom but Tom is more
independent of Alick, for he is not so shy." In an aunt's, perhaps
partial, view Tom was quicker and showed more application than Alick.
"Tom advances with great deliberation in his height," she writes, which
was very convenient, for, since Alick was older, Tom came in for Alick's
out-grown clothes and this saved expense.
When the boy's school days were drawing to an end his future course was
the topic of much discussion. Tom's father had wished him to study law,
though not to practice it: in Canada, he thought, there was no lucrative
opening for any one trained in the law unless he was made a judge. Old
Malcolm Fraser, Tom's adviser after his father's death, would have had
him, for safety's sake, adopt a civilian life; he was the last male of
his house and therefore ought not to be exposed to a soldier's dangers.
Tom's Edinburgh friends wished him to become a Writer to the Signet or,
at any rate, to learn something about business since, as a landed
proprietor, he must be a man of affairs. But the youth took the matter
in his own hands. For his father's character and career he had always a
great reverence; soldier's blood was in his veins, and nature had her
way. Tom became a soldier and, when the school days are ended, we find
the boy, not yet eighteen, Lieutenant in the 10th Regiment of Foot.
Fraser wrote to Tom protesting against what he had done and from Maldon
Barracks, in Essex, on April 5th, 1805, Tom answers his godfather's
objections. Perhaps to add solemnity to his argument the old man had
assumed the tone of a valetudinarian and Tom replies: "I would fain hope
you had no reason for saying you would soon follow my dear Father. I
hope God will spare you to us since he has thought proper to take my
Father to Himself. Your loss would be irreparable, I having no other
person to protect my mother and sisters as I have chosen a line of life
in which I may never have the fortune of being near them." In spite of
Fraser's appeal, Tom's resolution to remain in the army was unshaken.
It was an amazing era in Europe and well may Fraser have feared for the
young Lieutenant's safety. While the boy was writing, Napoleon
Bonaparte, with the lustre fresh upon him of a recent gorgeous
coronation at Paris as Emperor of the French, was gathering at Boulogne
a great army and hundreds of small boats with which this army might, he
hoped, be thrown across into England within twenty-four hours. That
country was very nervous but, for some reason, Tom's regiment, instead
of being kept at home to meet the invader, was sent to Gibraltar. Here
he remained inactive while world-shaking events were happening, while
Trafalgar and Austerlitz and Jena were fought, and Pitt stricken with
"the noblest of all sorrows," grief for the seeming ruin of his country,
told those about him to "roll up the map of Europe," and died
heartbroken. Not unnaturally at such a time Gibraltar seemed dull; a
miserable place, Tom thought, a prison on a large scale. His friends
wrote him letters containing an abundance of good advice, all of which
he took with becoming modesty. A letter from Fraser of this character is
still excellent reading; his counsels to the young soldier have added
weight when we remember that the author was with Wolfe at Louisbourg and
Quebec and now, nearly fifty years later, was still active in the
militia forces of Canada.
_Malcolm Fraser to Lieut. Thomas Nairne_
_From Murray Bay, 7th October, 1805._
My Dear Godson,--
I had the very great pleasure of receiving yours of the 5th April
last at this place on the 15th September and as your sister Miss
Christine has wrote you I must refer you to her for the news of
Murray Bay. She left this for Quebec a few days ago and every thing
continues to go well here and I hope will do so. Your mother
improves your estate daily and if she lives ten years I am
convinced that she will make it worth double what it was ten years
ago and if after a peace, when I hope you will have a company, you
can get exchanged into a Regiment serving in this Country without
losing rank, you will by that means have an opportunity of
examining your own affairs here and it will give the greatest
pleasure to your mother and other relations and friends within your
native country, and particularly to me, should I happen to live so
long. Christine has I suppose wrote that you are now an uncle, your
sister Madie having been delivered of a fine boy about two months
ago, and I have the pleasure to tell you that she and her husband
seem to be very happy and, tho' I did not at first approve of the
match, that I am now quite reconciled to it as are all her friends
here, as well as those in Scotland as far as I can learn.
Now as to yourself: tho' I had some objections to your going into
the army so very young, yet now that you have become a soldier, I
hope you will continue to follow the military life with ardour and
Emulation as far as lays in your power and that you will endeavour
to employ your spare time in acquiring the various accomplishments
necessary to become a good officer. I would by no means advise you
to avoid such innocent pleasures and amusements as are suitable to
your age and rank. But I pray you beware of being led astray or
going into any excess. I am very glad to find that the army is now
in general much less addicted to (what was falsely called) the
pleasures of the bottle than in former times, but you may still
meet with temptations in that way which I hope you'll guard
against. Try to resemble your late worthy father in temperance and
moderation as well as in punctuality and exactness in doing your
duty with strict subordination to your superiors, particularly to
the commanding officer of your corps, as it is by his
recommendation, commonly, that those under his immediate command
may expect promotion. You must by all means avoid getting into any
parties or factions against him, which I have known sometimes to
have unfortunately happened to others; but there can be hardly
anything more detrimental to the service as well as dishonourable
to the corps wherein it takes place. I would also recommend to you
..., in case you are engaged in any action, to beware of passing
judgment on the conduct of your Commanders, till at least you are
of an age and have acquired experience to entitle you to give your
opinion, as it is very common for a young man to be mistaken. You
must also avoid any dispute or difference with your brother
officers, for tho' there are unhappily some cases where a gentleman
_must_ vindicate his honour yet where I have known such things
happen they might have been prevented _with honour_ if the parties
had not allowed their passions to get the better of their reason;
and you must remember there is never honour to be acquired by being
quarrelsome, but the reverse, and that your life ought now to be
devoted to the service of your King and country. I know you will
not be sparing of it when occasion requires.
I would also recommend to you to read useful books when you have
time and to acquire a competent knowledge of History, both Ancient
and Modern, especially that of the country in whose service you
are engaged, as also such books as treat of your profession; and to
pay particular attention to the lives and actions of those who have
distinguished themselves in its service, who you will find to have
been in general as remarkable for their moral, as for their
military characters; and I hope you will endeavour to imitate them
and, tho' you may not acquire the rank, you must remember that you
cannot become a _good general_ or even a good officer without first
acquiring a competent knowledge of your profession. For this
purpose (tho' I never had any proper knowledge of those matters
myself yet I am sensible of my deficiency) I would have you study
and read such books as treat of fortification and encampments; and
as you are still very young I imagine you may soon acquire a
competent knowledge by such reading, suitable to avail yourself of
it on any emergency.
I must now recommend you to keep those who may be under your
command in that degree of subordination and obedience which the
service requires. But you must never forget that your inferiors,
even the Private Man who serves in the ranks, is your fellow
soldier and fellow-man, and that you are bound to show him every
attention and humanity in your power. This was one of the many good
qualities for which your father was remarkable, for which he was
beloved by all ranks; and I hope you will imitate him. I must now
conclude by recommending to you to let me hear from you once a
year, at least, or oftener if an opportunity offers. Nothing can
give more pleasure than to hear good accounts of you to
Your affectionate godfather,
MALCOLM FFRASER.
In short you must never forget that you may at times become
responsible for the lives and honour of those under your command as
well as for your own, and, it may even happen, for that of your
King and Country, in some degree, and that you are to act
accordingly. All this with more and much better you may read or
hear from others; but I flatter myself that you will not think the
less of it as coming from _me_.
It must be admitted that the soldier's ideal in that age for the British
army was as high as our own. We are accustomed to think that a hundred
years ago drunkenness was hardly accounted a vice. Perhaps it was not in
civil life, but in the army, in young Nairne's time, sobriety was the
rule. Writing on May 20th, 1807, he says that few in the army resort to
drink, as a pleasure, even at Gibraltar, where wine is cheap and
plentiful; the allowance in the regiment after dinner is but one-third
of a bottle, and only now and then when there are guests is it usual to
depart from this allowance. The deadly dullness and idleness of
Gibraltar were its chief defects, the young officer thought.
There had been futile talk of peace. On August 13th, 1806, Ker wrote to
Murray Bay from Edinburgh: "We expect to hear of Peace between this
country and France. The Earl of Lauderdale has been sent to Paris to
treat. But what sort of peace can we make with Bona Parte?" What sort
indeed? Peace was not to come during Tom Nairne's lifetime. He was
getting ready meanwhile for an enlarged career. At Gibraltar he pressed
his guardian to purchase him a captaincy. Those were the bad old days
when promotion in the army went largely by purchase and Tom had been
Lieutenant for little more than a year when, at a cost of £1,000, Ker
bought for him the desired rank; he attained to this dignity at the age
of nineteen. The purchase strained his resources severely but his family
got some comfort out of the thought that he was advancing. There was an
excellent library at Gibraltar and he had good opportunities for
self-improvement of which he promised to avail himself. But the promise
was hardly realized. At any rate Tom gave a very poor account of his own
doings for, after he had returned to England, he wrote to his mother
(from Chelmsford Barracks on March 19th, 1808) a not very flattering
account of himself at Gibraltar:
Only figure to yourself a rock, about two miles and a half in
length and scarcely the fifth part of that in breadth, and then
most likely you will not be so much astonished at my making the
above comparison [of Gibraltar to a prison], from which you may
wisely suppose that those unfortunate beings who had the misfortune
of being shut up in it led a most inactive and stupid life....
However, to give the Devil his due, I must not omit to observe that
it contained a most excellent Library, by which means officers
might improve themselves greatly and spend their leisure hours to
their credit, provided they were desirous of doing so; particularly
as nothing existed in that place to take off their attention from
study; and I make no doubt but some young men had the sense to
profit by that favourable opportunity. At the same time [I] am
extremely sorry to inform you your promising son did not, in any
shape whatever, and am much concerned to add that he spent a very
idle life whilst there, doing nothing else the live-long day than
riding or lounging; which I presume you will think was a complete
disgrace to any man of a liberal education, in which I perfectly
agree with you.... I sincerely hope and trust that he [your son]
will mend as he becomes older and wiser.
Tom confesses himself at this time "a complete idle, good for nothing
fellow," but he disarms his mother's reproaches when he adds that he is
chiefly occupied in thinking of her and of his large estate in Canada
where he longs to be. It had for him a new attraction, since his cousin
Alick Ker was just going out to Canada, a Captain on the staff of Sir
James Craig, the new Governor, who was related to the Kers. For the time
Tom's family was content that he should be at Gibraltar, where he was
safe, and where, too, as Ker prudently says, "he lives cheaper than he
could in England, has a genteel [how the age loved that word!] society
and the use of a large Library." He rode on the sandy beach; sometimes,
until the coming of the French troops, the British officers were allowed
to ride into Spain.
These diversions all came to an end on August 26th, 1807, when Tom
turned his back on Gibraltar for good. Incredible as it may now seem,
the voyage to England took nearly a month; he arrived on the 24th of
September. The young man had been turning over seriously his future
prospects. In a letter to his mother he makes some enquiry about his
own probable income from his estate. While protesting that he is himself
"a Devilish ugly fellow" he has some thought of getting his mother to
choose a "rib" for him and, presumptuous as it may seem, she must be
handsome. He was thinking now of a civilian career. At Gibraltar he had
found that he was short-sighted, and long sight seemed a necessity to a
soldier. But Fraser, to whom he poured out his woe, answered that
short-sightedness need not interfere with his efficiency; Colonel Nairne
had been short-sighted and yet, withal, a successful officer; the
question of sight would matter only if he was in command, in face of the
enemy, and, even then, he could get assistance. Fraser advised him to
stay in the army until he attained the rank of a field officer, when he
might retire on half pay to his estate at Murray Bay, "extensive but not
valuable in proportion." In truth Tom, tired of the army, was home-sick.
He says to Fraser that he is "feeling an indescribable degree of anxiety
to see my dearest mother, sisters, and yourself, not forgetting to
include my estate, where I often figure myself, strutting about like
unto a mighty Bashaw; which peaceful idea I sincerely hope will be
realized, some day or other, if it pleases God to spare me so long; ...
my only desire is now that blessed time may be near at hand or even that
I could afford to set out to Murray Bay without any further delay.
However it is proper to drown that wish, for the present, amongst the
noise of arms, as the whole world is up against us, and my assistance,
though little enough, God knows, may be of some use. At all events it
would be tasting the sweets of this life before I had ever felt the
miseries of it." He ends by asking that nothing of which he is possessed
may be spared "towards making Alick Ker pass a pleasant time in Canada."
The fear which the old aunt had ingenuously expressed that Tom might
prove too good to live was happily belied, for he appears to have been a
sufficiently idle young fellow, though, as his watchful guardian wrote,
"a good economist"; the same guardian thought this extremely opportune,
since "Bona Parte," with all Europe under his heel, was making it lively
for the fortunate islands, and forcing them to levy a tax of 10% on
incomes. "This tax," writes the indignant banker, "is one of the many
blessed fruits of the French Revolution, and of the horrible tyranny and
perfidy of their rascally Emperor."
Not long did Tom remain in England. Soon he was off with his regiment to
Sicily, at this period garrisoned by British troops, and saved by a
strip of inviolate sea from the grasp of the master of Italy. The
sojourn in Sicily must have been dull. He was stationed at Syracuse, but
his school training had not gone deep enough to interest him in
Thucydides's marvellous story of the siege of that place or in the
antiquities of Sicily. The chief surviving record of his sojourn in
Sicily is an account from his washerwoman, "Mrs. De Lass," dated at
Syracuse the 8th of March, 1809. His distaste for the army was now
complete. His sister Polly had ended her school days and, by a fortunate
circumstance, had gone out to Canada "under the protection of Sir
William Johnstone's lady" and to Canada Tom was himself resolved to go.
Early in 1810, he was back in Edinburgh, taking a few weeks' holiday
with the Kers, resolved to go on half pay at once, if possible, or,
failing this, to sell out, and after a delay of fourteen or fifteen
months, to go home to Murray Bay. The intervening time he intended to
spend in the study of farming; he had almost completed a plan for going
into Berwickshire to reside with a farmer and thus equip himself as a
land owner. His friends thought him changeable. "The Captain," wrote Ker
on the 30th of March, 1810, "is a sweet tempered good young man but he
wants steadiness.... I fear that after trying to be a farmer at Murray
Bay he may tire and want to return to the army." So serious was Tom
about his future bucolic life that he wrote to his sister Christine, as
he had written before to his mother, to ask whether she did not think he
should look round for a wife; such a companion would be necessary, he
thought, if he settled down as a farmer in Canada. We can imagine that
the proposition, from a youth of twenty-three, caused some dismay among
the occupants of the Manor House at Murray Bay; but Tom was soon
professing himself something of a woman hater and he never married.
His return to Murray Bay followed quickly. By a fortunate, or perhaps,
in view of the tragic fate awaiting poor Tom, unfortunate, chance,
instead of going on half-pay, he was able to exchange from the 10th
Regiment of Foot to the Newfoundland Regiment. The chief reason for the
exchange was that the Newfoundland Regiment was ordered to Canada, where
Tom could get leave of absence to pay a long visit to Murray Bay and
learn how its life would suit him. So, in the autumn of 1810, the young
man was in Canada, which he had not seen since childhood. To Murray Bay
he soon paid a flying visit; the longer leave of absence would come
later. His competent, busy, prudent and affectionate old mother welcomed
him with open arms. He had thought of himself as a young Bashaw
strutting round among the people of his seigniory. No doubt they were
much interested to see the young Captain; but his duties soon called him
back to Quebec, from which place on December 3rd, 1810, he writes to his
mother:
I have this moment finished drinking tea, all alone.... You have
totally spoiled my relish for anything except for Murray Bay; my
notions of things in general appear to be entirely changed. Murray
Bay while viewed only in perspective afforded me a sort of pleasing
reflection; but now that I have a nearer view and enjoyed its
comforts my ideas have experienced a complete revolution. So you
see what your society and most kind loving treatment have effected.
You may therefore rest assured that no stone will be left unturned
to try to get back in order that we may remain together in this
world as long as it may please the Almighty to permit us. On my
arrival here at 2 o'clock p.m. I proceeded to the Upper Town in
order to look out for a bed, concerning the getting of which I had
entertained my doubts being, _tout ensemble_, a queer figure,
having on my covered handkerchief, thick great coat, Canadian
boots, and round hat; in short at the first essay I was refused by
a "No room in the house, Sir," a common reply given to those whose
unfortunate appearance happens not exactly to please the harsh and
scrutinizing eye of the lord of the mansion. I then turned my
frozen steps towards this house of hospitality where after
explaining _mon besoin_ to the waiter he scrupulously and
critically eyed me from top to toe, from head to foot, then turned
on his heel to go to his master and report accordingly. During his
absence I commenced a serious inspection of self to find if
possible what had attracted his attention so pointedly towards my
toes, when I observed the cause to be the silver chain of my
over-alls peeping out from under my great-coat; which, no doubt,
was the reason of having received a favourable answer; for on his
re-entrance he asked me to sit down and I finally engaged a room.
On January 9th, 1811, Tom wrote to say that a man had arrived from
Murray Bay but without letters:
"What the Devil has come over those sisters of mine? Pray are they
still behind the stove patching their old stockings? No time
forsooth--Rediculous--Could not the lazy wretches have only wrote
me the scratch of a pen merely to wish me a good New Year? Mr.
McCord to be sure mumbles something about time; it is highly
diverting to have country lasses talk about want of time,
particularly those I am now speaking of, unless they have greatly
altered for the better since I saw them last, and turned their
hands to cow-keeping, tending of poultry, or something of that
description; but I'll be bound for it they still employ themselves
with nothing else except perching behind the stove, growling, and
driving carriols."
He exhorts his sisters to take long walks in the fine cold weather. Then
he dips into politics. There is to be an election at Murray Bay for the
county of Northumberland and Mr. Bouchette, a Canadian, had asked for
the interest of Tom as seigneur. He regrets that he cannot himself offer
to stand since he is unsettled in plans, "and totally unacquainted with
the language of the country"; a strange comment on the fact that in
early youth he had known only French. The habitant had recently secured
the right to vote but already pleased himself in exercising it. Though,
as Tom says, "Dr. La Terrière of the adjacent seigniory of Les
Eboulements, the Curés, and the Devil knows who" all wished Bouchette
elected and Tom was himself anxious that a habitant should not be
chosen, Bouchette failed and a habitant was sent to Quebec to represent
the district in the Legislature.
Tom's letters written during the winter of 1810-1811 are full of the
gossip and events of the time in Quebec. He is now obviously keen for
self-improvement, and, in the manner of his father, for the improvement
of others also; while congratulating Polly on the better style of her
letters which are now "sprightly", he corrects her spelling. Among other
things he is trying to complete a proper inscription for his father's
tomb. He sends for the title deeds of his property in order that he may
do homage to the governor Sir James Craig, and shows a lively interest
in the management of his estate. His father's old friend, Colonel
Fraser, was visiting Quebec which, more than fifty years earlier, he had
helped to win for Britain but where now, it is somewhat sad to think, he
has, as Tom says, very few acquaintances. So the young Captain spends
two or three hours daily with the Colonel and finds that he has many
interesting subjects to talk with him about. He drives with him into the
country. He enquires about a house in Quebec which his mother had some
thought of buying and talks of a trip to Montreal to buy a horse to send
to Murray Bay. In the letters home Christine, "Rusty" is the special
object of his teasing. She has been accustomed to spend the winters at
Quebec, but is now at Murray Bay, and he asks how she likes the dull
country at this season. "She never says anything about it, which is in
her favour.... I trust that through the means of Picquet you contrive to
keep her rusty dollars moving." Tom's absence from Murray Bay was soon
to end. On March, 23rd, 1811, he wrote joyously that he has got leave of
absence for six months, and is coming "to my own dear Murray Bay."
Christine had been dangerously ill and he is naturally anxious to be at
home.
So behold the young seigneur disporting himself at Murray Bay in the
spring of 1811. Old Malcolm Fraser, at the manor of Mount Murray just
across the bay, kept a watchful eye on the godson who, he had begun to
fear, was not proving wholly satisfactory. The cause of Fraser's
misgiving is not clear but he lectured Tom with tactful insight. Of his
own career the young officer was now beginning to take a new view.
During the long holiday at Murray Bay he had time to taste its pleasures
and to learn its chief interests. He went out fishing and shooting; he
sailed and rowed on the river; he occupied himself in the daily business
of the seigniory, for which his competent mother had so long cared; she
was now building a mill which would probably add to Tom's revenues. He
made friends with the curé Mr. Le Courtois. This gentleman, a French
émigré, who found a refuge in Canada, had thrown himself with great
devotion into the rough life of a missionary among the scattered
peoples, Canadians and Indians alike, of his remote parish. He was a man
of culture and remained always a valued counsellor of the Protestant
family in the Manor House.[22] But, in spite of all the interests and
friendships at Murray Bay, Tom soon found that the little community
hardly needed him. Every thing was well looked after, prosperous and
promising. He would be only a fifth wheel to the coach and, before long,
he had made up his mind that he had better stick to his military career.
Without doubt Tom was a young man of winning character. Malcolm Fraser,
having studied him and lectured him, reconsidered his unfavourable
estimate, and wrote to Ker on the 10th of October, 1811: "I think him
incapable of any immoral or mean action; ... he seems to hearken to the
lectures of his old Godfather tho' not perhaps always delivered in the
most delicate Style." To his mother he was a tender son, and for his
father's memory he showed a filial reverence. One of his first acts on
arriving in Canada had been to arrange for the erection in Quebec of a
proper monument in his memory--something that others had long talked
about and which Tom brought to completion, but which has, alas, long
since disappeared. Tom was in truth a man of action, and to action in
the larger world he now turned. Towards the end of September, 1811, at
the time when, to-day, Murray Bay's summer sojourners turn reluctantly
homeward from the crisp autumn air and from the mountain sides beginning
to show the season's glowing tints, Captain Nairne set out from the
Manor House to join his regiment at Quebec. He had in mind a plan to go
back to Europe and to get to Spain or Portugal for a share in the
Peninsular War then raging. Fraser, now in his 79th year, writes on
October 10th, 1811, his advice that the young man "should continue on
full pay till he attains the rank of Major, by brevet or otherwise, and
then, if he chooses, he may exchange and retire on the half of whatever
full pay he holds at the time, and as soon as such exchange can be
accomplished with decency and propriety." War with the United States was
now impending, hardly a fitting time for a young man to withdraw from
the army, and Fraser points out that "in the present situation of public
affairs and at his age and fitness for service" Tom's retirement would
be hardly decent. "Next to my own nearest connections," he continues,
"my chief attention will be paid to Captain Nairne and the other
connections of his late Father with whom I had the happiness to live in
Friendship and intimacy from our first meeting (1757) till his Decease
(1802) and I trust we shall meet again in a future state."
The young man thus returned to his military duties with his old friend's
benediction and restored confidence. But to the family the plan for a
military career was a sore disappointment. His sister Christine, its
woman of the world, and the one most in touch with the Canadian society
of the time, was keen that Tom should live at Murray Bay. To her
entreaties he answers on October 6th, 1811, that there is no earthly use
for him at Murray Bay where everything is so well looked after that his
presence would do more harm than good. Time would hang heavy on his
hands if he were always employed in fishing, shooting and navigating the
river. It is better, he says, that he should continue in his present
position and he intends to withdraw his application for half pay. When
Christine returns to the charge and urges that Murray Bay is not to be
despised the young man retorts that he never said it was and answers her
with some dignity:
It will ill become me to despise the favourite residence of a
person for whom I have at all times testified the greatest love
esteem and respect. Indeed I think my behaviour hitherto might have
spared me such a severe remark.... You charge me with being
inconsistent and changeable, in which opinion you are not, I
believe, singular; but until you point out to me where I have been
so, I shall till then, plead not guilty in my own mind.
War was now brooding over Canada--the fratricidal War of 1812. But for
the time Quebec was gay. There was hardly a week without a private ball,
Tom wrote in February, 1812; and the assemblies, dinners and suppers
were innumerable. He chaffs his sister Christine, whose rheumatic pains
had apparently become a kind of family joke, and says that, since they
are the enemies of high kicking, her inability longer for this pastime
"is partly the cause of her sounding a retreat to the peaceful shades
and grottoes of Murray Bay." Polly, the other unmarried sister, was more
content to be at Murray Bay, with results that led to a family tragedy
as we shall see later. Her brother pictures her driving his nag with her
carriole through the country; so reckless is she that she is sure to run
down some one. "Does she, proud and high, still continue hopping away to
the country weddings?" His request that Pope's Works and _The Spectator_
be sent to him seems to indicate a serious turn of mind. He is sending
to Murray Bay _The Lady of the Lake_ and _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_
whose middle-aged author was just turning from poetry to win
unprecedented success as a writer of fiction. In the spring he goes out
shooting for snipe nearly every day; and he sends to Murray Bay for his
fishing tackle. When a fellow officer falls ill he sends him down to
Murray Bay for a month.
Soon came a more active life. War with the United States was near and
Canada was getting ready. In May, 1812, Malcolm Fraser, led to Quebec
from Murray Bay and the intervening parishes what militia he could
muster. At the same time, he was made a commissioner to administer the
oaths of allegiance: in extreme old age the veteran was ready again to
do what he could. The Newfoundland regiment, to which Tom belonged, was
ordered to the interior. The storm cloud drew near and burst on June
19th, 1812, in the form of a declaration of war by the United States on
Great Britain. The Americans intended to pour troops into Upper Canada,
but sparsely settled at that time, and quickly to occupy it. The
frontier on the Niagara River was the chief danger point and the
Newfoundland Regiment was sent up to Lake Ontario to aid in the defence.
On July 3rd, 1812, Tom writes from Kingston in Upper Canada. The news
has reached him that war has been declared; and already, busy with the
task of placing men and supplies where they will be most needed, he has
been the length of Lake Ontario in the _Royal George_; staying two days
at York, now Toronto; going thence to Niagara and then sailing back to
Kingston. At Kingston there are 1,000 militia and Carleton Island,
(where Tom's father had commanded in the War of the American Revolution)
has been taken by the British--an inglorious success for its garrison
consisted of but three veterans and some women. The adjacent Indians,
says the young Captain, "are anxious to be at the Yankees with their
Toma-hawks." Altogether some exciting campaigns were in prospect and Tom
was glad that his family was "snug at Murray Bay."
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF LAKE ONTARIO AND R. ST. LAWRENCE TO
ILLUSTRATE WAR OF 1812]
There, remote and isolated, they seemed indeed safe--so safe that, to
share the security, a general descent of their friends seemed imminent.
At Quebec there was, for a time, something like a panic. "Every one
here," wrote Mrs. Hale to Miss Nairne "is in a complete state of anxiety
and suspense, not at all knowing whether we shall be attacked, or what
may become of us. I have just now seen Colonel Fraser, who assures me I
shall be welcome at your mother's house, in case we should be obliged to
leave Quebec. [He] advised my writing for fear you should have
applications from other quarters.... Many ladies are going to
England.... My spirits are so depressed that I cannot pretend to amuse
you with any anecdotes." Murray Bay offered its hospitality with great
heartiness and Mr. Hale wrote, "I believe all Quebec mean to move
towards you if necessary, so you must prepare."
Quebec was in a flutter of successive excitements, now certain that it
was invulnerable, now fearing an immediate descent of the enemy, and
always longing for peace. In England the Orders in Council which
provoked the war were now revoked, and Malcolm Fraser wrote that this
must soon bring peace in America, especially since New England and New
York were against the war. Miss Nairne's friend in Quebec, Judge
Bowen[23], wrote to her in November, 1812, announcing the armistice for
six months, arranged some time before, and assuring the ladies at Murray
Bay that all cause for anxiety was now past,--an illusive hope for the
armistice was not ratified by President Madison and the war went on. We
get echoes of social jealousies that may now amuse us. Sir James Craig,
the late Governor, had repressed sternly the aspirations of the French
element and had been specially friendly with the Nairne circle; he was
indeed a cousin of the Nairnes' relative by marriage, James Ker. But now
with Sir George Prevost as Governor things were changed. Sir George came
from Halifax and Quebec society looked with green-eyed jealousy upon his
"Halifax people." "They are not the right sort," Judge Bowen wrote to
Christine Nairne:
It will be long before we meet a staff like Sir James Craig's
gentlemanly men.... The castle affords no delight but to the
Halifax people. They are all Gods, the Quebecers all Devils. As for
me I have no desire to be deified.... Would you believe it Pierre
Bedard [a French Canadian leader whom Sir James Craig had clapped
into prison] is now Judge of the Court of King's Bench at Three
Rivers. Would that poor Sir James[24] could raise his head to take
a view of the strange scenes daily occurring here; but it is better
he should be spared the Loathsome sight. What it will end in I dare
scarcely express.
In these days there was ceaseless anxiety at Murray Bay. "We are all
here in a complete state of suspense," wrote Christine Nairne, "... My
brother is now in Upper Canada doing duty as a marine officer on board
the _Royal George_. We are in the utmost anxiety about him but on the
Almighty we rely for preservation in these horrid times." Echoes came of
stirring events. Tom wrote of General Brock's succeeds in capturing
Detroit and with it the American General Hull and his whole army. A
little later the Detroit garrison was sent to Montreal and Captain
Nairne, doing duty on the _Royal George_, carried General Hull--"the
extirpating General" he called him in view of dire threats that Hull had
made as to what he should do--with 200 prisoners from Niagara to
Kingston and then in batteaux down the River St. Lawrence on the way to
Montreal, through whose streets the Canadian militia marched their
prisoners to the strains of "Yankee Doodle." Elated with the success
against General Hull, Tom now expected to hear any day that the American
fort at the mouth of the Niagara River had been taken by General Brock.
He heard a much sadder tale. Instead of awaiting attack the Americans
became the aggressors and crossed the river into Canada. In a successful
attempt to dislodge them from Queenston Heights the gallant Brock was
slain. The invaders were driven back; but all Canada mourned for Brock.
Mrs. Bowen wrote to Christine Nairne, "I am sure you will have deeply
felt the loss of poor General Brock. He was always a great favourite of
yours as well as mine. Salter Mountain spoke in the highest terms of him
in his sermon last Sunday."
As the war became more grim in character Captain Nairne formed a fixed
resolve to see it through to the end. On October 5th, 1812, he writes
from Kingston that in response to his former request he had just
received notice of having been put on half pay. With this release he
might now have retired to the serenity of Murray Bay. But, even though
he had not changed his mind, this would have been to turn his back on
fighting when men were most needed. So when Captain Wall of the 49th
Regiment broke his leg, and was thus rendered unfit for service, with
him Nairne effected an exchange. "I could not reconcile myself to the
idea of sneaking down to Murray Bay and forsaking my post at the present
critical period," he wrote to Fraser. That old soldier was delighted at
Tom's spirit and made this note at the foot of the letter which
announced this action:
Point Fraser, [Murray Bay], Oct. 23rd, 1812: I do hereby certify
that my Godson Captain Thomas Nairne has, as I think, acted as
becomes him and very much to my satisfaction--Malcolm ffraser.
From Prescott on the 29th of October, 1812, Tom wrote to his mother of
his delight at being once more a regular "in that distinguished old
corps the 49th." It was indeed a fine regiment. Brock had led it in
North Holland and in 1801 it had been on board the fleet at Copenhagen
with Hyde Parker and Nelson; it is now the Berkshire Regiment and the
name "Queenston" where its commander, Brock, fell, is on its flag.
Though a soldier not a sailor, Tom had now one gunboat and three armed
batteaux under his command, and, when writing, he had just arrived at
Prescott with the American prisoners taken in the gallant action at
Queenston where Brock was killed. His tone is serious and tender. "When
the war is over I trust in God we shall all have a happy meeting again
at Murray Bay, perhaps never more to part during our stay in this
world." It was now his plan that if he should outlive the war he would
go to Edinburgh, find a wife and settle himself on his property without
loss of time. A few days later, on November 15th, he writes from
Kingston of a lively incident in which he has taken part. With six
schooners and an armed tug, the _Oneida_, of 18 guns, all full of
troops, the Americans had appeared before the place. At 4 o'clock on the
morning of the 10th the adjutant of the 49th came into Tom's barrack
room to arouse him with the news that the enemy was thought to be
landing a force five or six miles above the town. "He lit my candle,"
says Tom, "and left. I immediately jumped out of bed, dressed myself in
a devil of a hurry and sallied forth to the Barrack yard where I found
three Companies of the 49th under arms, Gunners preparing matches and
artillery horses scampering out of the yards with field pieces." He was
soon sent to hold a bridge about three miles west of the town. The ships
kept up a fierce cannonade for some time but it was so briskly returned
that in the end they drew away having lost four men. But they had
command of the lake, a supremacy not to be challenged until a British
Commodore, Sir James Yeo, arrived in the following summer.
In his letters at this time Nairne speaks of his heavy expenses and says
that even if the opportunity came to visit Murray Bay he could not go
for lack of money. So he begs his mother to build all the mills and
houses she can, and thus to make the profits which he sorely needs. He
complains of hearing from home so rarely: "You have only wrote once, I
believe, since I came to the Upper Country. What in the name of wonder
are you all about? I hope Yankey Doodle has not run off with you. I am
sure there can be no complaints of my being negligent in this way."
The scene changed rapidly. Early in February, 1813, Nairne was sent to
Niagara. Here for a time he was stationed at Fort George. The Americans
were now menacing Fort Erie on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.
But things were looking well for the British. On January 22nd the
British Colonel Procter defeated the American General Winchester at
Frenchtown near Detroit and made him and 500 of his men prisoners. Now
young Nairne talked even of "extirpating" General Harrison whom the
English were attacking in what is now the state of Ohio. But again high
hopes were dashed. General Harrison succeeded in forcing the British to
evacuate Detroit; then he invaded Canada, and before the campaign of
1813 was over he defeated the British badly at the river Thames in what
is now Western Ontario. Meanwhile about Niagara there was some lively
campaigning. In March Nairne describes an exciting night journey in
sleighs from Fort George to Chippewa near Niagara Falls where an
American landing was feared. Echoes of more distant wars reach this
remote frontier. This was the winter of Napoleon's terrible retreat from
Moscow and word comes, "glorious news certainly if true," that 140,000
French have been captured by the Russians.
Nearer home the chronicle was less glorious. The American fleet appeared
before York (Toronto), burned the Parliament Buildings and public
records, and carried off even the church plate, and the books from the
library, of Upper Canada's capital, acts avenged by the burning of
Washington later in the war. Flushed with success, the Americans now
prepared to attack Fort George in overwhelming force. The 49th, Nairne's
regiment, were the chief defenders. The attack came on May 27th, 1813.
There was sharp and bloody fighting. Greatly outnumbered, the British
were beaten; so hastily did they evacuate the fort that Nairne and
others lost their personal effects. He writes, somewhat ruefully, that
he has now only the clothes on his back and his watch, a purse, a family
ring, and some trinkets. But this had its compensations; now he could
carry everything in a haversack and blanket. Even paper, pens and ink
are hardly to be got; he is writing on the last bit of paper he is
likely to have for some time.
For many weeks the young man took his share in this campaigning in the
Niagara peninsula. The British headquarters were by this time at
Burlington Heights at the head of Lake Ontario, half way between Fort
George and York, the ruined capital. By June the British had turned on
the foe with vigour. On June 6th they rather stumbled into victory at
Stoney Creek, capturing two American Generals, Winder and Chandler. On
June 7th a British squadron, under Sir James Yeo, appeared off
Burlington Heights, bombarded the American camp on the shore at Forty
Mile Creek and compelled a retreat towards Fort George. Soon the British
were menacing the enemy in Fort George itself. Nairne's letters, watched
for, we may be sure, at Murray Bay with breathless interest, recount the
incidents of the campaign. At Beaver Dam, only a dozen miles or so from
Fort George, Lieutenant Fitzgibbon of Nairne's regiment, the 49th,
entrapped an advancing party of Americans and, by the clever use of 200
Indian allies, filled them with such dread of being surrounded and
massacred by the savages that nearly 600 Americans surrendered to little
more than one-third of their number. These same wild Indians in their
war paint were enough, Nairne thought, "to frighten the Black Deil
himsel'," and their proximity in the campaign is one of many causes for
which he thanks Heaven that the plague of war is so far removed from
Murray Bay; even if it lasted for years, it would still not reach that
remote haven, he says. Meanwhile Murray Bay can help him. Two pairs of
socks, one flannel and one linen shirt, have been the modest increases
to his wardrobe since the hasty exit from Fort George many weeks before.
He begs his sisters to make him some shirts and socks, but not many,
since on the marches, usually made at night, he has to carry all his
belongings on his own back. The charge of a too elaborate transport
service sometimes brought against the British army in modern campaigns
seems to have no place in the War of 1812. The British, few in number
and defending an immense area, had to do killing work. Nairne says that
his men were able only rarely even to take off their accoutrements.
With the arrival of Yeo's squadron the war was again half military, half
naval. Yeo was a brilliant young officer and the remote waters of Lake
Ontario witnessed some clever naval tactics. The small fleets were
evenly matched. Chauncey, the American commander, was very cautious and
would not fight unless he could get the advantage of his longer range of
guns, while Yeo, if he fought at all, preferred to fight at close
quarters; so they manoeuvred for position, each declaring that the
other could not be brought to bay. On August 3rd, 1813, Nairne wrote
from Burlington Heights to Malcolm Fraser. In an earlier letter that
veteran had expressed the desire of dancing at Tom's wedding and Tom had
told him, with the prophetic saving clause "should I outlive this war,"
that to see his friend of eighty years dancing would be a considerable
inducement to marry. He hopes that they may soon discuss the war "over a
good bottle of your Madeira at Mount Murray."
He calls Burlington Heights the stronghold of Upper Canada. "The
situation we have chosen is by nature a strong position being bounded on
the east by Burlington bay, on the south by a commanding battery, ditch
and parapet, this being the only side bounded by the mainland; on the
west by a morass and creek; on the north by the continuation of this
same creek, which here discharges itself into Burlington bay. The height
of the land above the level of the water all round is upwards of 100
feet and the only side therefore necessary to fortify is the south,
which I assure you is pretty strongly so." Here was the chief British
supply depôt and Nairne had just been sent thither to aid in repelling a
menace from the American fleet. He had brought his force from Ten Mile
Creek, in boats, on the open lake, and the journey, lasting all day, was
ticklish enough. All the time the American fleet was in pursuit and it
reached the narrow gateway to Burlington Bay only an hour and a half
after Captain Nairne entered. The enemy intended to storm the heights,
and landed 800 men for that purpose; but finding the position too
strong, they re-embarked their force at daylight on August 1st, and bore
away for York (Toronto) where they wrought new havoc in that undefended
and "much to be pitied town."
On August 20th Nairne writes, still from Burlington Heights. This, his
last letter, gives a dramatic account of a running fight between the
rival fleets, in the dark, illuminated, however, by the flashes from
their cannon:
It was a moment of great anxiety with us when the two fleets lay in
sight of each other, the one wishing to avoid coming to hard knocks
and the other straining every nerve to be at it. I rode 20 miles to
see the hostile squadrons, and, for nearly two days, had the
pleasure of observing their movements from the mountain at Forty
Mile Creek, and I must confess I never saw a more gratifying or
more interesting sight. At 11 o'clock on the night of the last day
that I was there (the 10th inst.) Sir James Yeo contrived to bring
them [the Americans] to a partial engagement and for an hour and a
half the Lake opposite the _Leo_ appeared to be in a continual
blaze. I remained in a state of uncertainty as to the result till
daylight when I observed the Yanky fleet steering for Fort George
with two Schooners less than they had the evening before, and our
fleet steering towards York with two additional sail. [They were
the _Julia_ and the _Growler_.] The Americans have besides lost two
of their largest Schooners, which upset from carrying a press of
sail, when our fleet was in chase of them.
While this dramatic fighting is going on before his eyes Nairne's one
regret is that his present quarters are "completely out of the way of
broken heads."
Meanwhile at Murray Bay events were happening. Colonel Fraser was kept
busy. Some of the French Canadians already showed a restiveness that
ended in open rebellion in 1837 and these misguided people now dreamed
of using the war with the United States as an opportunity for throwing
off the British yoke. At Murray Bay traitorous meetings were held.
Fraser watched them closely and caused a number of the habitants to be
imprisoned for a time on a charge of treason. For an old man of eighty
he showed amazing vigour. His neighbours of the Nairne household were
now in great trouble. Tom's elder sister by five years, Mary, the
sprightly "Polly" of his letters, had brought grief to her family. She
made a clandestine marriage with a habitant, the news of which, the
young man, in his last letter preserved to us, wrote, "nearly bereft me
of my senses." In those anxious days of domestic difficulty and of war
the old mother and her two remaining daughters at the Manor House had
assuredly enough to think of. Then came Fate's sharpest blow. The
tradition is still preserved at Murray Bay that on November 11th, 1813,
Mrs. Nairne, the Captain's mother, was in the kitchen at Murray Bay,
when suddenly a sound like the report of a gun came up as it were from
the cellar. She put her hands to her head, cried "Tom is killed," and
sank fainting into a chair. The day and the hour were, it is said, noted
by those about her.
By this time Thomas Nairne's regiment had passed from Burlington Heights
to Kingston, at the opposite end of Lake Ontario, some two hundred miles
away. The St. Lawrence River had now become the chief danger point for
Canada. On October 21st the American General Wilkinson, with 8,000 men,
left Sackett's Harbour near the east end of Lake Ontario, opposite
Kingston, in boats, to descend the St. Lawrence and attack Montreal--the
identical plan that the British had found so successful in 1760. In
addition, as fifty years earlier, another American force was to advance
through the country bordering on Lake Champlain so that the two armies
might unite before Montreal. From the first the American plans went ill.
The more easterly force met with ignominious defeat by a handful of
French Canadians at Chateauguay. Wilkinson did little better. British
troops, among them Nairne's regiment, were hurried down the river under
Colonel Morrison to harass, if possible, Wilkinson's rear and to fire
upon his 300 boats from the points of vantage on the shore. After a slow
descent, day after day, on the night of November 10th the rear of the
American force, under General Boyd, landed and encamped near Crysler's
farm, a short distance above the beginning of the Long Sault Rapids on
the St. Lawrence, to descend which needed caution. As the American rear
was some distance from the vanguard, the British, though much inferior
in numbers, thought the time favourable for attack. On the morning of
the 11th when General Boyd was about to begin his day's march forward,
the British, some 800 against a force of 1800, advanced in line. Their
right was on the river and the line extended to a wood about 700 yards
to the left. The American general did not refuse the gage of battle and
a sharp fight followed. Boyd tried to outflank the British left and
Nairne's company was sent forward to charge for one of the enemy's guns.
When well in advance it was checked by a deep ravine lying between the
two armies and the American cavalry made a movement to cut off the
advancing party. The pause was fatal to Thomas Nairne. A musket ball
entered his head just above the left ear; he died instantly and without
pain. The British won the day. After a fierce fight the enemy fled to
their boats, embarked in great disorder and fled down the river. Their
generals, when they could hold a council, decided that the attack on
Montreal must be abandoned.
Meanwhile dead on the field of battle lay Thomas Nairne. When the action
was over and the enemy had retired, his fellow officers bethought them
of the body of their companion lying stark where he fell. Already some
sinister visitor had been upon the spot for his watch was stolen--"as
was not unusual on such occasions," wrote Nairne's Commanding-officer,
Colonel Plenderleath, grimly. They dug a grave; Colonel Plenderleath
stooped over the body to cut off for those who loved him a lock of hair
falling over the dead face, and then, without a coffin, they laid him in
the earth. But before the grave was filled a member of the Canadian
militia stepped forward. He said that he had known Nairne's father, and
begged that, for the esteem and veneration which he bore that gallant
soldier, he might be allowed time to provide a coffin for his son. A
rough box was hastily prepared. In this the body was placed and once
more lowered into the grave and there, a few yards from where he fell,
the mortal remains of Thomas Nairne were committed to the earth with the
solemn rites of the Anglican Church.
The next day Colonel Plenderleath, who was not two yards away when
Captain Nairne fell, wrote to Judge Bowen what words of comfort he could
for Nairne's friends:
He was a gallant officer of most amiable Manners and
Disposition.... It may be of some comfort to his family that he has
fallen in the honourable service of his country. We obtained a
complete victory, having beaten a force greatly superior to ours,
driven him from the field of battle, and captured one Gun and
several Prisoners.
If Nairne fell Canada was saved and the gallant young officer did not
die in vain.
News travelled slowly in those days but bad news has swifter wings than
good; a week after Thomas Nairne fell the particulars of his death had
reached Quebec. It was Judge Bowen's painful duty to send to Murray Bay
the intelligence he had received from Nairne's Colonel. He wrote to Mr.
Le Courtois, the curé, giving the sad news and adding "I understand that
the enemy have since crossed over to their own side.... Would to God
their visit had fallen upon any other head than that of our poor
friends." He begged Mr. Le Courtois, who, himself an exile from France
because of the Revolution, had witnessed many sad days, to be the
minister of consolation at this time. "You will, I am sure be the friend
of the distressed and instil into their bosoms that peace which, I am
afraid, nothing but your assistance and time can restore to them." Mr.
Le Courtois was to hand to Miss Nairne a touching and wise letter from
Bowen. "Do not, my dear Miss Nairne," he wrote, "give way to feelings
but too natural upon a trying moment like this but rather exert
yourself to speak comfort and consolation to your dear Mother. Recall to
her that we are all but sojourners here on earth and that he is but gone
before to those blessed mansions of eternal peace and happiness where
she will one day meet him never to part again." Old Malcolm Fraser sent
the sad news to Tom's friends in Scotland. "I am not fit to write much,"
he said, but he found comfort in the thought that the young Captain died
gallantly and that the enemy "must have suffered great loss of men, as
they were entirely drove off the Field and they lost a piece of cannon.
But, alas! all this can afford little consolation to his good and
afflicted mother."
Nairne's body was not allowed to remain where he had fallen. Judge Bowen
thought he ought to lie at Quebec beside his soldier father and this was
also in accord with Mrs. Nairne's wishes. Colonel Morrison, the officer
in command on the field where Nairne fell, had already been transferred
to the garrison at Quebec and every attention was paid to the task.
Bowen ordered a strong oak coffin, large enough to contain that in which
Nairne was buried, and with this itself in an outer box a man was sent
to bring back the body. He bore a letter from the Bishop of Quebec to
the clergyman who had buried Nairne. All was carried out as arranged. A
second time Nairne's body was taken from the grave where it had been
laid and its bearer began his long winter journey to Quebec. The sleigh
with its sad burden, a moving dark speck on a white background, made its
slow way along the wintry roads and by the shores of the ice bound St.
Lawrence. We can picture the awed solemnity with which the French
Canadian peasants heard the story of Nairne's fall as his body rested
for the night in inn or farm yard. On January 20th, 1814, Bowen wrote to
Mr. Le Courtois that the body would arrive by Saturday as it was at
Berthier on the previous day when the stage passed.
The funeral took place at one o'clock on the 26th of January, 1814. Of
the people of Murray Bay a single unnamed habitant was present, a man
detained by Bowen in Quebec that he might witness the ceremony and carry
back an account of it to his home. "I examined the body," wrote Bowen
briefly of what must have been a grim task, "with the assistance of my
friend Buchanan and there cannot now be the smallest doubt as to the
identity of it. He was buried poor Fellow in the Cloathes he wore when
killed. His Regimental Jackit and shoes which were put into his coffin I
found in it upon opening it and have taken them out and will preserve
them for his poor friends if so melancholy a Remembrance of him should
be desired by them." The lock of hair cut off by Colonel Plenderleath at
the funeral was brought to Quebec by young Sewell, one of Nairne's
companions; the remainder of his effects, sent forward in a box, seem
to have been lost on the way. At the funeral the six senior Captains in
Quebec were his pall bearers and the mourners were fellow officers of
the 49th and Quebec friends of his family--well-known names--Caldwell,
McCord, Stewart, Hale, Mountain, Dunn and Bowen himself. A great crowd
was present. "Never," wrote Bowen to Miss Nairne, "was a funeral at
Quebec more generally attended." The death of the young officer was too
tragic not to call forth the sympathy of a wide circle. Eulogies were
pronounced upon him and they said only what was true--that a soldier,
brave, lovable and promising had fallen on the field of honour.
[Footnote 22: See Appendix G., p. 287. "The Curés of Malbaie".]
[Footnote 23: Bowen's career was remarkable. He continued on the bench
until 1866, having held the office of a Judge in Canada for well nigh
sixty years.]
[Footnote 24: He had recently died, and it did not diminish the Nairnes'
interest in him that he left £5,000 to their relative Ker.]