MILITARY POSTS
It was in the year 1796 that England had given up possession to the
Americans of Forts Michilimackinac, Miami, Detroit, Niagara, and
Oswego, and now at the beginning of the nineteenth century Kingston,
York, Fort George, Fort Chippawa, Fort Erie, and Amherstburg were the
chief military posts. The very names of the forts take one back to
very stirring days in the country, and a glance at their history
shows that this new province of Upper Canada had been once the scene
of many a struggle for supremacy between the French, the English, and
the Indian.
Michilimackinac, or Mackinaw, the island which lies in the strait
between Lakes Huron and Michigan, had been for more than a century
the resort of North-West traders, where furs were collected and
shipped for Montreal. In 1671 it had been a Jesuit mission, and
stories of treachery and massacre hover round its shores.
Fort Miami was in the heart of the Indian country on the Maumee River
about fifteen miles from Lake Erie, into which the river flows. Lord
Dorchester had ordered the reconstruction of the fort, a step to
which the United States had {54} objected, deeming it an invasion of
their territory. Both the 8th and the 53rd Regiments had been
stationed there during the war with the colonies.
Fort Detroit, on the river of the same name, situated about
twenty-eight miles above Lake Erie and ten miles below Lake St.
Clair, had had a most exciting history. The strait was the key to
the upper lakes, and gave Canada the readiest access to the
Mississippi. Five times its flag had changed in the century since it
was founded by La Mothe Cadillac. Twice it was besieged by Indians,
once burned to the ground. In the last days of the eighteenth
century it was surrounded by a flourishing little town, with a mixed
French and English population.
[Sidenote: Fort Niagara]
Fort Niagara, like Detroit, had also been the scene of many a
conflict when France and England, with varying fortunes, had
struggled for its possession. It was in 1678 that La Salle, La
Mothe, and Father Hennepin, sailing up Lake Ontario from Fort
Frontenac, found, at the entrance of what was afterwards known as the
Niagara River, a small village of Seneca Indians. Here they built a
stockade of palisaded storehouses, and dedicated it by chanting a Te
Deum, and placing within it a large wooden cross. This stockade was
burnt in 1680, and afterwards rebuilt of stone by Denonville. It was
designed to be large enough to hold a garrison of five hundred men.
This fort was abandoned in 1687, and of the hundred men left there
{55} by Denonville, all but ten perished by disease or in conflict
with the Indians. Charlevoix, the priestly historian, mentions a
blockhouse being on the site in 1721, and that in 1726 it was the
quarters of some French officers, who strengthened it by adding four
bastions. In 1749 it was rebuilt as one of the chain of forts
designed to surround the French domain as far as the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1759, after an obstinate siege, the fort capitulated to General
Johnson. One of the English officers, General Lee, writing at that
time to a friend in New York, gives a glowing description of the fort
and its surroundings. He ends his letter thus: "I am afraid you will
think I am growing romantic, therefore shall only say it is such a
paradise and such an acquisition to our nation that I would not
sacrifice it to redeem the dominion of any one electoral province of
Germany from the hands of the enemy." In 1763 a dreadful massacre
took place, near the fort, of an English regiment that fell into an
ambuscade of the Indians while marching alongside the river Niagara
to Fort Schlosser, above the falls. Only a few escaped to tell the
tale, and the spot has since been known as the Devil's Hole. In 1764
peace was made with the Indians, who, to the number of two thousand,
met Sir William Johnson at the fort, and agreed to give up to the
British four miles on each side of the river from Lake Erie to Lake
Ontario. In 1783, after the American war, this fort was surrendered
by treaty by the British, but on account {56} of unsettled claims of
the United Empire Loyalists, whose property had been confiscated,
possession was not given up until 1790, when Fort George on the
western side of the river received its flag, garrison, guns and
stores.
Fort Oswego, on Lake Ontario, almost opposite Kingston, had also been
the centre of many a bloody struggle in the eighteenth century, when
the French with their Indian allies battled for its possession,
knowing well that to the victor belonged the command of the lake.
Of the military posts left to the British in 1803, Kingston was the
largest and most populous of the Upper Province. It was founded in
1784 on the site of old Fort Frontenac, and was the main _entrepôt_
between Montreal and the settlements along the lakes. It was three
hundred and seventy-five miles from Quebec, one hundred and
ninety-five from Montreal, and one hundred and fifty-three from York.
Governor Simcoe had designed to make the latter a fortified shipping
town, but this had been vetoed by Lord Dorchester who preferred
Kingston for this purpose.
[Sidenote: Newark or Niagara]
Fort George was on the west bank of the river Niagara, about a mile
from its entrance into Lake Ontario. It was, in 1803, a low square
fort with earthen ramparts and palisades of cedar. It contained very
badly planned loop-holed barracks of logs, and mounted no heavier
metal than nine pounders. Newark, or Niagara, for it resumed its
{57} old name in 1798, by act of parliament, was the village near by,
and had enjoyed for a brief period the distinction of being the
capital of the Upper Province. It lay directly opposite Fort Niagara
where the river is eight hundred and seventy-five yards wide.
Here the first parliament of Upper Canada met in 1792, and to add to
the glory of the occasion we are told that a guard of the 26th
Cameronians, then stationed at Fort Niagara, was brought across the
river to escort Governor Simcoe in state to the opening. Five
sessions were held here before the seat of government was removed to
York, and during the last years of the eighteenth century Newark was,
next to Kingston, the most flourishing place in Upper Canada. It was
here at Navy Hall that Governor Simcoe and his wife dispensed their
gracious hospitality. Among their distinguished guests were the Duke
of Kent, who rode from their house to see the famous falls of
Niagara, and the Duke de Rochefoucauld de Liancourt, who wrote a
lengthy account of his visit.
The 5th Regiment and part of the 26th Cameronians were then stationed
at Fort Niagara, and Butler's Rangers and the Queen's Rangers
occupied the barracks at Newark.
The first newspaper in the country, the _Upper Canada Gazette_, was
published here, and there was a public library and a court-house and
churches (St. Mark's and St. Andrew's) long before York, {58} its
rival and supplanter across the lake, was provided with any public
buildings. It was Governor Simcoe who planned Fort George and gave
to it its first rough outlines. In 1803 there was a lighthouse on
Mississaga Point, at the entrance of the river near where a fort of
that name was afterwards constructed. A dockyard where many workmen
were employed, was one of the industries of the place, and here was
built and launched in 1792 the first Canadian merchant vessel.
It was in 1783 that there landed on the beach the first band of
Loyalist refugees who left their homes in the revolted colonies for
the sake of king and country, and who were to be the founders of a
new nation in this wilderness. For more that two years rations were
issued to the poor wanderers from Fort Niagara and Butler's barracks,
but by the beginning of the new century the thriving farms in the
neighbourhood of Newark showed that the "hungry years" had passed.
Seven miles higher up the river was Queenston, a transport post which
had, in 1803, grown to be a village of over a hundred houses with
church and court-house and government stores for the Indian
department. All the goods for the North-West were landed here from
the vessels which brought them from Kingston, and were then sent by
portage above the falls to Chippawa.
[Sidenote: Erie, Amherstburg, Sandwich]
Fort Chippawa, on Lake Erie, a mile and a half above the falls of
Niagara, was the end of the carrying {59} place, and was also a
transport post. It was sixteen miles from Fort George and it had a
blockhouse and quarters for one officer and thirty-six men, enclosed
with palisades which were much decayed and useless for defence.
Eighteen miles up the lake was Fort Erie. General Hunter, in 1803,
had planned a new fort at this place as the old one was in ruins, and
had made a report on the subject to Lord Hobart, the secretary of the
colonies, but this undertaking was not carried out for some years.
Further west at Amherstburg was another poorly constructed fort.
This village was the only British naval station on Lake Erie, and
contained over a hundred houses, with a court-house, and stores for
the Indian department.
The other military post in this district was Sandwich, nearly
opposite Detroit, and sixteen miles distant from Amherstburg. There
was a mixed French and English population here, and many American
settlers in the neighbourhood who had found their way to this lovely
and fertile peninsula--the garden of Canada.
At this time a regiment quartered in Upper Canada was divided into
several parts, sometimes hundreds of miles asunder. The posts being
on the frontier line, and new roads into the interior of the United
States being constantly opened out, every facility was afforded for
desertion. The pay of the British soldier was small, the discipline
enforced at that time very severe, and by the insidious work of {60}
agents from the neighbouring republic, desertions became very
frequent.
Soon after Brock's arrival in Upper Canada, six men of a company of
the 49th stationed at York, listened to the tempting proposals held
out to them, and with a corporal of the 41st who had been left there
in charge of some work, set off across the lake for Niagara. The
news of their desertion was brought to Colonel Brock at midnight by
the sergeant of the guard. With the promptness that always marked
his actions he immediately ordered a boat to be manned by a sergeant
and twelve privates of the light company, and with them he started on
a night journey across Lake Ontario, a distance of thirty miles.
[Sidenote: Conspiracy at Fort George]
After a hard pull of eight hours they reached their destination and a
search along the shore was made. A few miles from Fort Niagara on
the American shore, the renegades were found. They were brought back
to York and afterwards confined in the prison cells at Fort George.
General Hunter found fault with the midnight expedition across the
lake, as he thought the risk Brock had taken in crossing in a small
open boat was too great. It was not, however, likely that a Guernsey
man, inured to the perils of the coast of the Channel Islands, would
hesitate to cross Lake Ontario on a summer night. Even if the
dangers had been greater, Colonel Brock was not one to shirk his duty.
{61}
Once again he was called upon to undertake another expedition to
enforce discipline, and again the strong arm and cool brain were
needed. This time it was not desertion alone he had to cope with,
but a very serious mutiny among the troops quartered at Fort George,
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sheaffe, who, by his severe
discipline had rendered himself very unpopular. The plan of the
mutineers, as was afterwards discovered, was to place the officers in
the cells, then to march to Queenston and cross the river into the
state of New York. It was said too that the murder of Colonel
Sheaffe was contemplated. The discovery of the plot was accidental.
A servant of an officer of the Royal Artillery was met on the common
by a soldier of the 49th, named Fitzpatrick, who asked him the hour.
On being told Fitzpatrick exclaimed, "Thank God, I will not be too
late for roll call; if I were that tyrant would give me knapsack
drill for a week, but--" with an oath he muttered some threatening
words and ran off to the fort. The servant reported the conversation
to his master who immediately told Colonel Sheaffe. Fitzpatrick was
sent for and questioned. On examination he showed such symptoms of
guilt that he was put in a cell in the guard-room. Another soldier
named Daly confessed to the conspiracy, and said that he had entered
into it by the persuasion of Sergeant Clarke of the 49th who had told
him that he and his wife and children {62} would be much more
comfortable in the United States than in the regiment.
Sheaffe sent immediate word of the conspiracy to Colonel Brock, who
was then at York. The latter lost no time in hastening to the scene.
The mutiny of the Nore in 1796 had taught him that promptness and
decision were necessary to prevent an appalling disaster. This was
no time for half measures, when the mother country was at war in
Europe, and when a wily neighbour was undermining the allegiance of
His Majesty's forces in America. Stern and quick must be the remedy.
The vessel that brought him the news took him quickly over the lake,
and, unannounced, he landed on the beach below the town and walked to
the fort. The sentry on duty soon recognized the commanding figure
of the colonel and called out the guard, which was commanded, as it
happened, by the very sergeant who had been suspected as the
instigator of the conspiracy. It was all the work of a few moments.
As the guard shouldered arms the sergeant was ordered to come forward
and lay down his pike, and to take off his sword and sash. As soon
as this was done a corporal named O'Brien was told to bring a pair of
handcuffs and put them on the sergeant who was then marched off to
the cells. Then came the corporal's turn, for he too was one of
those implicated, and in obedience to the stern command his arms and
accoutrements were also laid down, and a soldier was ordered to
handcuff {63} him and convey him also to the cells. Brock then sent
a young officer to arrest the other malcontents. Twelve men in all
were put in irons and sent off to York together with the seven
deserters who had been arrested some weeks before.
General Hunter directed that their trial should take place at Quebec.
They were found guilty and four of the mutineers and three of the
deserters were condemned to be shot. The extreme rigour of their
commanding officer, Colonel Sheaffe, was the only plea they made in
extenuation of their crime. The sentence was carried out on March
2nd, 1804, at Quebec. The unfortunate men declared publicly that had
they continued under the command of Colonel Brock they would have
escaped their melancholy end.
[Sidenote: The sentence]
At York, when the letter came announcing the execution, the colonel
ordered every man under arms, that he might read to them its
contents. He then addressed them and said:--"Since I have had the
honour to wear the British uniform I have never felt grief like this.
It pains me to the heart to think that any member of my regiment
should have engaged in a conspiracy which has led to their being shot
like so many dogs..." We are told that the soldiers who saw the
glistening tear and heard the faltering voice of their colonel were
so moved by the touching scene that there was not a dry eye among
them.
After this melancholy affair Brock assumed {64} command at Fort
George, and all complaints and desertions instantly ceased. He put
into practice the more humane methods of treating the common soldier
that he had learned in the school of Abercromby and Stewart. The men
were allowed, under proper restrictions, to visit the town freely.
It was no longer a crime to fish in fatigue dress, and even the sport
of shooting the wild pigeons that were in such abundance was allowed,
with the proviso that the men should provide their own powder and
shot. Under Colonel Sheaffe's discipline the four black holes were
always full, but now under a milder rule complaints were unknown.
[Sidenote: Brock's report]
The mutiny, however, had made such an impression on Colonel Brock
that he sought a remedy for the evils that had occasioned it, and his
ideas on the subject were embodied in a report which he subsequently
sent to the Duke of York.
During the long winter months of 1803-4 at Fort George he had the
opportunity of visiting many of the new settlers in the country. He
found that without any special merit, they had obtained large grants
of land, although some of them had even taken part against England in
the revolutionary war. Land at that time was of so little value that
on condition of settling, any person, by paying a fee of sixpence an
acre, could obtain a grant of two hundred acres.
In order to improve the prospects of soldiers in Canada, Brock, in
his report, recommended the establishment of a corps of veterans, who
would by {65} long and faithful service be deserving of the most
liberal protection and favour. The men, he thought, might be
selected in the first instance from veteran corps already
established, and afterwards they might be selected impartially from
every regiment in the service. Every year men were discharged who
could with propriety be recommended for this corps. Ten companies,
each of sixty rank and file with the usual proportion of officers,
might be distributed at St. Johns, Chambly, Kingston, York, Fort
George and its dependencies, Amherstburg and St. Joseph. Colonel
Brock gave a scale of the number of years each soldier should serve
in the veteran battalion proportionate to his length of former
service. On their discharge he suggested that the men should be
located on a large tract of land on the river Credit (west of York)
which had been purchased by Lieutenant-Governor Hunter from the
Mississaga Indians. He also recommended that they should be
furnished with implements of husbandry and rations for a short
period. He concluded with these words:--"I have considered the
subject only in a military point of view; the advantages arising from
the introduction of a number of men into the country attached to
government by ties of interest and gratitude and already acquainted
with the use of arms, are too obvious in a political light to need
any comment. It is highly gratifying to observe the comfortable
state of the Loyalists, who, in the year 1784, obtained small tracts
of land in Upper Canada. {66} Their conduct and principles form a
striking contrast to those practised and professed generally by the
settlers of 1793."
There is no doubt that Colonel Brock was right in his estimate of the
character of some of the recent settlers in Upper Canada. They had
come, not as Loyalists because they wished to live under the English
flag, but because of the easy terms on which they could obtain grants
of land. They were still at heart citizens of the United States, and
openly sympathized with that country. They formed a rather
troublesome element in the beginning of the war of 1812, but were
gradually weeded out in the struggle that "tried men's hearts."
It was not only in theory that Brock endeavoured to ameliorate the
condition of the soldier. He was ever ready with advice and
assistance to those under him. One instance may be given in his
treatment of Fitz Gibbon, the young sergeant-major of the 49th, in
whom he took much interest, and who said he owed everything to him.
He tells the story that when stationed at York in 1803, Colonel Brock
told him he intended to recommend him for the adjutancy of the
regiment, and said: "I not only desire to procure a commission for
you, but I also wish that you should qualify yourself to take your
position among gentlemen. Here are my books; make good use of them."
He often wrote, he said, to the colonel's dictation, and thereby
learnt much that was useful to him in after life.
{67}
[Sidenote: A soldier's dictionary]
Another reminiscence of the sergeant-major gives a trait of Brock's
character that was predominant throughout his career. One day he
asked Fitz Gibbon why he had not carried out some order, and received
for answer that it was impossible to execute it. "By the Lord Harry,
sir," said the colonel in wrath, "do not tell me it is impossible.
Nothing should be impossible to a soldier; the word 'impossible'
should not be found in a soldier's dictionary."
Some time after, at Quebec, when the sergeant-major was an ensign, he
was ordered to take a fatigue party to the _bateau_ guard, and bring
round to the Lower Town twenty _bateaux_ to embark troops for
Montreal. The tide had fallen and there were two hundred yards of
mud over which it looked impossible to drag the _bateaux_, which were
large, heavy, flat boats. He thought he would return, but it
suddenly occurred to him that the colonel would ask: "Did you try?"
He therefore gave the word, "Front!" and said to the soldiers: "I
think it impossible for us to put these _bateaux_ afloat, but you
know it will not do for me to tell Colonel Brock so, unless we try
it. Let us therefore try. There are the boats. I am sure if it be
possible for men to put them afloat you will do it. Go at them." In
half an hour the work was done. Thus the indomitable spirit of the
commander was infused into the men who served under him.
{69}