Lying in the channel which sweeps around Grand Island on the Canada
side, has an area of over three hundred acres, and is associated with
Fort Schlosser in the annals of border history, having been made the
_rendezvous_ of the “Patriots” in the “Rebellion” of 1837, under the
leadership of McKenzie, who, with about twenty-five or thirty followers,
became disaffected with the Canadian authorities, and planted their
standard here as a rallying-point. The American steamer Caroline, a
small boat supposed to be in the service of the “Rebels,” was chartered
to run between the islands and the American shore. Friday, Dec. 29,
1837, she entered upon her work of “ferriage,” and after a profitable
day’s work was moved to the wharf at Schlosser’s Landing. The same
night, a detachment of British soldiers, under command of Capt. Drew,
seized her, set her on fire, and the little steamer went down the stream
in flames, and plunged over the Canadian Fall. The crew, and some of the
“patriots” who were on board, escaped to the shore, with the exception
of one man, Durfee, who was killed by a pistol shot in attempting to
escape.