On 11th of August the official Gazette announced that the command of the 13th, battalion, resigned by Lt.-Col. Booker on 8th of May had been accepted and that Major James Skinner was appointed to the Lieut.-Colonelcy. Colonel Lowry as chief in Niagara District had refused to re-instate Col. Booker on the 5th of June when he begged to be re-appointed, he having been superseded on the 2nd. Who re-instated him so that he should be gazetted out of command on the 11th of August? But he remains commandant of Hamilton, of the volunteer forces, the 13th included, naval brigade, and artillery. He is a gentleman of good address, and looks well on holidays.
The Wounded.—Lieut. Routh, of the 13th, has stated that when he and other wounded volunteers were left in the house, (log house on the map) Colonel O’Neil entered, and after enquiring about their wounds, expressed hope that the Lieut. would recover. “Does your sword-belt hurt you?” said the Fenian chief. “Take it off,” replied Mr. Routh; “I am your prisoner; I suppose the sword is, by right of war, yours.” O’Neil removed it, handling the wounded officer tenderly; then said: “No, I will not take it, it’s possession may be a solace to you; I will leave it by your side.” “Thank you,” rejoined Mr. Routh, “but some one less kind may come and take it.” Said O’Neil “Let me conceal it under the bedding.” And he placed the sword under the mattress, where it might not be seen by any less honorable visitors, and in mild accents said farewell. Mr. Routh has recovered, but no one then thought him likely to recover.
Mr. Lawson of Colborne, who was present near the fight and remained among the wounded, relates that O’Neil or some other Fenian officer gave him a written protection to go over the field and collect the wounded into the houses. Major Denison on this, pp. 69, 70, says:
“Before closing this chapter I must mention that from all accounts the Fenians, except in so far as they were wrong in invading a peaceful country, in carrying on an unjustifiable war, behaved remarkably well to the inhabitants, I spent three weeks in Fort Erie and conversed with dozens of the people of the place, and was astonished at the universal testimony borne by them to the unvarying good conduct of this rabble while among them. They claimed food and horses, but they can hardly be blamed for that as an act of war, but can only be blamed because the war itself, which alone could give them the right to take these things was unjustifiable and wicked. They have been called plunderers, robbers and marauders, yet, no matter how unwilling we may be to admit it, the positive fact remains, that they stole but few valuables, that they destroyed, comparatively speaking, little or nothing and that they committed no outrages on the inhabitants but treated every one with unvarying courtesy.
“On taking a number of the Welland Battery and the Naval Company prisoners they treated them with the greatest kindness, putting the officers under their parole and returning them their side-arms, taking them down to the wharf on their departure and releasing them, bidding them adieu with expressions of good will.”
But the treatment of the University rifleman, the youthful student, J. H. Mewburn, was by evidence of surviving associates, not tender nor chivalrous.
“John Herman Mewburn, who fell at Lime-ridge, a member of the University College Rifles, was a student of three years standing, and had distinguished himself very highly at Upper Canada College, and also at the University of Toronto where he carried off four scholarships, and although in ill health from hard study, and unfit for service, he hesitated not a moment at the call of duty to join his brave comrades. In the retreat he fell, struck by a rifle bullet on the temple, which fractured the inner plate, and produced delirium and convulsions. He was made prisoner by the enemy, robbed, and very roughly if not cruelly used by them. His hands were bound behind him and he was thrown on his face, but at the earnest request of a wounded comrade, Mr. Rupert Kingsford, he was turned on his back, and his hands unbound half an hour before he died. Loved and esteemed by all who knew him, and deeply regretted in death, the inhabitants of his native township honored him with the highest honors it was in their power to bestow, viz: a public funeral. The deceased was a grandson of the late Dr. Mewburn of Danby House, Stamford, County of Welland, and had just attained his twenty-first year.
Prisoners of War.—When two parties come into mortal combat, and each holds prisoners taken from the other, a law of expediency arises out of present circumstances, over-riding all other laws. The United States, during the war of 1861-65, held rebel prisoners who by the national laws had forfeited their lives. Yet in view of the fact that the rebels held prisoners taken from the army of legitimate authority, that authority was by expediency forced to treat its captives as prisoners of war. To have hanged them as traitors would have led to the rebel power hanging prisoners in retaliation.
By the laws of civilized communities the Fenian invaders of Canada are pirates and liable to the penalties for repression and punishment of piracy. Humanity may plead for them on one hand. Indignant vengeance may denounce humanity and demand execution of the laws against piracy on the other. But while passion and abstract principles are thus at issue, expediency arises and presents the subject of contention in another aspect, this is the practical aspect. The time is 4 p. m. June 2nd. Lt.-Col. Dennis, Capt. Akers, Capt. King, Lieut. Scholefield, Lieut. Nimmo and seventy-five men had, at their mercy, fifty-nine piratical prisoners an hour ago. The fifty-nine are under hatches on board the steamer Robb. By the laws against piracy they have forfeited their lives. But now, through the fortunes of war, in one hour, Capt. King, Lieuts. Scholefield, Nimmo and fifty out of the seventy-five are captives to Fenians. Had the seventy-five Canadians slain the fifty-nine Fenians when first captured, might not the fellow Fenians of the fifty-nine slay the disarmed fifty now? For the present there is no power to prevent them. But happily the fifty-nine were uninjured after surrendering to the seventy-five. The fifty being captives in their turn are unhurt. The higher law, the law of expediency, which is in this case the law of humanity, has interposed.
And the circumstances of one day may be the chances of war on another day. Heaven forbid that day should come.