Battle of Fort George: A paper read on March 14th, 1896

by E. A. Cruikshank

THE TAKING OF FORT GEORGE.

It is described as being nearly a mile square, sparsely built, with many pasture fields, gardens, orchards and open spaces interspersed among the houses. Smith, an American resident of the province now was expelled in 1812 for having declined to take oath of allegiance, states that there were "several squares of ground in the village adorned with almost every kind of precious fruit." According to the same authority it contained two churches—one of them built of stone, a court house and jail, an Indian council house, an academy in which Latin and Greek were taught by the Rev. John Burns a Presbyterian minister, a printing house, six taverns, twenty stores and about a hundred dwelling houses, many of them described as "handsome buildings of brick or stone, the rest being of wood, neatly painted." From the lake the town is said to have made an "imposing appearance" as most of the buildings fronted the water. Smith concludes his account with the remark that it was "a beautiful and prospective place, inhabited by civil and industrious people." Dr. John Mann, a surgeon in the United States army who accompanied the invading forces and afterwards wrote the "Medical History of the War," styles it "a delightful village." The population was probably underestimated at five hundred exclusive of the regular garrison of Fort George, usually numbering about two hundred men. The names of John Symington, Andrew Heron, Joseph Edwards, John Grier, John Baldwin and James Muirhead have been recorded as some of the principal merchants.

An open plain or common of nearly a mile in width separated the town from Fort George. This post was described by the Governor General in the early summer of 1812, in official report on the defences of Upper Canada as an irregular fieldwork consisting of six small bastions faced with framed timber and plank, connected by a line of palisades twelve feet high, and surrounded by a shallow dry ditch. Its situation and construction were alike condemned as extremely defective. Although it partially commanded Fort Niagara it was in turn overlooked and commanded by the high ground on the opposite side of the river near Youngstown. The troops were lodged in blockhouses inside affording quarters for 220 men, besides which there was a spacious building for the officers. The magazine was built of stone with an arched roof but was not considered bombproof. All the works were very much out of repair and reported as scarcely capable of the least defence.

On the margin of the river immediately in front of the fort stood a large log building known as Navy Hall, which had been constructed during the American Revolution, to serve as winter-quarters for the officers and seamen of the Provincial vessels on Lake Ontario. Near this was a spacious wharf with good-sized store houses, both public and private. The Ranger's Barracks, also built of logs and an Indian Council House were situated on the further edge of the common, just south of the town. A small stone light house had been built upon Mississauga Point, in 1805-6.

The road leading along the river to Queenston, was thickly studded with farm buildings, and the latter village is said to have contained nearly a hundred houses, many of them being large and well built structures of stone or brick, with a population estimated at 300. Vessels of fifty tons and upwards, loaded with goods for the upper country, sailed up the river to this place, where they discharged their cargoes, and took in furs and grain in return. Ever since its establishment, the "Carrying Place" on the Canadian side of the river, had furnished much profitable employment to the neighboring farmers, who were paid at the rate of twenty pence, New York currency, a hundred weight for hauling goods between Queenston and Chippawa; Maude relates that during his visit in 1800, he passed many carts and wagons on this road, taking up boxes and bales of merchandise, or bringing down furs, each drawn by two horses or two yoke of oxen. Three schooners were then moored at the wharf at Queenston, and fourteen teams stood waiting to be loaded. Others had noticed as many as fifty or sixty teams passing each other in a day. At this time the old portage on the American bank was entirely dis-used, but in 1806 the exclusive rights to the carrying place on that side were granted to Porter, Barton & Co., and much of the traffic was consequently diverted.

Christian Schultz, tells us that in 1807, the Canadian side of the river was "one settled street, from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie," while the other was still almost wholly "waste and uninhabited," which he attributes chiefly to the fact, that the land on the American bank was entirely held by speculators. The villages of Chippawa and Fort Erie contained about twenty houses each. For upwards of twenty miles back, he states that the country was pretty well settled from lake to lake. A stage coach made three round trips weekly between Niagara and Fort Erie. A considerable sum from the Provincial Treasury was annually spent in opening and improving roads. Frenchman's, Miller's and Black creeks were bridged only on the river road, but there was a bridge across Lyon's creek, at Cook's Mills, and the Chippawa was bridged at its mouth, and at Brown's sixteen miles higher up. From the Portage Road near the Falls, a continuation of Lundy's Lane led westerly through the Beechwoods and Beaver Dam settlements, crossed the Twelve Mile creek at DeCew's, and following the crest of the mountain to the Twenty, ascended that stream as far as a small hamlet, known as "Asswago" and finally united with the main road from Niagara to York near Stoney Creek. Another well travelled road from Queenston passed through St. Davids, and joined the Lake Road from Niagara at Shipman's tavern, where they crossed the Twelve Mile Creek on the present site of the city of St. Catharines. A third leading from Niagara through the dreaded "Black Swamp," of which all trace has long since disappeared, united with the road from St. Davids before crossing the Four Mile creek. Still another beginning near the mouth of the Two Mile creek, ran nearly parallel with the river, till it intersected Lundy's Lane. Besides these there were the main travelled roads along the river from Queenston to Niagara, and along the lake from Niagara to Burlington.

In 1794, Lieutenant Governor Simcoe styled the Niagara settlement, "the bulwark of Upper Canada," and affirmed that the militia were loyal to a man, and "very well calculated for offensive warfare." Since then the character and feelings of the population had been essentially altered. Many of the first settlers had died or removed with their families to other parts of the Province, and their places had been taken by later immigrants from the United States. The twenty townships extending from Ancaster to Wainfleet, which then composed the County of Lincoln, were supposed to contain 12,000 inhabitants in the spring of 1812. In the entire province of Upper Canada, one-sixth of the population were believed to be natives of the British Isles and their children; the original loyalist settlers and their descendants were estimated to number as many more, while the remainder, or about two-thirds of the whole, were recent arrivals from the United States, chiefly attracted by the fertility of the soil and freedom from taxation. Michael Smith states (1813), that within twelve years, the population "had increased beyond conjecture, as the terms of obtaining land have been extremely easy." The proportion of loyalists in the County of Lincoln was perhaps greater than elsewhere, but it is probably a safe estimate to say that one-third of the inhabitants were recent settlers from the United States, who had removed to escape taxation or avoid militia service. John Maude met several families in 1800 on their way to Canada from those counties in Pennsylvania, where the 'Whiskey Insurrection' had just been suppressed who informed him that "they had fought seven years against taxation, and were then being taxed more than ever. Hundreds of them" he remarked "have removed, are removing, and will remove into Upper Canada, where they will form a nest of vipers in the bosom that fosters them."

In 1811, the Governor General estimated the number of militiamen in Upper Canada fit for service at 11,000, of whom he significantly stated that it would probably not be prudent to arm more than 4000. This was virtually an admission, that more than half the population were suspected of disaffection. The Lincoln Militia were organized in five regiments, numbering about 1,500 men, of whom perhaps two-thirds were determined loyalists.