“So you are, for it’s all historic ground,” replied Mr. Clarke; “but I wasn’t thinking of the discoveries just then, but rather of the struggle along the border here in the War of 1812, and of the pirates.”
“Pirates?” exclaimed Miss Bessie, quickly. “Why, you never told us there were any pirates here. I shall be afraid to go out in my canoe again—unless I have Mr. Dallett along to protect me,” she added.
Ignoring the laugh which followed, her father said, “Well, there were pirates here, for you can’t call them by any other name. There are none here now, of course, but in what was poetically called ‘The Patriot War,’ it wasn’t the same peaceful St. Lawrence that we see.”
As all appeared to be interested in his words, Mr. Clarke continued. “This patriot war, so called, occurred along about 1837-40. It really was an attempt to revolutionize Canada by a lot of desperadoes, or pirates, as I call them, who were filled with hatred as bitter as it was unreasonable against our sister country, and the worst leader of them all was a William Johnston, or Bill Johnston, as he was more familiarly known by his neighbors along the St. Lawrence River. He lived near here, you see.
“In December, 1837, a band of disguised men from Canada set fire to the steamer Caroline out near Niagara Falls, and aroused great excitement all along the border. The next month Congress appropriated $625,000 for the protection of the northern frontier, and called for volunteers. On the very same day a circular was issued over here at Watertown, signed by six prominent men, asking for money and help for the so-called refugees from Canada. The signers professed to be law-abiding citizens and all that, and perhaps they were, though there were serious doubts about the matter then and since.
“In most of the villages secret organizations had been formed, known as Hunter Lodges, and they were making plans for raising money and men to invade Canada. Indeed, they had their preparations all made for crossing on the ice as soon as the river here was frozen over, and falling upon Kingston.
“One night in February the arsenal at Watertown was broken into and four hundred stands of arms were stolen by men who were thought to be engaged in the proposed movement. Some of the things were afterward recovered, and a reward was offered for the capture of the men.
“Matters were made worse by the fact that the arsenals at Elizabethtown and Batavia were also broken into at about the same time. The very next day after the affair at Watertown, men began to arrive at Clayton, which used to be called French Creek, and it is said that there were four thousand stands of arms there, five hundred long pikes, and twenty barrels of cartridges; but what they lacked was men, for, though nominally there were a good many there, there were few if any real men among them, as you can readily imagine.
“There was no discipline, and less order, and when, at last, less than two hundred of the rascals crossed over to Wolf Island, they were more like a mob than an army. The Kingston people were badly frightened, though they had slight cause to be alarmed, and they sent over a force of sixteen hundred soldiers to meet the ‘invading army’; but when they arrived at the island, the ‘army’ had pretty much melted away. Still the country was pretty thoroughly stirred up, and forces were stationed at Cape Vincent, Clayton, and other places to maintain order. Congress also took further action, and most of the people thought the troubles were ended.
“But in the last of May, 1838, the steamer Sir Robert Peel was plundered and burned over here at Wells Island. She was a large boat, I understand, and some hundred and sixty feet long. She started from Brockville, and there were threats made before she set sail that she would have trouble, but no attention was paid to them. The passengers were all asleep when she arrived at Wells Island, and the crew were taking on wood, when a band of men, disguised as Indians, and rejoicing in such fictitious names as Tecumseh, Judge Lynch, Bolivar, Captain Crocket, and I don’t know what all, rushed out of the woods, and, yelling, ‘Remember the Caroline,’ drove away the crew and passengers, and taking the steamer out into the channel, set it on fire.