“We have come from the setting to the rising sun to help our Father in his time of need, and to live or die with him.”
“Listen, Father.
“In days long past our Father and his Red Children fought with the Big Knives (the Americans) and they laid our Father on his back; and he held out his hand to the Big Knives (made peace) but forgot his Red Children. We hope he will not do so again.”
“Listen, Father.
“We ask our great Father at the other side of the Big Lake, (the Atlantic Ocean) to supply his Red Children with arms and ammunition, and to help us in our time of need.”
Their addresses were long, and very beautiful; and six Canadians were found sufficient to interpret their numerous dialects.
After a short stay at Montreal, the regiment marched to La Prairie, near Lake Champlain, on the frontier of the State of New York, where a force of 10,000 men was assembled, including Militia, for the purpose of attacking the American fortress of Plattsburgh, on that lake. During the advance I was severely wounded in a night attack. A ball struck my chain wing, on the right shoulder, cutting it into three slugs which entered my neck (together with six links of brass chain, a brass button, and some cloth and bullion) close to the carotid artery, dividing the gullet, and lodged near the carotid artery on the other side, whence they were afterwards cut out, sundry sinews being attached to the brass chain. I lay all night on the field in a pool of blood, and was carried into camp the next morning. The copious bleeding—which was repeated three times afterwards by the surgeon—was probably, humanly speaking, the means of saving my life, which was spared by the mercy of Almighty God. From excessive inflammation and swelling nothing passed my lips for eight days, and then on taking a little milk and water it passed out through the wound over my shoulder. I recovered in six months; but the wound broke out again after fifteen years, from a cold, and was nearly fatal.
During the years 1813 and 1814 the 1st Battalion, 8th, 41st, and 49th Regiments, together with some Militia, had to defend a frontier of 1,500 miles, from Montreal to Michilimakina, on Lake Superior. The American fleets on the several lakes being generally superior, were enabled to land numerous forces to attack weak points. On such occasions the English troops had to concentrate by forced marches during summer and winter. Numerous sanguinary actions were fought, and their losses in killed and wounded were rarely equalled. But they not only maintained their ground, but took possession of the Michigan territory—larger than England—which was not restored to the Americans until after the treaty of peace.
During these campaigns the 1st Battalion of the 8th Regiment lost more in killed and wounded than their original number, viz., 45 officers and over 900 men. Its number, however, was maintained by drafts from the 2nd Battalion and recruits from England.
During the winter of 1814-15 a king’s messenger arrived at Montreal with despatches, announcing the conclusion of a treaty of peace with America, and I was ordered to proceed with this despatch to Upper Canada to put an end to further hostilities. I travelled by sleigh with a pair of horses on the ice, driven by a French Canadian along the River St. Lawrence, avoiding the rapids at the several portages. When crossing Lake St. Francois—an expansion of the St. Lawrence—it being near the close of the winter, the ice broke under us. The driver was skilful, lashed his horses, which sprang with their fore-feet on the firm ice, giving them a fresh impulse; this also broke and several others in succession, until at length the firm ice was gained at some distance. The current underneath was very rapid. I delivered my despatch to the Commodore, Sir Jas. Yeo, on board his flag ship the “Ontario,” 110 guns, at Kingston, Lake Ontario. This ship was an extraordinary object to see on a fresh water lake.