Tradition has ever pointed to this building as that which sheltered the disconsolate American warriors in 1812, with the adjoining rivulet, Ruisseau de l'Ours, as the boundary to the east which their parole precluded their crossing.
The result of the American defeat at Detroit had been important—"one general officer (Wadsworth), two lieutenant-colonels, five majors, a multitude of captains and subalterns, with nine hundred men, one field- piece and a stand of colors, were the fruits of the victory, the enemy having lost in killed, wounded, missing and prisoners, upwards of fifteen hundred." (Christie's History.)
Amongst the American prisoners sent down to Quebec was the celebrated General Winfield Scott, who lived to cull laurels in the Mexican war. He was then Col. Scott, and there is yet (1878) living in Quebec an old resident, R. Urquhart, who well remembers, when a boy, seeing the "tall and stern American Colonel." He was six feet five inches in height. (Lossing, p. 408.)
Of these prisoners taken at Detroit, twenty-three had been recognized as British born and deserters from the English army. they were sent to England for trial. It is yet possible that some of the veterans of 1812, by their diaries or other sources of information, may tell us who were the Charlesbourg or Beauport captives in 1812. They had not been under restraint much more than a week, when, by the following advertisement in the Quebec Mercury, dated 29th September, we find the British Government attending to their comforts with a truly maternal foresight:—
Commissary General's Office,
QUEBEC, 28th Sept., 1812
"Wanted for the American prisoners of war, comfortable warm clothing,
consisting of the following articles:
Jackets,
Shirts,
Trowsers,
Stockings,
Moccassins or Shoes.
Also 2000 pounds of soap."
From which it is clear John Bull intended his American cousins should not only be kept warm, but suitably scrubbed as well. Two thousand lbs. of soap foreshadowed a fabulous amount of scrubbing. Colonel Scott and friends were evidently "well off for soap."
Colonel Coffin, of Ottawa, the annalist of the War of 1812, in reply to a query of mine, writes me: