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Durham Road
The Durham Road was opened in 1848. It was originally intended to go from Barrie on Lake Simcoe to Kincardine on Lake Huron. David Gibson surveyed the road east of Durham and Allan Park Brough surveyed the road west of Durham in 1848. When the road was eventually gravelled, each landowner along the route was required to give six days work. A day worked by a man and a team of horses counted as two days.
East of Priceville, Gibson's survey diverged from plan to intersect the T&S Road at Flesherton, then it straightened out again toward Singhampton. At Singhampton, the road entered Simcoe County, intersected the Old Centre Road just north of Glen Huron, and followed that road north through Duntroon to Collingwood.
Brough's survey was done in two parts. He started the survey at the mouth of the Penetangore River at what is now Kincardine and surveyed east along the route of Highway 9 until he reached the Greenock Swamp west of the Teeswater River. This swamp was so extensive that he was forced to take the survey further south than he intended. So he went to Durham and began to survey west along the route of Grey Road 4 and Bruce Road 4 past the site of Walkerton to the present Greenock-Brant Township Road. There the road took a sharp turn south for a mile and a quarter to Highway 9 to avoid the Greenock Swamp.
Incidentally, Brough's death illustrates the hazards of frontier life at this time. Brough fell while surveying Bruce Township. His assistant, Latham Hamlin, rushed to the nearest place where he was likely to find a boat, Stoney Island, to find transportation to where he could get medical help. Captain McLeod at Stoney Island told Hamlin that no sailing vessel was nearby but he had a rowboat. So, while Hamlin rushed off to see that Brough was taken by stretcher to the closest point on Lake Huron, what is now Inverhuron, McLeod rowed the rowboat to Inverhuron. Then McLeod and another man took turns rowing Brough to Penetangore (Kincardine). No help was available there so they rowed him all the way to Goderich. Although he was still alive when he reached Goderich, Brough died a day or so later.
The small community of Allan Park on the part of the Durham Road that he surveyed was named for Brough.
Settling on the Durham Road
A person who wanted to take advantage of the free lots available on the Durham Road had to follow a fairly rigorous procedure.
The settler, in person, had to contact the Crown Lands Agent, George Jackson, at Durham. Jackson would then give the settler a list of lots that were available. This list was a short list because Jackson gave each settler a different list so that settlers were not competing for the same lots.
The settler would then set out from Durham along the Durham Road with the list and enough provisions for the search. The road at this time was just a blazed trail through the woods.
After four hours, the settler would come to Buck's Crossing (now Hanover) at the Saugeen River. If the river was low, he could ford across. If the river was high, he would have to walk upstream for a mile to a driftwood dam where he could cross the river. After 1850, he could cross the river using a bridge at what then became Buck's Bridge.
The settler would then walk along the trail looking for and examining lots on his list.
On choosing a lot, the settler would return to Durham to register his lot.
Finally, he would have to fulfill the conditions before he could get the patent for the lot. Within four years, he would have to clear at least 12 acres, erect a dwelling of at least 18 feet by 24 feet, and settle on the lot.
Bridges of Niagara Falls
The success of Roebling's Second Suspension Bridge over the Whirlpool Rapids brought a demand for a similar bridge to be built at Niagara Falls. This bridge was built about 300 yards (300m) north of the American Falls at a site called Falls View. On January 2, 1869, the bridge was opened by a carriage and four horses. The following Sunday about 10,000 people made a trip over the bridge, which had a magnificent view of the Falls. It was, however, only ten feet (3m) wide so it could only accommodate vehicular traffic in one direction at a time. When a vehicle wanted to go across in the other direction, a bell would ring to stop traffic at the other end of the bridge. Obviously, this system caused long lines and much exasperation. In 1887, the bridge was finally widened to seventeen feet (5m). The Falls View Bridge was susceptible to high winds, which would make it swing and sway. On the night of January 9, 1889, a particularly violent wind brought the bridge down. Today there are still remnants of the bridge submerged in the river.
Immediately after the disaster, work began to replace the fallen bridge. The new bridge was a duplicate of the first and took only 38 days to complete and opened on May 7, 1889.
Within ten years, the Falls View Suspension Bridge needed to be replaced to accommodate new electric trolley cars, which were too heavy for the suspension bridge. The new bridge, called the Honeymoon Bridge, was an arch bridge wide enough to take trolley cars, carriages, and pedestrians. It was located a little closer to the American Falls than the suspension bridge. Like the suspension bridges, the new bridge was susceptible to wind sway and the wooden floor became very slippery in wet weather. The suspension bridge it replaced was dismantled and moved to Queenston, where it became the second Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. The Honeymoon Bridge lasted until 1938, when a spectacular ice bridge formed around the abutments at the bottom of the bridge. Then, on January 23, 1938, a wind blew ice over the Falls, jamming the river and putting pressure on the bridge abutments. Four days later, the bridge collapsed into the gorge.
The same year that the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed saw the formation of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, a joint Ontario-New-York body to administer all bridges across the Niagara River. The new commission decided that it had to replace the Honeymoon Bridge with a new bridge to be located about 550 feet (168m) north of the Honeymoon Bridge site. The Rainbow Bridge is an arch and its abutments are located on the walls of the gorge about fifty feet (15m) above the river to avoid the kind of ice build-up that brought down the Honeymoon Bridge. The bridge was opened November 1, 1941.
Governor's Road
Governor's Road from Dundas to London
In 1793, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe ordered a military road built from Burlington Bay on Lake Ontario to the forks of the Thames River. This road would also be used for commercial transportation, and would be named for the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Dundas. The Queen's Rangers constructed the road between 1794 and 1795. The eastern section of the road is called the Governor's Road after Simcoe; it stretches from Dundas at the westernmost end of Lake Ontario to Woodstock. At Woodstock, the name changes to the Dundas Road. The town of Dundas was named for the mills, the Dundas Mills, that were built near the Dundas Road, not for the road itself nor for Henry Dundas directly.
International Railway Bridge from Fort Erie to Buffalo
In 1857, the Grand Trunk Railway wanted a bridge across the Niagara River from Victoria (Fort Erie) on the Canadian side to Black Rock (Buffalo) on the American. It was not until 1870 that a contract was awarded to Casimir Gzowski and DL MacPherson to build it. The single-track railway bridge opened on November 3, 1873 when the locomotive Scotia rumbled across. In 1900, the pedestrian walkway that was included originally was removed and replaced with a second railway track.
Longwoods Road from Delaware to Chatham
The Longwoods Road was originally an aboriginal trail through the Long Woods. It was used by early settlers as a path from Delaware to McGregor's Creek (Chatham).
It was improved during the War of 1812 for the transportation of military weapons and stores and was a continuation of the Commissioners' Road. The road was formerly Highway 2 until the Ontario government decided to confuse the driving population by doing away with King's Highways. The road was used as a line of retreat for the British forces under Brigadier Procter as they tried to escape from the invading American forces under Major General Harrison. Two battles of the War of 1812 were fought near the road: the Battle of the Thames and the Battle of the Longwoods.
Michigan Central Railway Bridges
The bridge built for Cornelius Vanderbilt and its successor
Cornelius Vanderbilt knew what he wanted and what he did not want. He wanted a link across the Niagara River between his Michigan Central Railway in New York and the Canadian Southern Railway, which he controlled. What he did not want was to pay rent to the owners of the Second Suspension Bridge. So he decided to build a railway bridge of his own, just to the south of the suspension bridge. In this design, 142 foot (40m) towers were built on the banks of the river and sections of the bridge were built out from the towers until they met at the centre. The bridge was opened on December 6, 1883 when the first train crossed. This bridge lasted for forty years.
By 1924, railway traffic had increased and the cantilever bridge had to be replaced. The design was for an arch bridge similar to the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge but without the road deck. It was opened February 21, 1925. This bridge is still operating and today is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The cantilever bridge was dismantled and sold for scrap after the arch bridge was opened.
Military Chain Reserve
(Became Niagara Parkway)
The military chain reserve ran one chain (66 feet or about 20m) wide along the edge of the gorge from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and without it there would not be a Niagara Parkway. The Niagara Parkway runs from the town of Fort Erie in the south to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the north, a 53-kilometre road that hugs the river. It is a spectacular drive at any time of the year but it is at its best in spring, when the fruit trees are in blossom. At that time of year, the trees have not developed their foliage, so you can get a clearer view of the river as you drive along.
Military Chain Reserve
(Became Niagara Parkway)
The military chain reserve ran one chain (66 feet or about 20m) wide along the edge of the gorge from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and without it there would not be a Niagara Parkway. The Niagara Parkway runs from the town of Fort Erie in the south to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the north, a 53-kilometre road that hugs the river. It is a spectacular drive at any time of the year but it is at its best in spring, when the fruit trees are in blossom. At that time of year, the trees have not developed their foliage, so you can get a clearer view of the river as you drive along.
Nine Mile Portage from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay
An ancient aboriginal trail, the Nine-Mile Portage had been used for many years by English and French traders as a route to the Upper Great Lakes; Huron, Michigan, and Superior. The portage started at the west end of Kempenfelt Bay, where Barrie is today, and ended at Willow Creek, a tributary of the Nottawasaga River.
During the Revolutionary War, the government of Upper Canada wanted a route for supplying its bases on the Upper Great Lakes that was safe from American interference. This route would eventually be from the end of Yonge Street at Holland Landing by boat to Lake Simcoe, across Lake Simcoe to Kempenfelt Bay, along the Nine-Mile Portage to Willow Creek, and then by boat again down Willow Creek and the Nottawasaga River to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.
After the war, the government built two storage warehouses for military use, one at each end of the portage. The warehouse at Kempenfelt Bay was located near what is now Memorial Square in Barrie. The warehouse at the Willow Creek end was located at what is now the Fort Willow Conservation Area.
There are two stories involving the Nine-Mile Portage: the relief of Fort Michilimackinac and the sinking of the Nancy.
The Relief of Fort Michilimackinac
During the War of 1812, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall of the Glengarry Light Infantry was given orders to reinforce the British military unit that had just captured Fort Michilimackinac (pronounced MI-hilli-MAC-in-aw) on Mackinaw Island just south of present-day Sault Ste Marie. McDouall ordered an advance group of shipbuilders and naval personnel under Lieutenant Miller Worsley to make its way up the Nine-Mile Portage to the banks of Willow Creek. Once there, they were to build 29 batteaux or large canoes. McDouall then followed with his troops, who were loaded on the batteaux, which sailed down the Nottawasaga River and across the Great Lakes. They arrived in Fort Michilimackinac on May 18, 1814. When the Americans under Captain Sinclair and Lt.Col. George Croghan attacked Fort Michilimackinac on July 28, they were defeated by the reinforced British.
The Sinking of the Nancy
A short time after the battle at Fort Michilimackinac, the same Lt. Worsley was in command of the Nancy, a small vessel used to carry supplies to the fort. Captain Sinclair saw an opportunity to strike back against the British by capturing the supplies. The Nancy was lying two miles up the Nottawasaga River when it was attacked by two American ships, the Tigress and the Scorpion. Lt. Worsley had known of the impending attack and had prepared for it by building a blockhouse but the blockhouse and the Nancy were blown up by cannon fire from the American ships. Worsley and his men retreated along the Nine-Mile Portage and escaped.
But that wasn't the end of the story. Having picked up additional supplies and two batteaux they had left at Willow Creek, Worsley and his men worked their way back to Fort Michilimackinac. There they reported to Lt.Col. McDouall, requesting permission to go after the Tigress and Scorpion, now in upper Lake Huron. With reinforcements from the fort, Worsley set off. They found the Tigress only six miles away. In a night attack, Worsley and his men overpowered the Americans and captured the ship easily. Then, with the American flags still flying and with his men dressed in captured uniforms, Worsley set out to hunt for the Scorpion. They didn't have to go far for the Scorpion came to them and anchored just a couple of miles away. The Tigress then approached the unsuspecting Scorpion and, before anybody on board the Scorpion could react, the British had snared the American ship with grappling irons and had boarded her. With those short actions, Worsley and his men ensured that the upper Great Lakes stayed in British hands for the rest of the war.
Back at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, the remains of the Nancy were gradually covered over with silt to form an island. A few years ago an expedition was mounted to find those remains and the site has become a tourist attraction in Wasaga Beach.
The Old Mail Road - Meaford and Owen Sound
The Old Mail Road ran from the junction with an extension of the Sunnidale Road near Duntroon, south of Collingwood, to Ravenna, Heathcote, Griersville, and then on to Meaford and Owen Sound. Because of its link with the Sunnidale Road, the Old Mail Road allowed pioneers to travel from Owen Sound to Barrie. Its usefulness came to an end when the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway reached Collingwood in 1855. A short portion of the old road still exists between Heathcote and Griersville. It is a narrow unpaved lane that is not maintained in winter.
Peace Bridge
Because the International Railway Bridge no longer provided pedestrian access, it soon became a necessity to have another bridge to allow pedestrians and vehicles to cross between Buffalo and Fort Erie. By August 1925 funding was approved and building began. The bridge has five arches to span the Niagara River and an extension to span the Black Rock Canal on the American side. The Peace Bridge was opened on March 13, 1927, when the chief engineer, Edward Lupfer, who later designed the Rainbow Bridge, drove a car across. It was officially opened on June 1.
Old Portage Road Past Niagara Falls
Until 1790, the portage route around Niagara Falls was on the east side of the Niagara River and was controlled by the Stedman family. Philip Stedman was the man who first bought Block 1 from the Six Nations with money he earned from the Niagara portage. In 1790, for security reasons, the portage was moved to the west side of the river, along what became the Portage Road, and Robert Hamilton gained control. Originally an aboriginal trail, the new portage ran from the property of John Burch in Chippawa to the property of another Butler's Ranger, Isaac Dolson, in Queenston. In the 1790s, the government of Upper Canada constructed a road to replace the trail and the villages of Drummondville and Stamford were founded. Today's Portage Road generally follows the route of the old trail except just south of Queenston, where it was diverted by the reservoir for the hydro-electric system.
Queenston Lewiston Bridges
As early as 1825, Francis Hall, designer of the first Brock Monument, had proposed a bridge over the Niagara River at Queenston. This idea, however, had fallen on deaf ears. It was not until 1836 that a company, the Suspension Bridge Company, had begun working toward building a bridge and it was not until 1849 that the Queenston Suspension Bridge Company received its charter. Construction began the next year and completed on March 20, 1851. The bridge did not last long. Less than three years later, on February 3, 1854, gale force winds knocked the centre span into the river.
Forty-four years later, in 1898, the dismantled Falls View Suspension Bridge was moved to the site and re-erected to provide a single track for electric trolley cars and room for other vehicles. The bridge was opened on July 21, 1899 and lasted until 1962.
Work began on a replacement for the suspension bridge in 1960. The present bridge is an arch bridge similar in design to the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls and was opened on November 1, 1962.
Old Sunnidale Road
Barrie to Wasaga Beach
In 1833, the government of Upper Canada hired Andrew Walker and the Drury brothers of Kempenfelt to cut the Sunnidale Road. Charles Rankin and William Hawkins had surveyed the road earlier in the year. Walker had been hired as an ox-wagon teamster some years earlier to widen the Nine-Mile Portage and had stayed on as a settler. Now the government wanted to replace the portage with a road that could be used by settlers. The problem with the portage was that, as anyone who visits Fort Willow can testify, in the summer it was swampy and buggy, in the winter it was impassable, and it was very difficult at any time.
The old Sunnidale Road ran from Kempenfelt Bay near Barrie, initially along the route of the Nine-Mile Portage, through Sunnidale Township to the mouth of the Nottawasaga River at what is now Wasaga Beach . The Sunnidale Road shown on today's maps differs slightly from the original; it was rerouted to avoid some of the swampy area just north of Barrie.
Talbot Roads
There were, in fact, several Talbot Roads. The original Talbot Road ran from Brantford through Waterford in what is now the City of Nanticoke to about Delhi. The road was intended to go further west but funds ran out before it could be completed. John Bostwick was the surveyor for that road.
In 1809, after being appointed Deputy Surveyor for Upper Canada, Mahlon Burwell surveyed from Port Talbot on Lake Erie southwest of St Thomas to Delhi. This was known as Talbot Road East.
In 1811, Surveyor General Thomas Ridout ordered Burwell to survey a road from Westminster Township (south of London) to Kettle Creek Village (now the western end of St Thomas). He was then to survey a road from the western edge of Dunwich Township to Essex County. For some reason, after surveying from Westminster to Five Stakes (Talbotville), he started to survey west, parallel to his previous survey of the Talbot Road East. The road from Talbotville to Essex County became Talbot Road West and ended at Sandwich, now part of Windsor. It is now called Talbot Line and almost joins Fingal Line (the old Talbot Road East) at Wallacetown. Talbot Road West was Highway 3 until the Ontario Government messed up the numbering of roads.
The road from Westminster (southwest of London) to St Thomas is another Talbot Road and, in fact, is called Colonel Talbot Road. This includes the section surveyed by Burwell. A fourth Talbot road was, and is, called the Middle Road and it goes from east of Ridgetown to Sandwich (Windsor). It was intended to be a middle road between the Talbot Road and the route along the Thames to Sandwich, part of which is the Longwoods Road. Talbot also controlled the settlement of the Longwoods Road from the village of Delaware near London to Chatham.
Toronto to Owen Sound
T & S Road
For the first twelve years after its survey in 1848, the Toronto and Sydenham Road (T&S Road) was known as the Toronto Line. Later it was called the Owen Sound Gravel Road or just the Gravel Road. The road followed an old native trail and connected Toronto with Sydenham, now known as Owen Sound. Charles Rankin, who surveyed many parts of Dufferin and Grey counties, may have surveyed the road. Whoever surveyed the road also surveyed a strip three concessions wide on both sides of the road into 50-acre lots. On buying one lot, settlers were given the adjoining lot, an early case of "buy one, get one free". The lots were given three-digit numbers and this numbering is still reflected in the numbering of the sideroads in the area. Sideroad 290, for example, runs next to the original lot 290.
T G & B Railway
One branch of the old Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B Railway) ran from Toronto to Owen Sound. A second branch split off at Fraxa Junction near Orangeville and went to Harriston and Teeswater. The Owen Sound branch, known as the Grey Extension, was opened in August 1873.
The TG&B Railway was a narrow-gauge railway and this was the cause of its demise. The narrow gauge became a problem due to wear and tear caused by of the amount of traffic it carried. In its efforts to convert to a standard gauge, the railway company ran out of money. The railway eventually fell into the hands of the CPR before it was dismantled in 1997.
From Orangeville, the railway line crossed what is now Dufferin Road 109, formerly Highway 9, just before the Mono-Amaranth Township Line. This section of the line still exists. The line then crossed Dufferin Road 11 at Fraxa Junction and turned north to Shelburne, running alongside Dufferin 11. After Shelburne, the line generally followed the route of the T&S Road to Markdale, except for a section from just south of Dundalk to just north of Flesherton where it moved about a mile west of the road.
As you travel along Dufferin 11, you can see where the old line crossed Dufferin 11 just north of Crombie. You can also see route of the old line as it crosses the 200 sideroad north of Dundalk and as it crosses the West Back Line between Flesherton and Markdale.
TH and B Railroad
Begun in 1884, the Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) was intended to link Toronto and Hamilton to Fort Erie but failed to get off the ground due to funding problems. The Brantford, Waterloo, and Lake Erie Railway (BW&LER) had been formed to connect Brantford with Waterford, a point on the Canada Southern Railway (CSR), and from there to Lake Erie. When the BW&LER went bust in 1891, the TH&B jumped in to take it over in the hopes that the combined funding would help them both. The plan was to build a line from Hamilton to Brantford, which would thus connect Hamilton to Lake Erie through Waterford. Two years later, the TH&B stock was bought by a combination of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and other railways owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt, including the CSR. The new owners then built the Hamilton to Brantford link and began a new link from Hamilton to Welland, where it would link up with the CSR to go to Fort Erie. By 1916, the TH&B added a link through Smithville and Dunnville to Port Maitland. In 1977, TH&B was sold to CPR.
Whirlpool Bridges
In 1846, while on a picnic on the hills overlooking the Niagara River, Hamilton Merritt had the idea of building a bridge to cross the river. Not being the kind of man to leave an idea unexplored, he started to broach the idea among his friends. Soon two companies were formed, The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company of Canada and the International Bridge Company of New York. The bridge would be built and owned jointly by the two companies. Only two men had the right qualifications for the job: Charles Ellet and John Augustus Roebling. Ellet, more flamboyant, got the job of building the bridge. But that would not be the end of Roebling's involvement.
The bridge was to be a suspension bridge located at the narrowest point of the gorge, south of the Whirlpool above the Whirlpool Rapids. The first challenge faced by Ellet was to get a rope across the river. This was solved when Homan Walsh won a competition to fly a kite across the river from the Canadian side. The kite string was then attached to a cord, which was then pulled across the river. This was attached to a heavier cord and that was pulled across, and the process repeated until a wire cable was finally pulled across the river. A fifty foot (15m) wooden tower was built on each bank of the river and the wire cable was passed over the top of each tower and anchored down. Then a metal basket looking like two armchairs connected together was pulled across the cable. This was on May 12, 1848. 125 brave souls paid a dollar each to make the return journey across the river. A foot bridge was completed and still more people paid a quarter to cross the river. Finally, on July 26, 1848, the bridge was finished. Charles Ellet was first to cross in horse and carriage. Ellet, however, started to charge people for crossing the bridge without having permission to do so and was fired.
The first bridge was for pedestrians and horse vehicles. It was a flimsy affair that swayed in the wind. In 1851, the bridge companies decided that they wanted to have a bridge that would carry trains and so they called in John Roebling. In his design for the first bridge, Roebling had come up with a bridge that would carry trains but the concept had met with great opposition because it was thought that a suspension bridge would not be able to carry the load. Now things had changed. Roebling's design was for a rigid box-like structure to be suspended with cables from two stone pylons at each end. Guy wires connected the bridge to the cliff walls to counter the swaying caused by the wind. Work started in 1852 and, on March 15, 1855, the locomotive London crossed the bridge. This bridge had two decks, the top deck for trains and the lower for pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. It lasted for thirty years. Roebling went on to build the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and was killed during its construction.
By the mid-1880s, demands on the bridge had increased to the point where the bridge needed renovating. The wood and stone of Roebling's bridge were replaced with steel. The steel cables and their anchors were also replaced and the renovation was complete by 1886. This bridge, designed by Leffert Buck, lasted ten years until replaced by the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.
The present Whirlpool Rapids Bridge was also designed by Leffert Buck. In his design, the suspension bridge would be replaced by an arch bridge, in which the two halves of the bridge would be built out from the walls of the gorge until they met in the centre to form an arch. The bridge was started in 1896 and completed on August 27, 1897. During its construction, the suspension bridge was kept open and the arch bridge built around it. Train service was never interrupted.
Battles of the War of 1812
Queenston Heights
Stoney Creek
Beaver Dams
Thames
Longwoods
Chippawa
Lundy's Lane
Fort Erie
Malcolm's Mills
Battle of Queenston Heights
When the Americans attacked Queenston, they crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston. In doing so, they were pounded by batteries such as Vrooman's Battery located just north of Queenston. The Americans suffered losses of men and boats and were in some confusion. Major John Wool, however, found a fisherman's path up the Heights and captured a vital battery from the British.
General Isaac Brock, the British commander and administrator of the province, was at Fort George convinced that the attack would come there. The attack forced him to gallop to Queenston. When he arrived, he saw that the battery on the Heights had been captured and, in typical fashion, quickly organized and led a counterattack. He paid the price for his prompt action when a sharpshooter killed him.
While this was happening, Lt.Col. Winfield Scott took command of the American forces on the Canadian side and tried to establish control. Iroquois and British reinforcements under General Sheaffe circled around Queenston and climbed the Heights at a point midway between Queenston and St David's. On reaching the top of the Heights, the reinforcements began to counterattack the invading Americans, who started to retreat. At the edge of the cliff, the Americans found that there was nowhere to go. Scott was expecting more American militia to cross from Lewiston to reinforce his outnumbered troops, but the militia, hearing the yelling and screaming of the Iroquois, refused to cross the river, leaving Scott no choice but to surrender.
Strangely, Brock is often given credit for the victory even though he died early on. The real victor, Sheaffe, was given bad press by Canadians because he had to abandon York (Toronto) later in the year. The British, who seem to have had more sense, rewarded Sheaffe with a baronetcy and promotion to Lieutenant-General but had to pull him out of Canada. It took 140 years for him to get some form of recognition in the Queenston Heights Park, where Brock has a huge monument.
Incidentally, both John Wool and Winfield Scott had prominent roles in the American Civil War. By 1861, they were two of the four general officers of the American Army. John Wool, aged 77, was a brevet Major General and had been a Brigadier General for twenty years. Winfield Scott, aged 75, was a brevet Lieutenant General and had been General-in-Chief of the American Army since 1841.
Battle of Stoney Creek
On May 31, 1813, Brigadier-General Vincent and his troops abandoned Fort George and began to retreat toward Burlington Heights, the strip of land on which Dundurn Castle in Hamilton stands. The situation was critical because the capital, York, had been bombarded by the American fleet under Commodore Chauncey and the chief officials had abandoned the town. Now an American force twice the size of the British had taken Fort George and was marching after Vincent. Lieutenant Crowther of the 49th Regiment was sent out with a scouting party to discover the position of the Americans. His small force found the Americans near Red Hill Creek and, after a brief skirmish, reported back to his commander, Lt. Col. John Harvey.
Harvey wanted more information so the intrepid Lt. James FitzGibbon volunteered to try a bit of spying. Dressed as a settler, FitzGibbon entered the American camp selling butter. His Irish blarney worked so well that, not only did he manage to examine the complete camp and determine the size and composition of the American force, but he also managed to sell all the butter at a good price. On receiving FitzGibbon's report, Harvey felt sure that a night attack was called for.
Meanwhile, a settler named Isaac Corman had been caught by the Americans. On being interrogated, he found that his interrogator was a second cousin from Kentucky. The cousin decided to let him go, at which point Corman asked how he was going to get out of the camp because he didn't know the password. To his astonishment, the American told him that it was "wilhenhar", the first three letters of each name of William Henry Harrison. Corman then left. He met his brother-in-law, Billy Green, told him what had happened and gave him the password. Green then jumped on a horse and rode to Col. Harvey.
This information convinced Harvey that the British must attack. He managed to convince General Vincent and, at 3 a.m. on June 6, the British attacked. With a little more luck, they might have destroyed the Americans but a sentry managed to fire a shot and this alerted the Americans. Still, the attack was so successful that the British captured the American guns and two American generals, Chandler and Winder. The Americans panicked and fled from the scene. Harvey, not wishing to reveal that his force was much weaker than the American, withdrew before daylight. The American force retreated to Forty Mile Creek (Grimsby) and the threat to York and Burlington Heights was over for the time being.
The battle had other consequences. FitzGibbon was encouraged by the success of his spying and suggested to Harvey that, with a small group of men, he could conduct hit-and-run operations against the Americans and counter the attacks that were being made by American groups led by Chapin and Willcocks. With Ensign Winder and forty-eight hand-picked Irishmen, his small detachment of the 49th became the famous Green 'Uns, whose exploits caused a response from the Americans that led to the Battle of Beaver Dams.
Battle of Beaverdams
James FitzGibbon commanded a group of experienced soldiers and Indians with a mission to harass the enemy. The Americans called this group FitzGibbon's Green'uns as a mark of their respect and fear. The green in the name may have come from the green-grey colour of the fustian jackets they wore over their tunics to make them harder to see among the trees, or it may have come from the nickname of their regiment. FitzGibbon's men were part of the 49th Regiment, called the Green Tigers because of the green facings on their uniform coats.
In late July 1813, Lt.Col. Charles Boerstler of the American Army was ordered to attack FitzGibbon's force, which was then at John DeCew's home at DeCew Falls, near present St Catharines. Some American officers were billeted at the home of Laura Secord, the wife of James Secord, who had been wounded at Queenston Heights. One evening, she overheard the officers talking about the upcoming raid on FitzGibbon. She left home as discreetly as possible and walked 22 miles until she was found by some of FitzGibbon's Mohawks, who were on a scouting mission to locate Boerstler's force. She was taken to FitzGibbon, who probably knew what was happening anyway but was gentlemanly enough to give her credit for the information.
To reach FitzGibbon's headquarters, Boerstler's force advanced from Fort George, then in American hands, to Queenston. From there, the Americans moved along the St David's Road below the escarpment before crossing to the Mountain Road, an old native trail which at that time ran along the edge of the escarpment from Stamford to Beaver Dams, a small community south of Thorold. From Beaver Dams, a road ran directly to DeCew's home. Nowadays Mountain Road stops short, having been blocked by the fourth Welland Canal. The remainder of Mountain Road to the west of the Welland Canal is now called Beaverdams Road. At a point just west of the Thorold Tunnel, Caughnawagas led by Francois Ducharme and Mohawks led by William Kerr had set up an ambush where a gully crossed the Mountain Road. Boerstler fell right into the trap.
Meanwhile, FitzGibbon and his men had remained at DeCew's home in case a second attack came. Hearing the sounds of battle, he hurried along the DeCew Road to Beaver Dams, where DeCew Road joins Beaverdams Road, the former Mountain Road. He then hurried up Beaverdams Road and Pine Street to a small knoll where Chapel and Lynden Streets intersect. From there he could see what was happening. He sent a message to Major DeHaren, advising him of the situation and asking him to move to cut off any retreating Americans.
Meanwhile, the Americans having been hit very hard and Boerstler himself having been wounded twice, were organizing a retreat. They still had a force numerically superior to anything the British and natives could muster, so FitzGibbon decided on a bluff. Attaching a white handkerchief to his sword and with buglers sounding Cease Fire, he rode toward the Americans. By feeding the Americans' fear of the natives, FitzGibbon convinced Boerstler that the British force was far larger than the American and that he might be unable to restrain the natives if the battle continued. Despite a near disaster when Major DeHaren arrived and tried to take charge, Boerstler surrendered and was surprised when he found that he had surrendered to a much weaker force. The whole battle had taken less then three hours and credit was due entirely to the natives. However, as John Norton, a native leader said, "the Caughnawagas did the fighting, FitzGibbon got the glory, and the Mohawks got the plunder."
Battle of the Thames
On 27 September 1813, the American army under Major General William Henry Harrison, the future President, landed at Amherstburg ready to take on the British forces at Fort Malden. The British commander, Brigadier-General Procter was in an untenable position. The few guns that had been at the fort had been moved onto the ships that American Commodore Perry had defeated on Lake Erie. So Procter had started to retreat on 24 September, giving him a three-day lead. If he had moved with some urgency, perhaps things would have turned out differently, but he didn't. He reached the Dolson Farm near Chatham on 1 October and camped, confident that the Americans were far behind.
The leader of his native allies, Tecumseh, had no respect for Procter, considering him a coward. He goaded Procter into taking a stand, so Procter left his troops and rode off to survey the site at Moraviantown.
The Americans, however, were not far behind. Taking advantage of the firm roads caused by the cold weather, they were able to catch up. Although Tecumseh, his natives, and some British troops staged a delaying action, they could not hold back the American army of 3000. By the time Procter rejoined his army on 4 October, they were demoralized and hungry.
The site chosen by Procter for the battle was about three kilometres west of Moraviantown between a swamp and the Thames River. It should have been a close battle even though the British and natives were outnumbered 3-to-1, but the Americans were out to avenge a massacre and were not about to be stopped. The battle lasted less than an hour and was a complete victory for the Americans. Procter abandoned his army before the end of the battle and retreated to Niagara. Tecumseh was made of sterner stuff and fought to his death. His body was never found and the only marker on the battle site is in honour of him. Procter was later court-martialed and reprimanded.
Battle of the Longwoods
This was more of a skirmish than a battle. On 5 December 1813, Lt. Medcalf and 18 men were on their way to collect a herd of cattle near Chatham. They found that the herd had been commandeered by an American force, which had taken them to McCrea's farm about 30 miles away to the west. Picking up troops as he moved along, Medcalf attacked the McCrea farm, capturing the Americans, who were taken as prisoners to Port Dover. Most of the captured Americans escaped because there were too few guards but it was still an embarrassment for the American forces.
Lt.Col. Butler commanding the American forces at Detroit then decided to retaliate by capturing one of two posts in the area, Port Talbot or Delaware. He sent a raiding party under Captain Andrew Holmes to do the job. About twenty kilometres from Delaware, the American party was spotted by Captain Caldwell and his Western Rangers, who immediately reported them to Delaware.
Meanwhile, the American force built entrenchments on the west side of the Twenty Mile Creek and waited for the British to attack. Captain James Basden, in command of the small British and native force, deployed the Western Rangers to outflank the Americans to the north and the natives to outflank from the south. Then he made an error. He ordered the British troops make a frontal attack on an entrenched enemy. The British were slaughtered, losing about one quarter of their strength in casualties. After the short fight, both sides withdrew; the British to Delaware and the Americans to Detroit.
The Battle of Chippawa
After taking Fort Erie, the American Brigadier General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Porter to remain at the fort with his force while the main force marched north. The British commander, Major General Phineas Riall, had taken a defensive position on the north side of the Chippawa Creek, now the Welland River, at the village of Chippawa. Riall's information about the Americans was inaccurate and he thought that the British outnumbered the Americans, who had in fact a large superiority. Experience had also shown him that Americans were inferior to the British on a frontal attack. So he decided to cross the Chippawa River and attack. Scott however had drilled his army until they were as strong and polished as the British. They answered the British attack with a bayonet attack of their own, forcing Riall's men back across the Chippawa River.
Because of a shortage, the American soldiers wore grey uniforms. The cadets at the American military academy at West Point still wear grey (or as the Americans spell it, gray) uniforms to honour the victory at Chippawa.
Battle of Lundy's Lane
After the victory at Chippawa, the overall American commander in the Niagara region, Major General Jacob Brown, advanced his army to Queenston to rendezvous with the American fleet under Commodore Chauncey for an attack on Fort George. Chauncey, however, did not appear, so Brown and his army returned to Chippawa.
Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Drummond, the British commander in Upper Canada, was impatient to drive the Americans back over the border. He dispatched troops from Fort Niagara on the American side of the Niagara River to march south toward the American base at Fort Schlosser, which was across the Niagara River from Chippawa. Brown decided to counter that move with an advance by General Winfield Scott toward Queenston.
Scott got a big surprise when his troops walked into the force of General Riall located at Lundy's Lane. Scott's initial attack was too hot for Riall to handle so the British began to retreat. Just then, Drummond arrived on the scene, took charge, and ordered the troops back to the battlefield just as Scott attacked again. The Americans attacked the British left and centre. In the centre, they could not make much impression but managed to capture a battery on a strategic hill that later was named Drummond Hill. On the left, the Americans achieved a bigger breakthrough, capturing a surprised General Riall for a short time.
Immediately after losing the battery on the hill, the British re-formed, beating back the Americans to recapture the battery. The bloody fight continued back and forth until dark. In the end, it was General Brown who decided that enough was enough. The next morning, the British found that the Americans had gone, burning Street's Mill and the bridge at Chippawa as they retreated to Fort Erie. Dr William "Tiger" Dunlop and his fellow surgeons were left to do what they could for the wounded, which included the commander, Sir Gordon Drummond, and General Riall.
Battle of Fort Erie
In July 1814, 3500 American troops under Brigadier General Winfield Scott crossed the Niagara River and marched on Fort Erie, located a little south of the present town. Another 100 troops under Brigadier General Peter Porter approached the fort from the south. Major Thomas Buck, in command at the fort had only 137 men and realized he could not hold the Americans up, so he fired a few rounds "for the honour of the flag" and surrendered. The American troops then went on to fight the Battles of Chippawa and Lundy's Lane.
After the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the American forces retreated to Fort Erie, pursued by the British under General Drummond. Despite great efforts and heavy losses, the British were unable to dislodge the Americans and, in September, Drummond called off the siege to retreat to Burlington Heights. The following November, the Americans destroyed the fort and returned home.
Battle of Malcolm's Mills
In November 1814, American Brigadier General Duncan MacArthur with a force of about 700 men invaded along the Thames Valley with the intention of destroying everything in the area around Burlington Heights. On finding that the high water near Brantford was blocking his way, he turned south toward Port Dover. The local militia, consisting basically of 150 farmers, assembled at Malcolm's Mills, a small community that had grown around the mills of Finlay Malcolm. Completely overmatched, the militia made a show of defiance but was swatted aside by the Americans. This was the last battle fought on Canadian soil against an invading force.
Durham Road
The Durham Road was opened in 1848. It was originally intended to go from Barrie on Lake Simcoe to Kincardine on Lake Huron. David Gibson surveyed the road east of Durham and Allan Park Brough surveyed the road west of Durham in 1848. When the road was eventually gravelled, each landowner along the route was required to give six days work. A day worked by a man and a team of horses counted as two days.
East of Priceville, Gibson's survey diverged from plan to intersect the T&S Road at Flesherton, then it straightened out again toward Singhampton. At Singhampton, the road entered Simcoe County, intersected the Old Centre Road just north of Glen Huron, and followed that road north through Duntroon to Collingwood.
Brough's survey was done in two parts. He started the survey at the mouth of the Penetangore River at what is now Kincardine and surveyed east along the route of Highway 9 until he reached the Greenock Swamp west of the Teeswater River. This swamp was so extensive that he was forced to take the survey further south than he intended. So he went to Durham and began to survey west along the route of Grey Road 4 and Bruce Road 4 past the site of Walkerton to the present Greenock-Brant Township Road. There the road took a sharp turn south for a mile and a quarter to Highway 9 to avoid the Greenock Swamp.
Incidentally, Brough's death illustrates the hazards of frontier life at this time. Brough fell while surveying Bruce Township. His assistant, Latham Hamlin, rushed to the nearest place where he was likely to find a boat, Stoney Island, to find transportation to where he could get medical help. Captain McLeod at Stoney Island told Hamlin that no sailing vessel was nearby but he had a rowboat. So, while Hamlin rushed off to see that Brough was taken by stretcher to the closest point on Lake Huron, what is now Inverhuron, McLeod rowed the rowboat to Inverhuron. Then McLeod and another man took turns rowing Brough to Penetangore (Kincardine). No help was available there so they rowed him all the way to Goderich. Although he was still alive when he reached Goderich, Brough died a day or so later.
The small community of Allan Park on the part of the Durham Road that he surveyed was named for Brough.
Settling on the Durham Road
A person who wanted to take advantage of the free lots available on the Durham Road had to follow a fairly rigorous procedure.
The settler, in person, had to contact the Crown Lands Agent, George Jackson, at Durham. Jackson would then give the settler a list of lots that were available. This list was a short list because Jackson gave each settler a different list so that settlers were not competing for the same lots.
The settler would then set out from Durham along the Durham Road with the list and enough provisions for the search. The road at this time was just a blazed trail through the woods.
After four hours, the settler would come to Buck's Crossing (now Hanover) at the Saugeen River. If the river was low, he could ford across. If the river was high, he would have to walk upstream for a mile to a driftwood dam where he could cross the river. After 1850, he could cross the river using a bridge at what then became Buck's Bridge.
The settler would then walk along the trail looking for and examining lots on his list.
On choosing a lot, the settler would return to Durham to register his lot.
Finally, he would have to fulfill the conditions before he could get the patent for the lot. Within four years, he would have to clear at least 12 acres, erect a dwelling of at least 18 feet by 24 feet, and settle on the lot.
Bridges of Niagara Falls
The success of Roebling's Second Suspension Bridge over the Whirlpool Rapids brought a demand for a similar bridge to be built at Niagara Falls. This bridge was built about 300 yards (300m) north of the American Falls at a site called Falls View. On January 2, 1869, the bridge was opened by a carriage and four horses. The following Sunday about 10,000 people made a trip over the bridge, which had a magnificent view of the Falls. It was, however, only ten feet (3m) wide so it could only accommodate vehicular traffic in one direction at a time. When a vehicle wanted to go across in the other direction, a bell would ring to stop traffic at the other end of the bridge. Obviously, this system caused long lines and much exasperation. In 1887, the bridge was finally widened to seventeen feet (5m). The Falls View Bridge was susceptible to high winds, which would make it swing and sway. On the night of January 9, 1889, a particularly violent wind brought the bridge down. Today there are still remnants of the bridge submerged in the river.
Immediately after the disaster, work began to replace the fallen bridge. The new bridge was a duplicate of the first and took only 38 days to complete and opened on May 7, 1889.
Within ten years, the Falls View Suspension Bridge needed to be replaced to accommodate new electric trolley cars, which were too heavy for the suspension bridge. The new bridge, called the Honeymoon Bridge, was an arch bridge wide enough to take trolley cars, carriages, and pedestrians. It was located a little closer to the American Falls than the suspension bridge. Like the suspension bridges, the new bridge was susceptible to wind sway and the wooden floor became very slippery in wet weather. The suspension bridge it replaced was dismantled and moved to Queenston, where it became the second Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. The Honeymoon Bridge lasted until 1938, when a spectacular ice bridge formed around the abutments at the bottom of the bridge. Then, on January 23, 1938, a wind blew ice over the Falls, jamming the river and putting pressure on the bridge abutments. Four days later, the bridge collapsed into the gorge.
The same year that the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed saw the formation of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, a joint Ontario-New-York body to administer all bridges across the Niagara River. The new commission decided that it had to replace the Honeymoon Bridge with a new bridge to be located about 550 feet (168m) north of the Honeymoon Bridge site. The Rainbow Bridge is an arch and its abutments are located on the walls of the gorge about fifty feet (15m) above the river to avoid the kind of ice build-up that brought down the Honeymoon Bridge. The bridge was opened November 1, 1941.
Governor's Road
Governor's Road from Dundas to London
In 1793, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe ordered a military road built from Burlington Bay on Lake Ontario to the forks of the Thames River. This road would also be used for commercial transportation, and would be named for the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Dundas. The Queen's Rangers constructed the road between 1794 and 1795. The eastern section of the road is called the Governor's Road after Simcoe; it stretches from Dundas at the westernmost end of Lake Ontario to Woodstock. At Woodstock, the name changes to the Dundas Road. The town of Dundas was named for the mills, the Dundas Mills, that were built near the Dundas Road, not for the road itself nor for Henry Dundas directly.
International Railway Bridge from Fort Erie to Buffalo
In 1857, the Grand Trunk Railway wanted a bridge across the Niagara River from Victoria (Fort Erie) on the Canadian side to Black Rock (Buffalo) on the American. It was not until 1870 that a contract was awarded to Casimir Gzowski and DL MacPherson to build it. The single-track railway bridge opened on November 3, 1873 when the locomotive Scotia rumbled across. In 1900, the pedestrian walkway that was included originally was removed and replaced with a second railway track.
Longwoods Road from Delaware to Chatham
The Longwoods Road was originally an aboriginal trail through the Long Woods. It was used by early settlers as a path from Delaware to McGregor's Creek (Chatham).
It was improved during the War of 1812 for the transportation of military weapons and stores and was a continuation of the Commissioners' Road. The road was formerly Highway 2 until the Ontario government decided to confuse the driving population by doing away with King's Highways. The road was used as a line of retreat for the British forces under Brigadier Procter as they tried to escape from the invading American forces under Major General Harrison. Two battles of the War of 1812 were fought near the road: the Battle of the Thames and the Battle of the Longwoods.
Michigan Central Railway Bridges
The bridge built for Cornelius Vanderbilt and its successor
Cornelius Vanderbilt knew what he wanted and what he did not want. He wanted a link across the Niagara River between his Michigan Central Railway in New York and the Canadian Southern Railway, which he controlled. What he did not want was to pay rent to the owners of the Second Suspension Bridge. So he decided to build a railway bridge of his own, just to the south of the suspension bridge. In this design, 142 foot (40m) towers were built on the banks of the river and sections of the bridge were built out from the towers until they met at the centre. The bridge was opened on December 6, 1883 when the first train crossed. This bridge lasted for forty years.
By 1924, railway traffic had increased and the cantilever bridge had to be replaced. The design was for an arch bridge similar to the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge but without the road deck. It was opened February 21, 1925. This bridge is still operating and today is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The cantilever bridge was dismantled and sold for scrap after the arch bridge was opened.
Military Chain Reserve
(Became Niagara Parkway)
The military chain reserve ran one chain (66 feet or about 20m) wide along the edge of the gorge from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and without it there would not be a Niagara Parkway. The Niagara Parkway runs from the town of Fort Erie in the south to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the north, a 53-kilometre road that hugs the river. It is a spectacular drive at any time of the year but it is at its best in spring, when the fruit trees are in blossom. At that time of year, the trees have not developed their foliage, so you can get a clearer view of the river as you drive along.
Military Chain Reserve
(Became Niagara Parkway)
The military chain reserve ran one chain (66 feet or about 20m) wide along the edge of the gorge from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and without it there would not be a Niagara Parkway. The Niagara Parkway runs from the town of Fort Erie in the south to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the north, a 53-kilometre road that hugs the river. It is a spectacular drive at any time of the year but it is at its best in spring, when the fruit trees are in blossom. At that time of year, the trees have not developed their foliage, so you can get a clearer view of the river as you drive along.
Nine Mile Portage from Lake Simcoe to Georgian Bay
An ancient aboriginal trail, the Nine-Mile Portage had been used for many years by English and French traders as a route to the Upper Great Lakes; Huron, Michigan, and Superior. The portage started at the west end of Kempenfelt Bay, where Barrie is today, and ended at Willow Creek, a tributary of the Nottawasaga River.
During the Revolutionary War, the government of Upper Canada wanted a route for supplying its bases on the Upper Great Lakes that was safe from American interference. This route would eventually be from the end of Yonge Street at Holland Landing by boat to Lake Simcoe, across Lake Simcoe to Kempenfelt Bay, along the Nine-Mile Portage to Willow Creek, and then by boat again down Willow Creek and the Nottawasaga River to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.
After the war, the government built two storage warehouses for military use, one at each end of the portage. The warehouse at Kempenfelt Bay was located near what is now Memorial Square in Barrie. The warehouse at the Willow Creek end was located at what is now the Fort Willow Conservation Area.
There are two stories involving the Nine-Mile Portage: the relief of Fort Michilimackinac and the sinking of the Nancy.
The Relief of Fort Michilimackinac
During the War of 1812, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall of the Glengarry Light Infantry was given orders to reinforce the British military unit that had just captured Fort Michilimackinac (pronounced MI-hilli-MAC-in-aw) on Mackinaw Island just south of present-day Sault Ste Marie. McDouall ordered an advance group of shipbuilders and naval personnel under Lieutenant Miller Worsley to make its way up the Nine-Mile Portage to the banks of Willow Creek. Once there, they were to build 29 batteaux or large canoes. McDouall then followed with his troops, who were loaded on the batteaux, which sailed down the Nottawasaga River and across the Great Lakes. They arrived in Fort Michilimackinac on May 18, 1814. When the Americans under Captain Sinclair and Lt.Col. George Croghan attacked Fort Michilimackinac on July 28, they were defeated by the reinforced British.
The Sinking of the Nancy
A short time after the battle at Fort Michilimackinac, the same Lt. Worsley was in command of the Nancy, a small vessel used to carry supplies to the fort. Captain Sinclair saw an opportunity to strike back against the British by capturing the supplies. The Nancy was lying two miles up the Nottawasaga River when it was attacked by two American ships, the Tigress and the Scorpion. Lt. Worsley had known of the impending attack and had prepared for it by building a blockhouse but the blockhouse and the Nancy were blown up by cannon fire from the American ships. Worsley and his men retreated along the Nine-Mile Portage and escaped.
But that wasn't the end of the story. Having picked up additional supplies and two batteaux they had left at Willow Creek, Worsley and his men worked their way back to Fort Michilimackinac. There they reported to Lt.Col. McDouall, requesting permission to go after the Tigress and Scorpion, now in upper Lake Huron. With reinforcements from the fort, Worsley set off. They found the Tigress only six miles away. In a night attack, Worsley and his men overpowered the Americans and captured the ship easily. Then, with the American flags still flying and with his men dressed in captured uniforms, Worsley set out to hunt for the Scorpion. They didn't have to go far for the Scorpion came to them and anchored just a couple of miles away. The Tigress then approached the unsuspecting Scorpion and, before anybody on board the Scorpion could react, the British had snared the American ship with grappling irons and had boarded her. With those short actions, Worsley and his men ensured that the upper Great Lakes stayed in British hands for the rest of the war.
Back at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River, the remains of the Nancy were gradually covered over with silt to form an island. A few years ago an expedition was mounted to find those remains and the site has become a tourist attraction in Wasaga Beach.
The Old Mail Road - Meaford and Owen Sound
The Old Mail Road ran from the junction with an extension of the Sunnidale Road near Duntroon, south of Collingwood, to Ravenna, Heathcote, Griersville, and then on to Meaford and Owen Sound. Because of its link with the Sunnidale Road, the Old Mail Road allowed pioneers to travel from Owen Sound to Barrie. Its usefulness came to an end when the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway reached Collingwood in 1855. A short portion of the old road still exists between Heathcote and Griersville. It is a narrow unpaved lane that is not maintained in winter.
Peace Bridge
Because the International Railway Bridge no longer provided pedestrian access, it soon became a necessity to have another bridge to allow pedestrians and vehicles to cross between Buffalo and Fort Erie. By August 1925 funding was approved and building began. The bridge has five arches to span the Niagara River and an extension to span the Black Rock Canal on the American side. The Peace Bridge was opened on March 13, 1927, when the chief engineer, Edward Lupfer, who later designed the Rainbow Bridge, drove a car across. It was officially opened on June 1.
Old Portage Road Past Niagara Falls
Until 1790, the portage route around Niagara Falls was on the east side of the Niagara River and was controlled by the Stedman family. Philip Stedman was the man who first bought Block 1 from the Six Nations with money he earned from the Niagara portage. In 1790, for security reasons, the portage was moved to the west side of the river, along what became the Portage Road, and Robert Hamilton gained control. Originally an aboriginal trail, the new portage ran from the property of John Burch in Chippawa to the property of another Butler's Ranger, Isaac Dolson, in Queenston. In the 1790s, the government of Upper Canada constructed a road to replace the trail and the villages of Drummondville and Stamford were founded. Today's Portage Road generally follows the route of the old trail except just south of Queenston, where it was diverted by the reservoir for the hydro-electric system.
Queenston Lewiston Bridges
As early as 1825, Francis Hall, designer of the first Brock Monument, had proposed a bridge over the Niagara River at Queenston. This idea, however, had fallen on deaf ears. It was not until 1836 that a company, the Suspension Bridge Company, had begun working toward building a bridge and it was not until 1849 that the Queenston Suspension Bridge Company received its charter. Construction began the next year and completed on March 20, 1851. The bridge did not last long. Less than three years later, on February 3, 1854, gale force winds knocked the centre span into the river.
Forty-four years later, in 1898, the dismantled Falls View Suspension Bridge was moved to the site and re-erected to provide a single track for electric trolley cars and room for other vehicles. The bridge was opened on July 21, 1899 and lasted until 1962.
Work began on a replacement for the suspension bridge in 1960. The present bridge is an arch bridge similar in design to the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls and was opened on November 1, 1962.
Old Sunnidale Road
Barrie to Wasaga Beach
In 1833, the government of Upper Canada hired Andrew Walker and the Drury brothers of Kempenfelt to cut the Sunnidale Road. Charles Rankin and William Hawkins had surveyed the road earlier in the year. Walker had been hired as an ox-wagon teamster some years earlier to widen the Nine-Mile Portage and had stayed on as a settler. Now the government wanted to replace the portage with a road that could be used by settlers. The problem with the portage was that, as anyone who visits Fort Willow can testify, in the summer it was swampy and buggy, in the winter it was impassable, and it was very difficult at any time.
The old Sunnidale Road ran from Kempenfelt Bay near Barrie, initially along the route of the Nine-Mile Portage, through Sunnidale Township to the mouth of the Nottawasaga River at what is now Wasaga Beach . The Sunnidale Road shown on today's maps differs slightly from the original; it was rerouted to avoid some of the swampy area just north of Barrie.
Talbot Roads
There were, in fact, several Talbot Roads. The original Talbot Road ran from Brantford through Waterford in what is now the City of Nanticoke to about Delhi. The road was intended to go further west but funds ran out before it could be completed. John Bostwick was the surveyor for that road.
In 1809, after being appointed Deputy Surveyor for Upper Canada, Mahlon Burwell surveyed from Port Talbot on Lake Erie southwest of St Thomas to Delhi. This was known as Talbot Road East.
In 1811, Surveyor General Thomas Ridout ordered Burwell to survey a road from Westminster Township (south of London) to Kettle Creek Village (now the western end of St Thomas). He was then to survey a road from the western edge of Dunwich Township to Essex County. For some reason, after surveying from Westminster to Five Stakes (Talbotville), he started to survey west, parallel to his previous survey of the Talbot Road East. The road from Talbotville to Essex County became Talbot Road West and ended at Sandwich, now part of Windsor. It is now called Talbot Line and almost joins Fingal Line (the old Talbot Road East) at Wallacetown. Talbot Road West was Highway 3 until the Ontario Government messed up the numbering of roads.
The road from Westminster (southwest of London) to St Thomas is another Talbot Road and, in fact, is called Colonel Talbot Road. This includes the section surveyed by Burwell. A fourth Talbot road was, and is, called the Middle Road and it goes from east of Ridgetown to Sandwich (Windsor). It was intended to be a middle road between the Talbot Road and the route along the Thames to Sandwich, part of which is the Longwoods Road. Talbot also controlled the settlement of the Longwoods Road from the village of Delaware near London to Chatham.
Toronto to Owen Sound
T & S Road
For the first twelve years after its survey in 1848, the Toronto and Sydenham Road (T&S Road) was known as the Toronto Line. Later it was called the Owen Sound Gravel Road or just the Gravel Road. The road followed an old native trail and connected Toronto with Sydenham, now known as Owen Sound. Charles Rankin, who surveyed many parts of Dufferin and Grey counties, may have surveyed the road. Whoever surveyed the road also surveyed a strip three concessions wide on both sides of the road into 50-acre lots. On buying one lot, settlers were given the adjoining lot, an early case of "buy one, get one free". The lots were given three-digit numbers and this numbering is still reflected in the numbering of the sideroads in the area. Sideroad 290, for example, runs next to the original lot 290.
T G & B Railway
One branch of the old Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B Railway) ran from Toronto to Owen Sound. A second branch split off at Fraxa Junction near Orangeville and went to Harriston and Teeswater. The Owen Sound branch, known as the Grey Extension, was opened in August 1873.
The TG&B Railway was a narrow-gauge railway and this was the cause of its demise. The narrow gauge became a problem due to wear and tear caused by of the amount of traffic it carried. In its efforts to convert to a standard gauge, the railway company ran out of money. The railway eventually fell into the hands of the CPR before it was dismantled in 1997.
From Orangeville, the railway line crossed what is now Dufferin Road 109, formerly Highway 9, just before the Mono-Amaranth Township Line. This section of the line still exists. The line then crossed Dufferin Road 11 at Fraxa Junction and turned north to Shelburne, running alongside Dufferin 11. After Shelburne, the line generally followed the route of the T&S Road to Markdale, except for a section from just south of Dundalk to just north of Flesherton where it moved about a mile west of the road.
As you travel along Dufferin 11, you can see where the old line crossed Dufferin 11 just north of Crombie. You can also see route of the old line as it crosses the 200 sideroad north of Dundalk and as it crosses the West Back Line between Flesherton and Markdale.
TH and B Railroad
Begun in 1884, the Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) was intended to link Toronto and Hamilton to Fort Erie but failed to get off the ground due to funding problems. The Brantford, Waterloo, and Lake Erie Railway (BW&LER) had been formed to connect Brantford with Waterford, a point on the Canada Southern Railway (CSR), and from there to Lake Erie. When the BW&LER went bust in 1891, the TH&B jumped in to take it over in the hopes that the combined funding would help them both. The plan was to build a line from Hamilton to Brantford, which would thus connect Hamilton to Lake Erie through Waterford. Two years later, the TH&B stock was bought by a combination of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and other railways owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt, including the CSR. The new owners then built the Hamilton to Brantford link and began a new link from Hamilton to Welland, where it would link up with the CSR to go to Fort Erie. By 1916, the TH&B added a link through Smithville and Dunnville to Port Maitland. In 1977, TH&B was sold to CPR.
Whirlpool Bridges
In 1846, while on a picnic on the hills overlooking the Niagara River, Hamilton Merritt had the idea of building a bridge to cross the river. Not being the kind of man to leave an idea unexplored, he started to broach the idea among his friends. Soon two companies were formed, The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company of Canada and the International Bridge Company of New York. The bridge would be built and owned jointly by the two companies. Only two men had the right qualifications for the job: Charles Ellet and John Augustus Roebling. Ellet, more flamboyant, got the job of building the bridge. But that would not be the end of Roebling's involvement.
The bridge was to be a suspension bridge located at the narrowest point of the gorge, south of the Whirlpool above the Whirlpool Rapids. The first challenge faced by Ellet was to get a rope across the river. This was solved when Homan Walsh won a competition to fly a kite across the river from the Canadian side. The kite string was then attached to a cord, which was then pulled across the river. This was attached to a heavier cord and that was pulled across, and the process repeated until a wire cable was finally pulled across the river. A fifty foot (15m) wooden tower was built on each bank of the river and the wire cable was passed over the top of each tower and anchored down. Then a metal basket looking like two armchairs connected together was pulled across the cable. This was on May 12, 1848. 125 brave souls paid a dollar each to make the return journey across the river. A foot bridge was completed and still more people paid a quarter to cross the river. Finally, on July 26, 1848, the bridge was finished. Charles Ellet was first to cross in horse and carriage. Ellet, however, started to charge people for crossing the bridge without having permission to do so and was fired.
The first bridge was for pedestrians and horse vehicles. It was a flimsy affair that swayed in the wind. In 1851, the bridge companies decided that they wanted to have a bridge that would carry trains and so they called in John Roebling. In his design for the first bridge, Roebling had come up with a bridge that would carry trains but the concept had met with great opposition because it was thought that a suspension bridge would not be able to carry the load. Now things had changed. Roebling's design was for a rigid box-like structure to be suspended with cables from two stone pylons at each end. Guy wires connected the bridge to the cliff walls to counter the swaying caused by the wind. Work started in 1852 and, on March 15, 1855, the locomotive London crossed the bridge. This bridge had two decks, the top deck for trains and the lower for pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. It lasted for thirty years. Roebling went on to build the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and was killed during its construction.
By the mid-1880s, demands on the bridge had increased to the point where the bridge needed renovating. The wood and stone of Roebling's bridge were replaced with steel. The steel cables and their anchors were also replaced and the renovation was complete by 1886. This bridge, designed by Leffert Buck, lasted ten years until replaced by the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.
The present Whirlpool Rapids Bridge was also designed by Leffert Buck. In his design, the suspension bridge would be replaced by an arch bridge, in which the two halves of the bridge would be built out from the walls of the gorge until they met in the centre to form an arch. The bridge was started in 1896 and completed on August 27, 1897. During its construction, the suspension bridge was kept open and the arch bridge built around it. Train service was never interrupted.
Battles of the War of 1812
Queenston Heights
Stoney Creek
Beaver Dams
Thames
Longwoods
Chippawa
Lundy's Lane
Fort Erie
Malcolm's Mills
Battle of Queenston Heights
When the Americans attacked Queenston, they crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston. In doing so, they were pounded by batteries such as Vrooman's Battery located just north of Queenston. The Americans suffered losses of men and boats and were in some confusion. Major John Wool, however, found a fisherman's path up the Heights and captured a vital battery from the British.
General Isaac Brock, the British commander and administrator of the province, was at Fort George convinced that the attack would come there. The attack forced him to gallop to Queenston. When he arrived, he saw that the battery on the Heights had been captured and, in typical fashion, quickly organized and led a counterattack. He paid the price for his prompt action when a sharpshooter killed him.
While this was happening, Lt.Col. Winfield Scott took command of the American forces on the Canadian side and tried to establish control. Iroquois and British reinforcements under General Sheaffe circled around Queenston and climbed the Heights at a point midway between Queenston and St David's. On reaching the top of the Heights, the reinforcements began to counterattack the invading Americans, who started to retreat. At the edge of the cliff, the Americans found that there was nowhere to go. Scott was expecting more American militia to cross from Lewiston to reinforce his outnumbered troops, but the militia, hearing the yelling and screaming of the Iroquois, refused to cross the river, leaving Scott no choice but to surrender.
Strangely, Brock is often given credit for the victory even though he died early on. The real victor, Sheaffe, was given bad press by Canadians because he had to abandon York (Toronto) later in the year. The British, who seem to have had more sense, rewarded Sheaffe with a baronetcy and promotion to Lieutenant-General but had to pull him out of Canada. It took 140 years for him to get some form of recognition in the Queenston Heights Park, where Brock has a huge monument.
Incidentally, both John Wool and Winfield Scott had prominent roles in the American Civil War. By 1861, they were two of the four general officers of the American Army. John Wool, aged 77, was a brevet Major General and had been a Brigadier General for twenty years. Winfield Scott, aged 75, was a brevet Lieutenant General and had been General-in-Chief of the American Army since 1841.
Battle of Stoney Creek
On May 31, 1813, Brigadier-General Vincent and his troops abandoned Fort George and began to retreat toward Burlington Heights, the strip of land on which Dundurn Castle in Hamilton stands. The situation was critical because the capital, York, had been bombarded by the American fleet under Commodore Chauncey and the chief officials had abandoned the town. Now an American force twice the size of the British had taken Fort George and was marching after Vincent. Lieutenant Crowther of the 49th Regiment was sent out with a scouting party to discover the position of the Americans. His small force found the Americans near Red Hill Creek and, after a brief skirmish, reported back to his commander, Lt. Col. John Harvey.
Harvey wanted more information so the intrepid Lt. James FitzGibbon volunteered to try a bit of spying. Dressed as a settler, FitzGibbon entered the American camp selling butter. His Irish blarney worked so well that, not only did he manage to examine the complete camp and determine the size and composition of the American force, but he also managed to sell all the butter at a good price. On receiving FitzGibbon's report, Harvey felt sure that a night attack was called for.
Meanwhile, a settler named Isaac Corman had been caught by the Americans. On being interrogated, he found that his interrogator was a second cousin from Kentucky. The cousin decided to let him go, at which point Corman asked how he was going to get out of the camp because he didn't know the password. To his astonishment, the American told him that it was "wilhenhar", the first three letters of each name of William Henry Harrison. Corman then left. He met his brother-in-law, Billy Green, told him what had happened and gave him the password. Green then jumped on a horse and rode to Col. Harvey.
This information convinced Harvey that the British must attack. He managed to convince General Vincent and, at 3 a.m. on June 6, the British attacked. With a little more luck, they might have destroyed the Americans but a sentry managed to fire a shot and this alerted the Americans. Still, the attack was so successful that the British captured the American guns and two American generals, Chandler and Winder. The Americans panicked and fled from the scene. Harvey, not wishing to reveal that his force was much weaker than the American, withdrew before daylight. The American force retreated to Forty Mile Creek (Grimsby) and the threat to York and Burlington Heights was over for the time being.
The battle had other consequences. FitzGibbon was encouraged by the success of his spying and suggested to Harvey that, with a small group of men, he could conduct hit-and-run operations against the Americans and counter the attacks that were being made by American groups led by Chapin and Willcocks. With Ensign Winder and forty-eight hand-picked Irishmen, his small detachment of the 49th became the famous Green 'Uns, whose exploits caused a response from the Americans that led to the Battle of Beaver Dams.
Battle of Beaverdams
James FitzGibbon commanded a group of experienced soldiers and Indians with a mission to harass the enemy. The Americans called this group FitzGibbon's Green'uns as a mark of their respect and fear. The green in the name may have come from the green-grey colour of the fustian jackets they wore over their tunics to make them harder to see among the trees, or it may have come from the nickname of their regiment. FitzGibbon's men were part of the 49th Regiment, called the Green Tigers because of the green facings on their uniform coats.
In late July 1813, Lt.Col. Charles Boerstler of the American Army was ordered to attack FitzGibbon's force, which was then at John DeCew's home at DeCew Falls, near present St Catharines. Some American officers were billeted at the home of Laura Secord, the wife of James Secord, who had been wounded at Queenston Heights. One evening, she overheard the officers talking about the upcoming raid on FitzGibbon. She left home as discreetly as possible and walked 22 miles until she was found by some of FitzGibbon's Mohawks, who were on a scouting mission to locate Boerstler's force. She was taken to FitzGibbon, who probably knew what was happening anyway but was gentlemanly enough to give her credit for the information.
To reach FitzGibbon's headquarters, Boerstler's force advanced from Fort George, then in American hands, to Queenston. From there, the Americans moved along the St David's Road below the escarpment before crossing to the Mountain Road, an old native trail which at that time ran along the edge of the escarpment from Stamford to Beaver Dams, a small community south of Thorold. From Beaver Dams, a road ran directly to DeCew's home. Nowadays Mountain Road stops short, having been blocked by the fourth Welland Canal. The remainder of Mountain Road to the west of the Welland Canal is now called Beaverdams Road. At a point just west of the Thorold Tunnel, Caughnawagas led by Francois Ducharme and Mohawks led by William Kerr had set up an ambush where a gully crossed the Mountain Road. Boerstler fell right into the trap.
Meanwhile, FitzGibbon and his men had remained at DeCew's home in case a second attack came. Hearing the sounds of battle, he hurried along the DeCew Road to Beaver Dams, where DeCew Road joins Beaverdams Road, the former Mountain Road. He then hurried up Beaverdams Road and Pine Street to a small knoll where Chapel and Lynden Streets intersect. From there he could see what was happening. He sent a message to Major DeHaren, advising him of the situation and asking him to move to cut off any retreating Americans.
Meanwhile, the Americans having been hit very hard and Boerstler himself having been wounded twice, were organizing a retreat. They still had a force numerically superior to anything the British and natives could muster, so FitzGibbon decided on a bluff. Attaching a white handkerchief to his sword and with buglers sounding Cease Fire, he rode toward the Americans. By feeding the Americans' fear of the natives, FitzGibbon convinced Boerstler that the British force was far larger than the American and that he might be unable to restrain the natives if the battle continued. Despite a near disaster when Major DeHaren arrived and tried to take charge, Boerstler surrendered and was surprised when he found that he had surrendered to a much weaker force. The whole battle had taken less then three hours and credit was due entirely to the natives. However, as John Norton, a native leader said, "the Caughnawagas did the fighting, FitzGibbon got the glory, and the Mohawks got the plunder."
Battle of the Thames
On 27 September 1813, the American army under Major General William Henry Harrison, the future President, landed at Amherstburg ready to take on the British forces at Fort Malden. The British commander, Brigadier-General Procter was in an untenable position. The few guns that had been at the fort had been moved onto the ships that American Commodore Perry had defeated on Lake Erie. So Procter had started to retreat on 24 September, giving him a three-day lead. If he had moved with some urgency, perhaps things would have turned out differently, but he didn't. He reached the Dolson Farm near Chatham on 1 October and camped, confident that the Americans were far behind.
The leader of his native allies, Tecumseh, had no respect for Procter, considering him a coward. He goaded Procter into taking a stand, so Procter left his troops and rode off to survey the site at Moraviantown.
The Americans, however, were not far behind. Taking advantage of the firm roads caused by the cold weather, they were able to catch up. Although Tecumseh, his natives, and some British troops staged a delaying action, they could not hold back the American army of 3000. By the time Procter rejoined his army on 4 October, they were demoralized and hungry.
The site chosen by Procter for the battle was about three kilometres west of Moraviantown between a swamp and the Thames River. It should have been a close battle even though the British and natives were outnumbered 3-to-1, but the Americans were out to avenge a massacre and were not about to be stopped. The battle lasted less than an hour and was a complete victory for the Americans. Procter abandoned his army before the end of the battle and retreated to Niagara. Tecumseh was made of sterner stuff and fought to his death. His body was never found and the only marker on the battle site is in honour of him. Procter was later court-martialed and reprimanded.
Battle of the Longwoods
This was more of a skirmish than a battle. On 5 December 1813, Lt. Medcalf and 18 men were on their way to collect a herd of cattle near Chatham. They found that the herd had been commandeered by an American force, which had taken them to McCrea's farm about 30 miles away to the west. Picking up troops as he moved along, Medcalf attacked the McCrea farm, capturing the Americans, who were taken as prisoners to Port Dover. Most of the captured Americans escaped because there were too few guards but it was still an embarrassment for the American forces.
Lt.Col. Butler commanding the American forces at Detroit then decided to retaliate by capturing one of two posts in the area, Port Talbot or Delaware. He sent a raiding party under Captain Andrew Holmes to do the job. About twenty kilometres from Delaware, the American party was spotted by Captain Caldwell and his Western Rangers, who immediately reported them to Delaware.
Meanwhile, the American force built entrenchments on the west side of the Twenty Mile Creek and waited for the British to attack. Captain James Basden, in command of the small British and native force, deployed the Western Rangers to outflank the Americans to the north and the natives to outflank from the south. Then he made an error. He ordered the British troops make a frontal attack on an entrenched enemy. The British were slaughtered, losing about one quarter of their strength in casualties. After the short fight, both sides withdrew; the British to Delaware and the Americans to Detroit.
The Battle of Chippawa
After taking Fort Erie, the American Brigadier General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Porter to remain at the fort with his force while the main force marched north. The British commander, Major General Phineas Riall, had taken a defensive position on the north side of the Chippawa Creek, now the Welland River, at the village of Chippawa. Riall's information about the Americans was inaccurate and he thought that the British outnumbered the Americans, who had in fact a large superiority. Experience had also shown him that Americans were inferior to the British on a frontal attack. So he decided to cross the Chippawa River and attack. Scott however had drilled his army until they were as strong and polished as the British. They answered the British attack with a bayonet attack of their own, forcing Riall's men back across the Chippawa River.
Because of a shortage, the American soldiers wore grey uniforms. The cadets at the American military academy at West Point still wear grey (or as the Americans spell it, gray) uniforms to honour the victory at Chippawa.
Battle of Lundy's Lane
After the victory at Chippawa, the overall American commander in the Niagara region, Major General Jacob Brown, advanced his army to Queenston to rendezvous with the American fleet under Commodore Chauncey for an attack on Fort George. Chauncey, however, did not appear, so Brown and his army returned to Chippawa.
Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Drummond, the British commander in Upper Canada, was impatient to drive the Americans back over the border. He dispatched troops from Fort Niagara on the American side of the Niagara River to march south toward the American base at Fort Schlosser, which was across the Niagara River from Chippawa. Brown decided to counter that move with an advance by General Winfield Scott toward Queenston.
Scott got a big surprise when his troops walked into the force of General Riall located at Lundy's Lane. Scott's initial attack was too hot for Riall to handle so the British began to retreat. Just then, Drummond arrived on the scene, took charge, and ordered the troops back to the battlefield just as Scott attacked again. The Americans attacked the British left and centre. In the centre, they could not make much impression but managed to capture a battery on a strategic hill that later was named Drummond Hill. On the left, the Americans achieved a bigger breakthrough, capturing a surprised General Riall for a short time.
Immediately after losing the battery on the hill, the British re-formed, beating back the Americans to recapture the battery. The bloody fight continued back and forth until dark. In the end, it was General Brown who decided that enough was enough. The next morning, the British found that the Americans had gone, burning Street's Mill and the bridge at Chippawa as they retreated to Fort Erie. Dr William "Tiger" Dunlop and his fellow surgeons were left to do what they could for the wounded, which included the commander, Sir Gordon Drummond, and General Riall.
Battle of Fort Erie
In July 1814, 3500 American troops under Brigadier General Winfield Scott crossed the Niagara River and marched on Fort Erie, located a little south of the present town. Another 100 troops under Brigadier General Peter Porter approached the fort from the south. Major Thomas Buck, in command at the fort had only 137 men and realized he could not hold the Americans up, so he fired a few rounds "for the honour of the flag" and surrendered. The American troops then went on to fight the Battles of Chippawa and Lundy's Lane.
After the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the American forces retreated to Fort Erie, pursued by the British under General Drummond. Despite great efforts and heavy losses, the British were unable to dislodge the Americans and, in September, Drummond called off the siege to retreat to Burlington Heights. The following November, the Americans destroyed the fort and returned home.
Battle of Malcolm's Mills
In November 1814, American Brigadier General Duncan MacArthur with a force of about 700 men invaded along the Thames Valley with the intention of destroying everything in the area around Burlington Heights. On finding that the high water near Brantford was blocking his way, he turned south toward Port Dover. The local militia, consisting basically of 150 farmers, assembled at Malcolm's Mills, a small community that had grown around the mills of Finlay Malcolm. Completely overmatched, the militia made a show of defiance but was swatted aside by the Americans. This was the last battle fought on Canadian soil against an invading force.
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