Ancaster Barracks and Mississauga Lighthouse

From North American Forts, "Ontario Forts."

ANCASTER BARRACKS

(1812-1815)  Militia. Ancaster

Militia barracks were located on Wilson Street.  The current building on the site is probably not of the time period.

MISSISSAUGA POINT LIGHTHOUSE  NHS (near Fort George)

On the shoreline of the Niagara River in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, the site marks the site of the first lighthouse built on the Great Lakes in 1804.  Archaeologists believe there are remnants of the lighthouse below the eastern mortar bastion of Fort Mississauga, no above ground remains, though.

The hexagonal stone tower and  lightkeeper's residence was constructed in 1804 by military masons  of the 49th Regiment of Foot. It was damaged in the Battle of Fort George in 1813 and demolished by the British in 1814 when they built Fort Mississauga on the same site.  Local legend has the remains of the lighthouse being incorporated into the fort's tower.

--Brock-Perry

Ancaster, Upper Canada (Now Ontario): A Question of Loyalists and Americans

From Wikipedia.

Ancaster was mostly a wilderness society before the War of 1812, with American farmers moving north searching for arable land, some French-speaking fur traders and British immigrants traveling southward.

Also traveling north  in substantial numbers and in substantial numbers, around 11787 with the incentive of inexpensive land grants were the United Empire Loyalists still loyal to the British crown who were fleeing from the United States after the American Revolution.

Britain's promise of free land brought many people from the United States to Ancaster and the area around it who did not have the loyalist feeling of the others.

This would eventually lead to a series of defections, accusations and treasonous actions during the War of 1812 that led to the largest mass hangings in Canadian history, the Bloody Assizes which took place in Ancaster in 1814.

--Brock-Perry

The Bloody Assize of 1814-- Part 1: High Treason

From Wikipedia.

A series of trials held at Ancaster, Upper Canada in 1814.  They resulted in treason convictions and subsequent execution of some of the men.

During the War of 1812, a number of Canadians living in the Niagara and  London Districts took up arms against Canadians and supported American raiders.  Many of these men, however, were American-born and later fled back to the United States.

In 1813, several groups of these men were captured and the following year nineteen were charged with high treason and charges were also filed against some who were not in custody and on the American side of the Niagara River.

In May 1814, a special court was established in Ancaster and a series of trials held in June.

--Brock-Perry

Steps of a Traitor, Joseph Willcocks-- Part 5: Ancaster Bloody Assize Trials and Aftermath

The story doesn't end here.  In 1814, nineteen Willcocks supporters and pro-Americans in custody were charged with high treason to Upper Canada.  Others were likewise charged in absentia.  This became the Ancaster Bloody Assize Trials of 1814, held in Ancaster, Upper Canada.

As a result, eight of Willcocks' followers were hanged and seven others banished.

Joseph Willcocks himself survived only briefly, receiving a mortal wound at the Siege of Fort Erie that September.  His body was brought back to the United States.This was the last fight of the war between British and American forces on the Niagara Frontier.

Due to potential retaliation or even death after the Treaty of Ghent the surviving members of the Company of Canadian Volunteers settled in the United States.  Two of them were Benejah Mallory and , who took over command of the Canadian Volunteers after Willcocks' death, and Abraham Markle.

Daniel Wyatt concluded saying that Joseph Willcocks is buried today in  an unmarked grave in Buffalo "with neither side considering honoring the notorious rebel of questionable loyalties."

Evidently Not A Fan of Willcocks.  --Brock-Perry

Penetanguishene Road Steeped in History-- Part 3

Impetus to the road really picked up with the War of 1812 and the fall of Detroit.  With supplies cit, Fort Michilmackinac began to starve.  Gordon Drummond saw the urgency of building the new road.

The planned road would be 30 miles long and it was estimated that it would take 200 men at least three weeks to build it.

In December 1814, William Dunlop was pl;aced in charge of the project.  When finished, it was not much of a road by today's standards.  It was uneven, stump-ridden and essentially impassable in heavy rain.

Even so, this road which was originally built for military purposes, promoted settlement in Huronia.

On the Lake Simcoe end of it, a village originally named Kempenfelt (now northeast Barrie) began in 1819.

The Story of a Road.  --Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: McArthur's Raid Begins and Skirmish at Tracy's Landing

OCTOBER 26TH, 1814:  Beginning of McArthur's Raid from Detroit up the Thames Valley to the Grand River Settlement.  This source has it at this date.  The historic places site has it beginning October 22nd.

OCTOBER 27TH, 1814:  Skirmish at Tracy's Landing, Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

--Brock-Perry

The Ancaster "Bloody" Assize Begins

MAY 23RD, 1864:  By 1812, roughly one half of the inhabitants of Upper Canada were American born.  Many openly supported invading Americans and a few took up arms against the King forming a treasonous regiment, "The Canadian Volunteers," led by three former members of the Legislative Assembly.

Nineteen men from the London and Niagara districts were tried for treason at the Ancaster "Bloody" Assize.  Four were acquitted, and fifteen sentenced to death.

Eight men were executed on 20 July 1814, at Burlington Heights, Upper Canada.  The men were hanged and then beheaded.

Seven convicted traitors were reprieved and of these, three died in jail.  Three were banished and one escaped.

Thirty traitors serving with the Americans were also convicted and their property seized.

Not a Glorious Part of the War.  --Brock-Perry

This Month, 200 Years Ago: Ancaster "Bloody Assize" Commences

MAY 23RD, 1814:  The Ancaster "Bloody" Assize begins.  Upper Canadians accused of treason are put on trial at Ancaster, Upper Canada.

MAY 25-JUNE 24, 1814:  Arrival of British reinforcements at Quebec City, Lower Canada.  The 16th and 17th Regiments arrive as does the Royal Artillery.  British troops and ships continue to arrive as the Napoleonic Wars end.

MAY 29TH, 1864:  During a skirmish at Pungoteague Creek, Virginia, a British force destroys an American battery.

--Brock-Perry

The "Bloody Assizes" in Niagara

From the Bullet News Niagara.

Parks Canada, Niagara National Historic Sites and Niagara Parks Commission will host an interactive evening of music, drama and humor "The Bloody Assizes" at the Laura Secord Homestead.

The "Bloody Assizes" were a series of trials held at Ancaster, Upper Canada.  During the war, some settlers had taken up arms against their neighbors.  Many of them later fled to the United States.

Brock-Perry