Historic Fort George-- Part 3: Who's Higher?

Fort George was built by the British to serve as a secondary fort to Fort Niagara, across the Niagara River. Its large size was because it was originally also supposed to serve as a supply depot.

However, the Jay Treaty required the British to withdraw from Fort Niagara. In 1791, land was set aside to build the fortifications that became Fort George on the high ground next to the Navy Hall at Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The site was selected by mermbers of the Royal Engineers at an elevation of 14 feet higher than Fort Niagara across the river.

However, the British Army didn't leave Fort Niagara until 1796 after the Jay Tearty was signed.  Fort George was completed the same year with a blockhouse/barracks, a stone gunpowder storage magazine and two small warehouses.

In an attempt to negate the elevation advantage, Americans built a battery on an elevated bank across the river.  In an effort to counteract this, the British then built a half moon battery southeast of Fort George.

Fort George was largely manned by members of  the Royal Canadian  Volunteers after British forces withdrew many troops from Upper Canada.

--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

Steps of a Traitor, Joseph Willcocks-- Part 3: The Burning of Newark

The Americans abandoned Fort George on December 10, 1813,   Near Fort George was the town of Newark where Joseph Willcocks had  lived and printed his controversial newspaper  for six years.

Following orders from the American officer in charge of the fort,  and upon Willcocks' urging, Brigadier General George McClure, the Americans forcibly removed the residents of Newark, mostly the young and old women and children and forced them out into the snow and freezing weather.  There were about 400 people who suffered this.

Then Willcocks and his raiders and other Americans, burned  around 150 homes to the ground, leaving just three buildings standing.  The townspeople were forced to cope as well as they could in the freezing temperatures and 2-3-foot snow drifts.

In one situation, Willcocks ordered two men to forcibly remove a sickly woman, bed and all, and deposit her in the snow.  Earlier that year, he had sent her husband, William Dickson, stateside as a prisoner.  While she was being taken out, Willcocks personally set fire to the two-story home.

After all the burnings, the Americans retreated across the Niagara River, with the Canadian Volunteers forming the rear guard.  They crossed just as the British and Canadians under Lt. General Sir Gordon Drummond arrived on the scene.

--Brock-Perry

Steps of A Traitor, Joseph Willcocks-- Part 2: The Ultimate Affront

Within a few weeks, Joseph Willcocks had recruited and took command of about 120 men who became the  Company of Canadian Volunteers who were mostly American immigrants and some pro-American Canadians living in Niagara.

Two of their officers were prominent elected  officials:  Abraham Markle and Benajah Mallory.  Mr. Wyatt then classified Willcocks' actions as an American officer as being like those of the Civil War's  William Quantrill:  foraging, scouting and a reign of terror by burning pro-Brit farms belonging to people he had known and opposed in politics.

He even took hostages across the border and had them imprisoned.

But what was the worse case, took place after the decisive British victories at Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams, when the American Army retreated back to Fort George.

--Brock-Perry

Some More On Joseph Willcocks-- Part 4: Commanded the Canadian Volunteers

By the end of August 1813, he had raised and was in command of a unit of expatriate Upper Canadians known as the Company of Canadian Volunteers.   Among his fellow officers were such prominent figures from the parliamentary  opposition in Upper Canada as Benajah Mallory and Abraham Markle.

Most of the unit's 120 members were from the constituencies the three men had represented.

For their part, the Americans valued Willcocks for his "zeal, activity and local knowledge."

In November and December 1813 1813, he led scouting and foraging parties to Stoney Creek and the Forty (Grimsby), aided in the burning of Niagara, and participated in the subsequent retreat to Buffalo, New York.

"Surpassed by none in enterprise and barvery," Willcocks commanded his volunteers at Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Fort Erie until on 4 September 1814, he "received a mortal wound by a shot through the right breast" at Fort Erie.

--Brock-Perry

Joseph Willcocks-- Part 3: His Role In the Sack of Newark

Despite offering assistance and intelligence to the U.S. forces, Willcocks was never really trusted.  His associates, Abraham Markle and Benajah  Mallory vied for control of the Canadian Volunteers.

Probably Joseph Willcocks' greatest contribution to the War of 1812 was pushing for the sack and burning of Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) on December 10, 1813, in which three buildings were left standing.

This so infuriated and  inflamed public opinion on the Canadian side of the river that barely a week later, Canadian and British forces crossed the Niagara River into the United States and took Fort Niagara and then burned pretty much everything from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.

--Brock-Perry

Joseph Willcocks-- Part 2: The Six Nations, Brock's Death and TurnsTraitor

In 1812, Isaac Brock enlisted Willcocks to assist in the ensuring of  the loyalty and participation of the Six Nations people (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora Indian tribes) to Upper Canada and the Crown.    This he achieved despite being ill at the time.

But, for Willcocks, the death of Brock at Queenston Heights on October 13, 1812, marked the beginning of the end for his service to Canada.  He fought alongside the Six Nations warriors as part of Roger Sheaffes's retaking of the Redan Battery.

He was greatly distressed when, after the invasion of the Niagara Peninsula in 1813, that military rule and harsh measures against people expressing what were considered to be disloyal  opinions, Willcocks considered this to be an abandonment of democratic  principles.

In July 1813, he committed treason when he offered his services to the Americans, even though he was a sitting member of Upper Canada's Legislative Assembly.  He was given the rank of major in the American Army and raised a company of Canadian Volunteers which consisted of  recent immigrants from the United States.

They all fought on the American side and Willcocks was promoted to lieutenant colonel.  Robert Nelles  replaced him in the Legislative Assembly.

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

Timeline for December 1813-- Part 1: The Burning of Niagara, Upper Canada

DECEMBER 10TH: Burning of Newark.

Major General David Adams burned Nuyaka.

THE BURNING OF THE TOWN OF NIAGARA, UPPER CANADA:

By December 1813, U.S. Brigadier General George McClure was left with only 100 soldiers to defend his base at Niagara. On 10 December, after giving inhabitants little notice, he ordered the destruction of the town and withdrew his men to Fort Niagara, NY.

Elderly and sickly men, women and children were turned out into a fierce winter blizzard. The treasonous "Canadian Volunteers" led by Joseph Willcocks burned the first capital of Upper Canada and pillaged the wretched people.

British and Canadian troops arrived that evening too late to save any buildings but found Fort George in better condition, complete with artillery and camp equipment. McClure had acted against his orders and was forced to resign.

--Brock-Perry