Okay, So Who Was This Butler Who Had the Barracks

The last several posts I have been writing about Butler's Barracks, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  I mentioned that Butler's Barracks were named after a Loyalist officer by the name of John Butler (1728-1796).

Well, who was he?

Essentially, an enemy of the new country the Patriots were trying to establish.

He was an American-born military officer, merchant, landowner and colonial official in the British Indian Deparment.  During the American Revolution he was a prominent Loyalist who led the provincial regiment Butler's Rangers on the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania.

Born in Connecticut, he moved to New York.  To say he was a thorn in the side of Americans would be an understatement.  In thanks for his services, Britain was given a land grant in the Niagara region.  This eventually became Butler's Barracks.

I'll write about him in my Cooter's History Thing blog later.

--Brock-Perry

Butler's Barracks-- Part 2: One of Several Military Installations Along Niagara River

Butler's Barracks are just one one of four military installations along the Niagara River by Niagara-by-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  

The others:

Fort George

Fort Mississauga 

Navy Hall

I have written about the two forts this past month.

The British passed control of the Butler's Barracks over to the Canadian Army in 1871.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 8: British Recapture It and Then Capture American Fort Niagara

The Americans had intended to use Fort George as a bridgehead in Canadian territory to launch further attacks.  However, that did not come to pass.  Disease,  increased desertion rates,  risks of ambushes and a general British advance toward the fort following their victories at  Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams kept it from doing that.

American forces began a slow withdrawal from the fort until in December 1813, there were but 60 soldiers there.  Upon receiving intelligence that a force of 1,500 British and 500 First Nations Indians were advancing the Americans withdrew and razed the fort and nearby settlement.

The American garrison left the fort on December 11 after spiking the cannons and destroying the town.  However, the fort itself was left intact.

British forces arrived shortly after the Americans left.  Nine days later, they conucted an attack across the Niagara River that led to the capture of the American Fort Niagara and the razing of American communities in retaliation for what had happened to Niagara (the name of Niagara-on-the-Lake as it is called today).

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Since I gave been writing a lot about two women who, performed heroic jobs at two of the Battles of Fort George, I decided I might as well write about the fort in more detail.

Was a military fortification  in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  It was  used by the British Army, the Canadian militia and for a brief period of time, United States forces.

The fort was mostly destroyed during the War of 1812.

The site has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1921 and features a reconstruction of the fort.

The British established Fort George in the 1790s to replace Fort Niagara.  Many of its structures  were demolished in May 1813 duing the Battle of Fort George.  After the battle, American forces occupied the fort briefly for seven months before withdrawing in December 1813.

Althouggh the British regained the fort a short time later, little effort was made to reconstruct it after they captured the American Fort Niagara across the river the following week.

--Brock-Perry

Mary Madden Henry-- Part 4

From the October 6, 2015, "All about Canadian history" blog.

The story of Mary Henry; an al-but-forgotten heroine form the War of 1812.  There is not a lot of source material about her.

She was born Mary Madden c1770 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  Not much is known about her early life.  Around the age of 20 she married a Royal Artillery gunner from County  Derry named Dominic Henry in 1790.  The two immigrated to British North America when Dominic was shipped to a post in Niagara.

In 1803, Dominic retured from the military, became a pensioner and was appointed the keeper of the first lighthouse on the Great Lakes town of Niagara (now Niagara-by-the-Lake.)

--Brock-Perry

Mary Madden Henry-- Part 3

From Find-A-Grave.

BIRTH:  1770  County Antrim, Northern Ireland

DEATH:  1823  (Aged 52-53)

BURIAL:  St. Mark's Cemetery  Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.

Her husband, Dominic Henry is also buried there, but his birth and death dates are not listed.

The wife of Dominic Henry is a well-known War of 1812 hero, Mary (Madden) Henry, who tended the wounded on the battlefield of Fort George while under fire.

--Brock-Perry

Fort George, Canada-- Part 5: The Town of Niagara Sacked

On December 10, 1813, Gen. George McClure ordered a retreat of the American forces across the Niagara River.  In addition, he also ordered the destruction of the Canadian town of Niagara.  When the British arrived on the scene, they were met with a horrifying sight.

Captain William Hamilton Merritt of the Provincial Dragoons recalled that "nothing but heaps of coals, and the streets full of furniture... met the eye in all directions."  About 130 homes had been put to the torch, and some 400 townspeople, mainly women, children and elderly men) were left without shelter.

Fort George remained in British hands for the rest of the war.  During the American occupation, parts of Fort George had been rebuilt and the British also continued to rebuild.  But by  the 1820s, Fort George was essentially in ruins.  The British Army abandoned the fort  in favor of Butler's Barracks and Fort Mississauga.

In the 1930s, Fort George was reconstructed to its pre-1812 configuration under the guidance of the Royal Engineers, and designated a National Historic Site of Canada.  Today, visitors can tour the blockhouses where common soldiers and their families shared cramped living space, the  more elegant officers quarters

The stone powder  magazine, which survived the attack, is the only structure that is original to the fort and the oldest building in Niagara-on-the-Lake (the new name of Niagara).

--Brock-Perry

The Battle of Buffalo-- Part 1: The Burning of Newark

From Wikipedia.

Also known as the Battle of Black Rock.

Took place near the Niagara River in western New York in what was called the Niagara Frontier.

British forces drove off a hastily-organized defense by militia and then engaged in considerable plundering and destruction.

This occurred in retaliation for the American burning of the Upper Canadian village of Newark (now Niagara-On-the-Lake).

Brigadier General George McClure, New York militia, commander of Fort George, decided to abandon that post December 10, 1813, and ordered that the neighboring village of Newark be destroyed.  He gave the people there only a few hours notice and then turned them out on a cold winter's night and then burned all but one of their 150 buildings to the ground.

Setting the Stage.  --Brock-Perry

The Forgotten War of 1812 in Newark, Upper Canada

From the Dec. 17, 2013, "The Mercury Columns" by David Shriban: The Forgotten War of 1812.

Two hundred years ago, American troops had occupied Newark, Upper Canada (now Niagara-On-the-Lake, Ontario) for seven months.  Most of its inhabitants were women and children since the men had left to serve in the Canadian militia.  Then, the Americans, as they left,  burned the town down, right as winter approached.

On December 10, 1813, residents of the Loyalist village were forced into the snow while their homes and buildings were burned.  A year later, in retribution, British forces had no restraint when they pillaged and burned Buffalo and other western New York towns.

Captain William Hamilton Merritt, who arrived in Newark a day later reported seeing "[n]othing but heaps of coals and the streets full of furniture that the inhabitants were fortunate enough to get out of their houses.  Only one or two houses were undamaged.

--Brock-Perry

"Everywhere I Saw Devastation": Civilian Life During the War of 1812-- Part 2

Continued from Saturday, Nov. 9th.

On December 10, 1813, retreating Americans, who had occupied Niagara, Upper Canada, since May, set fire to and burned almost all the buildings of his town to the grouund. Residents were given just minutes to leave.

Charlotte Dickson's brick home had been used by American Generals McClure and Brown and Colonel Seal, but even that didn't save it.

 Townspeople did not begin rebuilding until after the war.

Burning and destruction were tit-for-tat on both sides, becoming uglier and more brutal as the war dragged on. All males between the ages of 16 to 60 had to serve in the militia. With men serving in the militia, farming was very difficult, especially during planting season.

Stuff You Don't Usually Hear About in War. --Brock-Perry

"Everywhere I Saw Devastation": Civilian Life During the War-- Part 1

From the October 28, 2012, National Post "Everywhere I saw devastation: Civilian life on the front line during the War of 1812" by James Careless.

Thomas-Rene-Vercheres Boucher de Boucherville (there's a name for you) wrote in 1815: "I saw devastation, homes in ashes, fields trampled and laid to waste, forts demolished, forests burned and blackened, truly a most pitiful sight."

He was writing about the Niagara Peninsula, a major scene of conflict.

Civilians on both sides suffered in this area between upper New York state and southwest Ontario. The city of Niagara (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) suffered the most.

--Brock-Perry

The Burning and Massacre at Lewistown, New York

From the September 10, 2012, Canada.com "American town marks a dark episode of War of 1812" by Randy Boswell.

The December 1813 burning of Lewistown, a U.S. village directly across the Niagara River from Upper Canada's Queenston where at least a dozen American civilians died or were mutilated, a regular massacre.

The American town plans to eract a monument honoring the Tuscorora Indian warriors who helped many Americans escape the slaughter.

Before the Tuscaroras intervened, innocent women and children escaping the town were being killed and sometimes scalped.

The attack on Lewistown was in retaliation for the American Army's destruction of Newark, present day Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

--Brock-Perry

Tuscarora Monument to Be Unveiled in New York-- Part 2

This story was of particular interest to me since several months ago I attended a presentation on the Tuscarora Indians in Goldsboro, NC, and wrote about them in my Cooter's History Thing Blog.  Back in the 1600s they had been concentrated in what became North Carolina until the Tuscorora War in the early 1700s.  After this, many moved north to what became New York which would have been this group who saved the people at Lewiston.

Some 1,000 Tuscorora now live in the local Niagara County Reservation in the area.

That day in December 1813, at least a dozen and perhaps as many as 46 men, women and children were killed in a Sunday morning attack in which most of the village was burned by British and Canadian troops.  A small group of perhaps as many as 25 Tuscarora braves fought against some 1,500 enemy soldiers.

This particular invasion was seen as revenge for an earlier American attack and the burning of the Canadian town of Newark, today known as Niagara-On-the-Lake, just across the Niagara River.

Revenge.  --Brock-Perry