Battle of Stoney Creek Re-enactment Set for This Weekend

 From the June 2, 2024 CHCH (Canada) by Kiana Ferreira.

The Battle of Stoney Creek started on the night of June 5, 1813 and was a turning point for the British. 

This weekend is the 41st re-enactment of the battle which was a night raid by the British on American forces.  It is the longest continually running war of 1812 re-enactment in the province (Ontario) and will bring more than 10,000 attendees.

Along with the Battle of Beaver Dams two weeks later, it returned the Niagara Region to British and Canadian control and ended the U.S. attempt to conquer the western part of the province.

Well, It Was Last Weekend.  --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 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

Alexander Macdonell-- Part 5: Becomes Catholic Bishop of Upper Canada

A central figure in the religious and political life of the Crown Colony of Canada, Macdonell was appointed vicar general in 1807 and vicar apostolic in 1820 and was  consecrated bishop or Regiopolis in 1826.

During his tenure thousands of Irish immigrants arrived, and by 1840, there were 34 priests and  48 parishes in  Upper Canada (today's province of Ontario) for which Macdonell had secured financial assistance from the local and British governments.

A firm conservative, Macdonell was a legislative counsellor  from 1831, and soon came under fire from the Reform Movement.

He died while in Britain attempting to secure funds for the Regiopolis College and recruiting more Catholic emigrants.  Alexander Macdonell was buried at  St. Margaret's Convent in Edinburgh, Scotland, but his remains were removed to  St. Mary's in Kingston in 1861.

--Brock-Perry

The Tigress Found in 1932-- Part 1: Wreck in Good Shape

Continuing with John Lisle's account on Stephen Champlin which is much more information than I could find anywhere else.

Article in the July 10, 1932, New York Herald Tribune  "USS Tigress, Sunk in 1812 found intact in refloating test."

"Midland, Ontario:  From the mud-smothered bed where she has lain for 119 years, the TIGRESS,  American war vessel sunk in Penetang Bay can be raised without great difficulty, Captain Robert Carson reports.

"Captain Carson, in his survey of the point where the TIGRESS and her sister ship, the SCORPION,  are lodged at the bottom of the bay, recovered several  relics, including pokes two feet long, scuppers and iron bars.  Barnacles  as big as hen's eggs encrusted the iron, which had been softened by the soaking.  A chain, believed to have been used for securing cannon, also was brought to the surface."

--Brock-Perry

Fort George (National Historic Site, Canada)-- Part 1

Fort George (National Historic Site)
Run by the Friends of Fort George.

(1796 - 1824)   By Niagara-by-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.

Built with six earthen bastions with a palisade and a ditch.  It was the replacement for Fort Niagara, which was awarded to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris and the 1796 Jay Treaty.

The Center Blockhouse was within the fort, and the North and South Blockhouses (1797) were used as barracks.  Another blockhouse was built in 1800 inside the southeast redan , adjacent to the powder magazine.

The fort was bombarded by Fort Niagara in New York, in a rare duel between opposing forts, and then captured by American forces in May 1813.

--Brock-Perry

Ontario's Highway 93: Penetanguishene Road

From Wikipedia.

King's Highway 93, provincially maintained in Ontario is located entirely in Simcoe County, all 14.9 miles of it.

It follows the Penetanguishene Road, an early colonization road built to connect Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay.  It provides an overland route from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario via Yonge Street.

Prior to 1993, it was nearly 15 kilometers longer.

The Penetanguishene Road was built between 1814 and 1815 to the naval station established at Penetahnguishene.  Prior to that this base had been called the Penetanguishene Military Post.

It was surveyed in 1808 by Samuel Wilmot.  After the British capture of Fort Michilimackinac in 1812, there was a need for supplies.  The decision to cut the road was made in November 1814 by General Gordon Drummond and completed the following spring, but too late for use during the war.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Launch of the HMS St. Lawrence

OCTOBER 10, 1814:  Kingston Navy Dockyard launched the 3-deck ship-of-the-line HMS St. Lawrence, but it was too late to see action during the war.  Well, it could have, but the Americans would not challenge it.

It was bigger than Nelson's HMS Victory and the largest sailing warship ever on fresh water.  It gave the British control of Lake Ontario.

--Brock-Perry

Discovery Harbour, Ontario: "The Blood Boat"

Now located at the site of the Penetanguishene Navy Yard on Lake Huron has several replicas of War of 1812-era warships to explore.

HMS BEE is a full-scale replica 79-foot supply schooner that was stationed at the navy base from 1817-1830.

The HMS TECUMSETH is also a full-scale replica. The 124-foot ship was built at Chippewa in 1815 and transferred to Penetanguishene Navy Yard in 1817. The original Tecumseth rotted and sank by 1828. Its remains were raised in 1953 and are on display.

They also have a 19-foot JOLLY BOAT called "The Blood Boat." It is a general purpose boat used by the Royal Navy during the era. These boats were often used to procure fresh meat and that is how they earned the name "Blood Boat."

--Brock-Perry

Rogue Diving On the Scourge and Hamilton

From the Oct. 18, 2013, Toronto Spec.ca.

"Rogue divers visit shipwreck sites" by Mark McNeil.

Six divers made ten dives to the USS Scourge and USS Hamilton between 2000 and 2002. They were all experts in deep-water diving and refer to themselves as the MAREX group.

The two American ships are located 92 meters deep about 11 kilometers from Port Dalhousie. Both ships sank in a violent storm in August 1813 and were discovered in 1973 by Dr. Dan Nelson, an associate archaeologist at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Since then, ownership of the ships has shifted from the U.S. Navy to the ROM and now to the City of Hamilton, Canada.

Diving on the ships is strictly illegal, as they are also considered war graves, but the group figured it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Eight dives were made on the Hamilton and two on the Scourge. Neither ship had any radio security until 2004-2005.

They Are Protected by the Ontario Heritage Act. --Brock-Perry

Try an "1812 Cannonballs"

From the April 18th Cape Breton Post "Ontario dairy bar marks War of 1812 bicentennial gory ice cream."

Hagersville, Ontarioo

Hewitt's Dairy Bar has been on Highway 6 for 50 years and now has a new flavor, "1812 Cannonballs" concocted for kids and "admittedly morbid."

The green vanilla base symbolizes a battlefield, chocolate candies are cannonballs and, the red strawberry ripple, of course, blood.

Grownups can have "Redcoat Rations" an ice cream concoction like what would have been eaten back then consisting of apples, maple syrup and oatmeal cookie.

Cost is $2.15 a cone and the treat was launched April 20th with free samples going out to uniformed re-enactors.  But, you better hurry up and get there as these items are available for only two years.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any photo of the "1812 Cannonballs."

Getting Your History on the Sweet.  --Brock-Perry