Coloured Corps-- Part 8: Fort Mississagua on the Niagara Frontier

One British officer later noted that:  "Mississagua... is a pretty  little Fort, and would prevent vessels coming up the river.."

These duties prevented the Coloured Corps from participating in the Niagara Campaign that summer.

Their services would have been of great assistance during the British Siege of Fort Erie in which the British desperately lacked the services of trained engineers.

Fort Mississagua:  The tower and earthworks are all that remain  of the barracks, guardroom and cells of Fort Mississagua.  Built between 1813 and 1816 to replace Fort George as the counterpoise to the American Fort Niagara directly  across the Niagara River from it,  it was garrisoned until 1826.

Repaired and rearmed following the Rebellion of 1837, it continued to be maintained  until 1854 in response to border disputes with the United States.

It was manned during the  tense years of the American Civil War and the Fenian Scare of 1866, but by 1870 it was no longer considered of military value.

--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

Joseph Willcocks-- Part 4: Ancaster Bloody Assize and Death

In the spring of 1814, fifteen Upper Canadians, including Joseph Willcocks, were charged with  high treason as part of the Ancaster Bloody Assize.  Eight of them were arrested and executed in July 1814.  Willcocks was not arrested.

But, on September  4, 1814, while leading a skirmish during the Siege of Fort Erie, he was fatally shot  in the chest.

His body, as well as that of Lieutenant Roosevelt, was buried initially in "the circle or open square of" Buffalo, New York.  Later, his body was reburied in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery in the 1830s, but his grave is unmarked.

Wonder Why They Wouldn't Bury Him In Canada?  --Brock-Perry

Turncoat Led Raid on Newark-- Part 3: Joseph Willcocks

Willcocks joined the American Army as a colonel while still serving in the lower assembly of Canada and was kicked out of office.  He used U.S, troops to conduct a campaign of slash-and-burn expeditions that often targeted former of political enemies..  He especially went after his old hometown of Newark.

This is one of the reasons for the British burning Washington, D.C..

He managed to evade several capture attempts, but later died fighting for the Americans at the siege of Fort Erie in 1814.

--Brock-Perry

Foirt Erie Commemoration in 2014-- Part 2: Facts About the Fort

**  Base for British troops, Loyalist Rangers and Iroquois during the American Revolution.

**  Canada's bloodiest field of battle with over 3,000 troops killed and wounded during the Siege of Fort Erie August 3 to September 26, 1814.

**  The major crossing point into Canada of the Underground Railroad 1793-1865.

**  Occupied by the Fenians (Irish Republican Army) during their largest raid in 1866.

**  Visited by Pontiac, General Isaac Brock, General Winfield Scott, Lord and Lady Simcoe, Prince Edward *(future King Edward VII) and Mark Twain.

**  The new visitor center opened July 1, 2011.

--Brock-Perry