Showing posts with label Battle of Windsor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Battle of Windsor. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Colonel John Prince: Battlefield Executions

On December 4, 1838, a band of about 160 Hunters and Patriots crossed from Detroit in the predawn darkness and took over the village of Windsor in western Upper Canada. They were ultimately chased out by the local militia.

When the local militia commander, Colonel John Prince arrived with four more companies of defenders, nothing remained of the battle but smoke and casualties. Upon hearing details of the attack, Colonel Prince began a ruthless campaign of summary justice, executing five prisoners.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Samuel Snow: An Everyman Freedom Fighter

During the Patriot War, tens of thousands of Americans pledged money and materials to help the Canadian rebels win political freedom in Upper Canada. A smaller number—I estimate between 1000 and 2000—actually took up arms and risked their lives by invading Canada. Most of these were the so-called "ordinary guy"—farmers, laborers, and tradesmen. Samuel D. Snow was one of these. The only difference being that he wrote about it.

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Monday, June 4, 2012

Robert Marsh: Unrepentant Freedom Fighter

Robert Marsh participated in three of the nine raids into Upper Canada during the Patriot War, including the first and the last. In his 1848 memoirs—the short title is Narrative of a Patriot Exile—he demonstrated an unflinching belief in American-style democracy and an unbending dislike of British colonial rule. Despite seven years of hard times, he never regretted his actions.
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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Battle of Windsor: 3. Prisoners Executed

Executions of the Hunters and Patriots captured at the Battle of Windsor began in London, Upper Canada, in early 1839.

An American, Hiram Benjamin Lynn, 26, was the first to fall through the scaffold's trap door. A rebel leader accused of leading the bloody assault on the Windsor barracks, he hanged January 7, 1839.
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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Battle of Windsor: 2. Prisoners Go on Trial

The Hunters and Patriots captured at the Battle of Windsor faced a trial by court martial in London, Upper Canada, under the same rules and restrictions as their fellow combatants imprisoned in Fort Henry at Kingston. Convictions were almost guaranteed and hanging a likely result.
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Monday, March 28, 2011

Battle of Windsor: 1. The Final Campaign

While all eyes were riveted on the trials and executions of captured Hunters at Kingston in eastern Upper Canada, a new army of Hunters and Patriots prepared to attack the colony’s western border near Windsor. It turned out to be the final organized invasion of the Patriot War and a bungled bloody affair like all the raids before it.
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