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Focuswar of 1812 A12 SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2014 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THE SPEC.COM FOCUS WAR OF 1812 The Bloody Assize litia, went with Brock to Detroit and was commanding a company at Queenston Heights when Brock was killed charging the enemy. Ordered to charge again, Rob- COURTESY FIELDCOTE MUSEUM, LORI LE MARE MUSEUM, LORI FIELDCOTE COURTESY inson saw his commanding officer and the province’s attorney general, John Mac- donnel, mortally wounded. Robinson, who had been articling in Macdonnel’s office, was subsequently ap- pointed acting attorney general. He had just turned 21 and was not yet a member of the bar. It would be nearly impossible to over- state the enormity of the task facing him. The hanging of traitors at Burlington Heights, near Dundurn Castle, by artist In the wake of losses on Lake Erie and at Lori Le Mare. Her art is on display at the Fieldcote Museum in Ancaster. Moraviantown, the military was keen on a declaration of martial law and summary drumhead courts martial for traitors, a move that Robinson and the judiciary IT WAS THE LARGEST MASS HANGING in Canadian history. rightly opposed. The province’s newly ap- pointed civil administrator, Lieutenant- General Gordon Drummond, was also the Two hundred years ago, eight men were hanged for high military commander and he, too, was un- der enormous pressure to suppress trea- treason for taking up arms against the government of Upper son and stabilize the military situation in Upper Canada. The strategy of the government was to Canada. Their heads were chopped off and displayed on conduct civil show trials to reaffirm the Crown’s ability to deal swiftly and severe- poles, their bodies buried in unmarked graves in what is ly with treason. Robinson had received information for treasonable practices against 60 men and today Hamilton’s Inchbury neighbourhood. prepared indictments against 30 for which he felt there was sufficient evidence to convict. Of course, the big fish — Willcocks, Markle and Benajah Mallory — had al- In times perilous and unusual ready skipped and were beyond punish- ment except for forfeiture of property. Common-law trials are held where the offence occurred, which would have been the London and Niagara districts. Howev- ON FEB. 19, 1814, the wartime Parlia- one month later he was the commanding er, the London District courthouse was in officer of the Canadian Volunteers. Charlotteville on the shore of Lake Erie ment of Upper Canada, homeless since Stoney Creek and a subsequent victory which the Americans now controlled. the Americans burned the legislature, at Beaver Dams secured Niagara momen- And in Niagara-on-the-Lake the district tarily, but the loss of the Royal Navy courthouse and gaol had been destroyed convened in a midtown hotel. When the squadron on Lake Erie and the ensuing in 1813 when the Americans burned the speaker called the roll, eighteen members defeat of General Henry Procter’s army at entire town. York was briefly considered Moraviantown in October essentially end- and quickly rejected as it had already been responded. Of the seven absent, one was JAMES ELLIOTT ed British authority over the entire south- pillaged twice by the Americans. Robin- sick, four were prisoners of war and two, west portion of the province. son was therefore instructed to hold the Needless to say there was no shortage of trials at Burlington in the District of Niag- including the member representing Ancaster, were stated to have deserted to the elements ready to move into the vacuum. ara. Poor Robinson then discovered there enemy. In Niagara, the British army that had was no township or town named Burling- been blockading the larger American ar- ton, only the adjoining bay and the mili- The defection of Thomas Markle and Joseph Willcocks, who were actually bearing my in Fort George retired in haste to Bur- tary position. So Ancaster was chosen as it arms in a newly minted U.S. Army unit called the Canadian Volunteers — the turncoats lington Heights and called in the detach- had a building big enough to hold the trial ment kept at Port Dover to maintain com- and was reasonably secure with a military that torched Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1813 — clearly shocked the legislature. It con- munications with Amherstburg. camp on Burlington Heights and 2,000 na- demned their “abominable treason” and declared their seats vacant. The Americans sallied forth and made a tives camped on the Beach Strip. three-day march though the surrounding The Union Hotel — lately used as a mili- The treason of two sitting members, one of whom had fought against the Americans countryside during which, according to tary hospital — was pressed into service at Queenston Heights in 1812, was a major blow to the authority of the colonial govern- their accounts, they were welcomed as as a courthouse. “deliverers and friends.” Ironically, it was Abraham Markle’s ment. But the two rogue members were only the highest-profile examples of the wide- Emboldened by the British withdrawal, Union Mill, on the site of today’s Old Mill spread disaffection that existed in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 and culminated a number of the disaffected joined by some restaurant, that served as a lock-up. rogue militia units conducted raids, seiz- The decision to forgo Charlotteville as a in the largest mass hanging in Canadian history. ing public property, capturing militia offi- venue was reinforced on May 16 when an cers, plundering private property and set- American naval squadron anchored in The story begins in the wake of the American Revolution tling private scores. In November, a party Long Point Bay and landed a force guided of the Norfolk Militia surprised a gang of by Abraham Markle and another former AMONG THE MEASURES taken to se- da, reflected on the widespread apathy these marauders in a house near the Ancaster resident, Oliver Grace, which cure the sovereignty of the Crown’s re- and disaffection: “The population, believe mouth of Nanticoke Creek on Lake Erie, burned the village of Port Dover and every maining North American colonies after me, is essentially bad — full belief possess- killing three and taking 18 prisoners. mill in the area. this stunning loss, was an offer of free land es them all, that the province must inevita- In December, a second party of maraud- in Upper Canada to anyone who would bly succumb — this preposition is fatal to ers guided by Ancaster’s Abraham Mar- ON MAY 23, 1814, the assize opened take up residence within six months. every exertion. Legislators, magistrates, kle, was attacked and captured by a volun- with the Chief Justice, Thomas Scott, pre- The obvious source of English-speak- militia officers, all have imbibed the idea, teer militia force at Chatham. Two were siding. Bench duties were to be shared on ing settlers was the United States, and in and are so sluggish and indifferent to their killed and 40 captured though Markle es- a rotating basis with senior Justice Wil- the late 18th and early 19th centuries, thou- respective offices that the artful and active caped. Among the prisoners were 15 in- liam Dummer Powell and junior Justice sands of Americans took up the offer, only scoundrel is allowed to parade the country habitants of Upper Canada. Those who William Campbell. Three associate magis- too happy to mouth an oath of allegiance without interruption and commit all had come from the U.S. were held as trates — Richard Hatt, Samuel Hatt and in return for 200 acres. imaginable mischief.” POWs, the rest faced treason charges. Thomas Dickson — sat as observers. These newcomers joined the Loyalists When General William Hull launched Also in December, the Canadian Volun- The 17-man grand jury included such who had actively supported the Crown the first American invasion of the war at teers, under command of Willcocks and worthies as James Crooks, Robert Nelles during the Revolution and been exiled for what is now Windsor, he circulated his in- including at least seven former Ancaster and Samuel Street. Bills for High Treason it. So by the early 19th century at least 75 famous proclamation that began “Raise residents, put torch to the town of New- were found in rapid succession against per cent of the population of Upper Cana- not your hands against your brethren,” ark, present day Niagara-on-the-Lake, de- the 19 accused who were in custody and da was American-born or born of Ameri- which was clearly aimed at recent immi- stroying 80 structures. against another 50 who were not. By law can parents. grants from the U.S. The government in York, shaken to its the court was obliged to provide each of The attraction, of course, was the free Two hundred copies were printed in core by the breakdown of authority and the accused a copy of the indictment along land. But along with their industry came English and French and widely distribut- the increasing boldness of the enemy with a list of witnesses and jurors 10 days notions of Republicanism, that dangerous ed. Half the militia at Amherstburg within, moved quickly in the February before any trial could begin. political virus that so alarmed conserva- promptly deserted, 60 reported to Hull’s session to pass legislation that included a Court convened again on June 7 with tive government ministers in London. At- headquarters to claim the protection limited suspension of habeas corpus and Scott presiding before a jury of 12 men. A tracted by the land grants, they were con- promised, and several enlisted under his streamlined procedures for punishing Scot by birth, the chief justice — described tent to live under the Union flag, but it was command.
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