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In three volumes
(1832)
INTRODUCTORY
As we are about to
introduce our readers to scenes with which the European is little
familiarised, some few cursory remarks, illustrative of the general
features of the country into which we have shifted our labours, may
not be deemed misplaced at the opening of this volume.
Without entering into minute geographical detail, it may be
necessary merely to point out the outline of such portions of the
vast continent of America as still acknowledge allegiance to the
English crown, in order that the reader, understanding the
localities, may enter with deeper interest into the incidents of a
tale connected with a ground hitherto untouched by the wand of the
modern novelist.
All who have ever taken the trouble to inform themselves of the
features of a country so little interesting to the majority of
Englishmen in their individual character must be aware, — and for
the information of those who are not, we state/—that that portion of
the northern continent of America which is known as the United
States is divided from the Canadas by a continuous chain of lakes
and rivers, commencing at the ocean into which they empty
themselves, and extending in a north-western direction to the
remotest parts of these wild regions, which have never yet been
pressed by other footsteps than those of the native hunters of the
soil. First we have the magnificent St. Lawrence, fed from the
lesser and tributary streams, rolling her sweet and silver waters
into the foggy seas of the Newfoundland. — But perhaps it will
better tend to impress our readers with a panoramic picture of the
country in which our scene of action is more immediately laid, by
commencing at those extreme and remote points of our Canadian
possessions to which their attention will be especially directed in
the course of our narrative.
The most distant of the north-western settlements of America is
Michillimackinac, a name given by the Indians, and preserved by the
Americans, who possess the fort even to this hour. It is situated at
the head of the Lakes Michigan and Huron, and adjacent to the Island
of St. Joseph’s, where, since the existence of the United States as
an independent republic, an English garrison has been maintained,
with a view of keeping the original fortress in check. From the
lakes above mentioned we descend into the River Sinclair, which, in
turn, disembogues itself into the lake of the same name. This again
renders tribute to the Detroit, a broad majestic river, not less
than a mile in breadth at its source, and progressively widening
towards its mouth until it is finally lost in the beautiful Lake
Erie, computed at about one hundred and sixty miles in
circumference. From the embouchure of this latter lake commences the
Chippawa, better known in Europe from the celebrity of its
stupendous falls of Niagara, which form an impassable barrier to the
seaman, and, for a short space, sever the otherwise uninterrupted
chain connecting the remote fortresses we have described with the
Atlantic. At a distance of a few miles from the falls, the Chippawa
finally empties itself into the Ontario, the most splendid of the
gorgeous American lakes, on the bright bosom of which, during the
late war, frigates, seventy-fours, and even a ship of one hundred
and twelve guns, manned by a crew of one thousand men, reflected the
proud pennants of England ! At the opposite extremity of this
magnificent and sea-like lake, which is upwards of two hundred miles
in circumference, the far-famed St. Law-x t rence takes her source;
and after passing through a vast tract of country, whose elevated
banks bear every trace of fertility and cultivation, connects itself
with the Lake Champlain, ’celebrated, as well as Erie, for a signal
defeat of our flotilla during the late contest with the Americans.
Pushing her bold waters through this somewhat inferior lake, the St
Lawrence pursues her course seaward with impetuosity^ until arrested
near La Chine by rock-studded shallows, which produce those strong
currents, and eddies, the dangers of which are so beautifully
expressed in the Canadian Boat Song, — a composition that has
rendered the "rapids” almost as familiar to the imagination of the
European as the fallsqf Niagara themselves. Beyond. La Chine the St.
Lawrence gradually unfolds herself into greater majesty and expanse,
and rolling past the busy commercial town of Montreal, is once more
increased in volume by the insignificant lake of St Peter’s, nearly.
opposite to the settlement of Three Rivers, midway between Montreal
and Quebec. From. thence she pursues her course unfed, except by a
few inferior streams, and gradually widens as she rolls past the
capital of the Canadas, whose tall and precipitous battlements,
bristled with cannon, and frowning defiance from the clouds in which
they appear half imbedded, might be taken by the imaginative
enthusiast for the strong tower of the Spirit of* those stupendous
scenes. From this point the St. Lawrence increases in expanse,
until, At, length, after traversing a country where the traces of
civilisation become gradually less and less visible, she finally
merges in the gulf,-from the centre of which the shores on either
hand are often invisible to the naked eye; and in this manner is it
imperceptibly lost in that -misty ocean, so dangerous to mariners
from its deceptive and almost perpetual fogs.
In following the links of this extensive chain of lakes and rivers,
it must be borne in recolection, that, proceeding seaward from
Michillimackinac and its contiguous district, all that tract of
country which lies to the right constitutes what is now known as the
United States of America, and all on the left the two provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada, tributary to the English government, subject
to the English laws, and garrisoned by English troops. The several
forts and harbours established along the left bank of the St
Lawrence, and throughout that portion of otir possessions which is
known as Lower Canada, are necessarily, from the improved condition
and more; numerous population of that province* on a larger scale
and of better appointment; but in Upper Canada, where the traces of
civilisation are less evident throughout, and become gradually more
faint as we advance westward, the fortresses and harbours bear the
same proportion in strength and extent to the scantiness of the
population they are erected to protect Even at the present day,
along that line’ of remote country we have selected for the theatre
of our labours, the garrisons are both few in? number and weak in
strength, and evidence of cultivation is seldom to be found at any
distance? in the interior; so that all beyond a certain extent of
clearing, continued along the banks of the lakes and rivers, is
thick, impervious, rayless forest, the limits of which have never
yet been ) explored, perhaps, by the natives themselves.
Such being the general features of the country even at the present
day, it will readily be comprehended how much more wild' and
desolate was the character they exhibited as far back as the middle
of the last century, about which period our story commences. At that
epoch, it will be borne in mind, what we have described as being
the. United States were then the British colonies of America
dependent on. the mother-country; while the Canadas, on the
contrary, were, or had very recently been, under the dominion of
France, from whom they had been wrested after a long struggle,
greatly advanced in favour of England by the glorious battle fought
on the plains of Abraham, near Quebec, and celebrated for the defeat
of Montcalm and the death of Wolfe.
The several attempts made to repossess themselves of the strong hold
of Quebec having, in every instance, been met by discomfiture and
disappointment, the French, in despair, relinquished the contest,
and, by treaty, ceded their claims to the Canadas, — an event that
was hastened by the capitulation of the garrison of Montreal,
commanded by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, to the victorious arms of
General Amherst. Still, though conquered as a people, of the leading
men in the country, actuated by that jealousy for which they were
remarkable, contrived to oppose obstacles to the quiet possession of
a conquest by those whom they seemed to look upon as their here,
ditary enemies; and in furtherance of this object, paid agents, men
of artful and intriguing Character, were dispersed among the
numerous tribes, of savages, with a view of exciting them to acts of
hostility against their conquerors. The long and uninterrupted
possession, by the French, of those countries immediately bordering
on the hunting grounds and haunts, of the natives, with whom they
carried on an extensive traffic in furs, had established a
communionship of interest between themselves and those savage and
warlike people, which failed not to turn to account the vindictive
views of the former. The whole of the province of Upper Canada at
that time possessed but a scanty population, protected in its most
flourishing and defensive points by stockade forts; the chief object
of which was to secure the garrisons, consisting each of a few
companies, from any sudden surprise on the part of the natives, who,
although apparently inclining to acknowledge the change of
neighbours, and professing amity, were, it was well known, too much
in the interest of their old friends the French, and even the French
Canadians themselves, not to be regarded, with the most cautious
distrust.
These stockade forts were never, at any one period, nearer to each
other than from one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles, so that,
in the event of surprise or alarm, there was little prospect of
obtaining assistance from without Each garrison, therefore, was
almost wholly dependent on its own resources; andr when surrounded
unexpectedly by numerous bands of hostile Indians, had no other
alternative than to hold out to the death. Capitulation was out of
the question; for, although the wile and artifice of the natives
might induce them to promise mercy, the moment their enemies were in
their power promises and treaties, were alike broken, and
indiscriminate massacre ensued. Communication by water was, except
during a period of profound peace, almost impracticable; for,
although of late years the lakes of Canada have been covered with
vessels, of war, many of them, as we have already remarked, of vast
magnitude, and been the theatres of conflicts that would not have
disgraced the salt waters of ocean itself, at the period to which
our story refers the flag of England was seen to wave only on the
solitary mast of some ill-armed and ill-manned gunboat, employed
rather for the purpose of conveying despatches from fort to fort,
than with any serious view to acts either of aggression or defence.
In proportion as the colonies of America* now the United States,
pushed their course of civilisation westward, in the same degree did
the numerous tribe? of Indians, who had hitherto dwelt more seaward,
retire upon those of their own countrymen, who, buried in vast and
impenetrable forests, had seldom yet seen the face of the European
stranger; so that, in the end, all the more central parts of those
stupendous wilds became doubly peopled. Hitherto, however, that
civilisation had not been carried beyond the state of New York; and
all those Countries which have, since the American revolution, been
added to the Union under the names of Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri,
Michigan &c., were, at the period embraced by our story inhospitable
and unproductive woods, subject only to the dominion of the native,
and as yet unshorn by the axe of the cultivator. A few portions only
of the opposite shores of Michk gan were occupied by emigrants from
the Canadas, who, finding no one to oppose or molest them, selected
the most fertile spots along the banks of the river; and of the
existence of these infant settlements, the English colonists, who
had never ventured so far, were not even aware until after the
conquest of Canada by the mother-country. This particular district
was the centre around which the numerous warriors, who had been
driven westward by the colonists, had finally assembled; and rude
villages and encampments rose far and near for a circuit of many
miles around this infant settlement and fort of the Canadians, to
both of which they had given the name of Detroit, after the river on
whose elevated banks they stood. Proceeding westward from this
point, and along the tract of country that diverged from the banks
of the Lakes Huron, Sinclair, and Michigan, all traces of that
partial civilisation were again lost in impervious wilds, tenanted
only by the fiercest of the Indian tribes, whose homes were
principally along the banks of that greatest of American waters, the
Lake Superior, and in the country surrounding the isolated fort of
Michillimackinac, the last and most remote of die European
fortresses in Canada. .
When at a later period the Canadas were ceded to us by France, those
parts of the oppo> site frontier which we have just described became
also tributary to the English crown, and were, by the peculiar
difficulties that existed to communication with the more central and
populous districts, rendered especially favourable to the exercise
of hostile intrigue by the numerous active French emissaries every
where dispersed among the Indian tribes. During the first few years
of the conquest, the inhabitants of Canada, who were all either
European French, or immediate descendants of that nation, were, as
might naturally be expected, more than restive under their new
governors, and many of the most impatient spirits of the country
sought every opportunity of sowing the seeds of distrust and
jealousy in the hearts of the natives. By these people it was
artfully suggested to the Indians, that their new oppressors were of
the race of those who had driven them from the sea, and were
progressively advancing on their territories until scarce a hunting
ground or a village would be left to them. They described them,
moreover, as being the hereditary enemies of their great father, the
King of France, with whose governors they had buried the hatchet for
ever, and smoked the calumet of perpetual peace. Fired by these wily
suggestions, the high and jealous spirit of the Indian chiefs took
the alarm, and they beheld with impatience the “Red Coat,” or "Saganaw,”
usurping, as they deemed it, those possessions which had so recently
acknowledged the supremacy of the pale flag of their ancient ally.
The cause of the Indians, and that of the Canadians, became, int
some degree, identified as one, and each felt it was the interest,
and it may be said the natural instinct, of both, to hold
communionship of purpose, and to indulge the same jealousies and
fears. Such was the state of things in 1768. The period at which our
story commences,—an epoch fruitful in designs of hostility and
treachery on the part of the Indians, who, too crafty and too
politic to manifest their feelings by overt acts declaratory of the
hatred carefully instilled into their breasts, sought every
opportunity to compass the destruction, of the En* glish, wherever
they were most vulnerable to the effects of stratagem. Several
inferior forts situ* ated on the Ohio had already fallen into their,
hands, when they summoned all their address* and cunning to
accomplish the fall of the two important though remote posts of
Detroit and Michillimackinac. For a length of time they were baffled
by the activity and vigilance of the respective governors of these
forts, who had, had too much fatal experience in the fate of their
companions not to be perpetually on the alert against their guile;
but when they had at length, in some degree, succeeded in lulling
the suspicions of the English, they determined on a scheme,
suggested by a leading chief, a man of more than ordinary character,
which promised fair to rid them altogether of a race they so
cordially detested. We will not, however, mar the interest of our
tale, by anticipating, at tha early stage, either the nature or the
success of a stratagem which forms the essential groundwork of our
story.
While giving, for the information of the many, what, we trust, will
not be considered a too compendious outline of the Canadas, and the
events connected with them, we are led to remark, that, powerful as
was the feeling of hostility cherished by the French Canadians
towards the English when the yoke of early conquest yet hung heavily
on them, this feeling eventually died away under the mild influence
of a government that preserved to them the exercise of all their
customary privileges, and abolished all invidious distinctions
between the descendants of France and those of the mother-country.
So Universally, too, has this system of conciliation been pursued,
we believe we may with safety aver, of all the numerous colonies
that have succumbed to the genius and power of England there are
none whose inhabitants entertain stronger feelings of attachment and
loyalty to her than those of Canada; and whatever may be the
transient differences, — differences growing entirely out of
circumstances arid interests of a local character, and in no way
tending to impeach the acknowledged fidelity of the mass of French
Canadians, — whatever, we repeat, may be the ephemeral differences
that occasionally spring up between the governors of those provinces
and individual members of the Houses of Assembly, they must, in no
way, be construed into a general feeling of disaffection towards the
English crown.
In proportion also as the Canadians have felt and acknowledged the
beneficent effects arising from a change of rulers, so have the
Indian tribes been gradually weaned from their first fierce
principle of hostility, until they have subsequently become as much
distinguished by their attachment to, as they were three quarter? of
a century ago remarkable for their untameable aversion for, every
thing that bore the English name, or assumed the English character/
Indeed, the hatred which they bore to the original colonists has
been continued to their' descendants, the subjects of the United
States; and the same spirit of union subsisted between the natives
and British troops, and people of Canada, during the late American
war, that at an earlier period of the history of that country
prevailed so powerfully to the disadvantage of England.
And now we have explained a course of events which were in some
measure necessary to the full understanding of the country by the
majority of our readers, we shall, in furtherance of the same
object, proceed to sketch a few of the most prominent scenes more
immediately before us.
The fort of Detroit, as it was originally constructed by the French,
stands in the middle of a common, or description of small prairie,
bounded by woods, which, though now partially thinned in their
outskirts, were at that* period untouched by the hand of
civilisation^ Erected at a distance of about half a mile from the
banks of the river, which at that particular point are high and
precipitous, & stood then just far enough from the woods thaV' swept
round it in a semicircular form to be secure from the rifle of the
Indian; while from its batteries it commanded a range of country; on
every hand, which no enemy unsupported^ by cannon could traverse
with impunity. Immediately in the rear, and on the skirt of
the-wood, the French had constructed a sort of bomb-proof, possibly
intended to serve as a cover to the workmen originally employed
in-clearing the woods, but long since suffered to; fall into decay.
Without the fortification rose a strong and triple line of pickets,
each of about' two feet and a half in circumference, and so fitted
into each other as to leave too other interstices than those which
were perforated for the discharge of musketry. They were formed, of
the hardest and most knotted pines that could be procured; the sharp
points of which were seasoned by fire until they acquired nearly,
the durability and consistency of iron. Beyond these firmly imbedded
pickets was a ditch, encircling the fort, of about twenty feet in
width, and of proportionate depth, the only communication over which
to and from the garrison was: by means of a drawbridge, protected by
a strong chevaux-de-frise. The only gate with which the. fortress
was provided faced the river; on the. more immediate banks of which,
and to the left, of the fort, rose the yet infant and straggling
village that bore the name of both. Numerous farm-houses, however,
almost joining each other, contributed to form a continuity of many
miles along the borders of the river, both on the right and on the
left; while the opposite shores of Canada, distinctly seen in the
distance, presented, as far as the eye could reach, the same
enlivening character of fertility. The banks, covered with verdure
on either shore, were more or less undulating at intervals; but in
general they were high without being abrupt, and picturesque without
being bold, presenting, in their partial cultivation, a striking
contrast to the dark, tall, and frowning forests bounding every
point of the perspective.
At a distance of about five miles on the left of the town the course
of the river was interrupted by a small and thickly wooded island,
along whose sandy beach occasionally rose the low cabin or wigwam
which the birch canoe, carefully upturned and left to dry upon the
sands, attested to be the temporary habitation of the wandering
Indian. That branch of the river which swept by the shores of Canada
was (as at this day) the only navigable one for vessels of burden,
while that on the opposite coast abounded in shallows and bars,
affording passage merely to the light barks of the natives, which
seemed literally to skim the very surface of its waves. Midway,
between that point of the continent which immediately faced the
eastern extremity of the island we have just named and the town of
Detroit, flowed a small tributary river, the approaches to which, on
either hand, were over a slightly sloping ground, the view of which
could be entirely commanded from the fort The depth of this river,
now nearly dried up, at that period varied from three to ten or
twelve feet; and over this, at a distance of about twenty yards from
the Detroit into which it emptied itself, rose, communicating with
the high road, a bridge, which will more than once be noticed in the
course of our tale. Even to the present hour it retains the name
given to it ^during these disastrous times; and there are few modern
Canadians, or even Americans, who traverse the "Bloody Bridge,”
especially at the still hours of advanced night, without recalling
to memory the tragic events of those days, (handed down as they have
been by their fathers, who were eye-witnesses of the transaction,)
and peopling the surrounding gloom with the shades of those whose
life-blood erst crimsoned the once pure waters of that now nearly
exhausted stream; and whose mangled and headless corses were slowly
borne by its tranquil current into the bosom of the parent river,
where all traces of them finally disappeared.
These are the minuter features of the scene we have brought more
immediately under the province of our pen. What Detroit was in 1768
it nearly is at the present day, with this difference however, that
many of those points which were then in a great degree isolated and
rude are now redolent with the beneficent effects of improved
cultivation; and in the immediate vicinity of that memorable bridge,
where formerly stood merely the occasional encampment of the Indian
warrior, are now to be seen flourishing farms and crops, and other
marks of agricultural industry. Of the fort of Detroit itself we
will give the following brief history:— It was, as we have already
stated, erected by the French while in the occupancy of the country
by which it is more immediately environed.; subsequently, and at the
final cession of the Canadas, it was delivered over to England, with
whom it remained until the acknowledgement of the independence of
the colonists by the mother-country, when it hoisted the colours of
the republic; the British garrison marching out, and crossing over
into Canada, followed by such of the loyalists as still retained
their attachment to the English crown. At the commencement of the
late wrar with America it was the first and more immediate theatre
of conflict, and was remarkable, as well as Michillimackinac, for
being one of the first posts of the Americans that fell into our
hands. The gallant daring, and promptness of decision, for which the
lamented general, Sir Isaac Brock, was so eminently distinguished,
achieved the conquest almost as soon as the American declaration of
war had been made known in Canada; and on this occasion we ourselves
had the good fortune to be selected as part of the guard of honour,
whose duty it was to lower the flag of America, and substitute that
of England in its place. On the approach, however, of an
overwhelming army of the enemy in the autumn of the ensuing year it
was abandoned by our troops, after having been dismantled and
reduced, in its more combustible parts, to ashes. The Americans, who
have erected new fortifications on the site of the old, still retain
possession of a post to which they attach considerable importance,
from the circumstance of its being a key to the more western
portions of the Union.
Volume 1 |
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Volume 3 |
