-:v> S>^.. "-.^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) A V ,*"!% ^iif t-c^^ :a 1.0 I.I 11.25 Hi us It 1^ I- 1^ ■^ Ilia 2.0 1.4 1.8 1.6 V] <^ /2 ^l c-. '> > a? iV -^ V \\ 9) ;\ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Can; dian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t4 possible de se procurer. Certains difauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. 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L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grfice d la g6n6rositd de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : Bibliothdque nationale du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film6es d partir de Tangle 8up6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES, By JOHN FRASER, MONTREAL. MONTREAL . GAZETTE PRINTING COMPANY. 1890. 131877 f^.^St /^,., Minister of Agriculture. ^R-^sbr. ol Montronl ,n »k. /.,«-. ., .. Montreiil, in the Offi ce of.fho PRHKACB. THE LA SALLE HOMESTEAD, LACHINE RAPIDS, CANADA, October, 1890. At the request of many friends, I have con- sented to have my " Canadian Pen and Ink Sketches" collected and published in book form. Every man owes a duty to his country, and to his fellow-citizens, to state publicly what he knows respecting- the early history of his country; thus placing before some future historian or sketcher matter to build upon. Therefore. I place these, my Canadian sketches, before the public. JOHN ERASER. 64 Drummond Street, Montreal. CONTENTS. Cil.Vl'TER I. Tho Man^acrc of Lachine. two hnndvod v > ^^^^ <>*■ August, 1689 "un(l,e!„„,,,,.. ,^ pjff V Chapter Vr. oi i^anaaa buiulay jVfornino- if^. ^{> xr bei', 1838 ^»Aoining, 4th of mvera- 73 Chapter YJI Kemmisconco, ..f the Cann.lian Robcm„,, ,838 si Chapteu VIII fiem.ni«co„,.e. of ,he Canadian Rebellion. ,838 93. Chapter IX «emi„i„cence» of the Canadian Bebellion, ,838 joi CONTENTS. Chaptkr X. A Visit to the Canadian (ilen.i^any Forty Years Ago.. Tl3 Chai'ter XT. A Glengarry Boul.le Sleigh Fifty Years Ago 123 Chapter XIF, Canadian Arbor Day, 1S80 lo7 Chapter Xm. A F^tieth Anniversary Visit to the Home of My Youth ^ 149 Chapter XIV. A Visit to the Falls of Niagara Over Forty Years Ago *^ ^ IST Chapter XV. The ^^at^tletield of Lundy s Lane, fought 25th July, 169 Chapter XVI. Our Antiquities/a Visit to La Salle's Home 135 Chapter XVII. '^^',,^^"f ,f°""^^«— '«^'-'^^^^hine. on the Grand Irunk Kail way Chapter XVIIL An Historical Canadian Bu.ying Ground and its Nerr- lected Graves * Chapter XIX. A Visit to the BattleHeld of Stoney Cr. , bought 6th June, 1813 ^ „,, ^11 Chapter XX. The -Old Bunk' Canadian Farm House 229 CONTENTS, Chapter XXF. l'A(iE. Fii'Ht Siiniinoi' Morning Walk Around Montroul 235 Chapter XXII. Second Summor Mornin*^ Walk Around Montreal 241) Chai'TEII XXIll. Third Summor Morning Walk A lound Montreal 2»U Chapter XXIV. Fourth Summor Morning Walk Around Montreal 273 Chai'TER XXV, Fifth Summor Morning Walk Around Montreal 285 Chapter XXVI. Sixth Summor Morning Walk Around Montreal 299 Chapter .\XV1I. The Ilospitaiily of a Canadian Karm Houfse of the Olden Time :U5 Chapter XXVIIl, The "Canadian (llengarry. ' a pen and ink sketch.... ;>25 Chapter XX FX. A Canadian Log House of the Olden Time 335 Chapter XXX. La Salle's Homoslead at Lacliino, where was it? 347 Chapter XXX J. The "Battle of Queenston Heights." fought 13th October, 1812 371 235 249 113 185 99 L5 .1 CHAPTER I. THE MASSACRE OF LA( ITINE. A Summer morning wulk along the Lower Lachine Eoad, from the Wellington Street bridge up to the old Windmill at Lachine, is the most charming one to be had in all Canada, ex- cepting one on the Canadian bank of the Niagara River, from old Fort George to the ruins of Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo. Every spot here is storied ground. The early explorers and Chris- tian missionaries of Old France found their way westwards along this road. This was the hrst road in Canada travelled by European foot west of Montreal. Just as the sun is rising we cross the Welling- ton bridge of the Lachine canal ; on the left of us, near the Victoria bridge, is the spot where thousands of Ireland's almost forgotten dead, victims of the dread cholera of 1832 and the ship fever of 1847, lie buried ; without shroud and without coffin— in their hurriedly-made pits. J.'"^ THE MASSACRE OF LACHLXE. We pass on, le.aviiig the dead of 1832 and 1847 to their peaceful shiinbers ; the chinking engines and the freia;hted cars of living; men roll over them unceasingly from early morning until midnight — from week to week and from year to year ; but those silent sleepers in the cholera pits heed them not ; they are at rest and forever from their labours until the great trumpet's blast shall awake them to new life. On the left hand, between the road and the St. Lawrence, stands the old home of the Nuns, with its roadway lined with Lombardy poplars, the fashionable or popular tree of Lower Canada a century ago. On the right hand — half a century a ;'0 — far out in the then open fields, stood the old house on the Priests' farm, near the present St. Gabriel locks on the Lachine canal. It has totally dis- appeared of late years ; the town of St. Gabriel now covers the ground. As we pass onwards we reach the River St. Pierre, a famous stream of bygone days, cele- brated for its fishino" and duck shootino- half a century ago. This stream, in its curves and windings — meandering through meadow, woodland and CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 5 marsh, had its source near the head of the Ishiiid of Montreal ; passing down in rear of the viHage of Lachine, crossing the Upper Lachine road near by the present Blue Bonnets ; and must have been used by the Iroquois in their approaches to Montreal in 10 89, from their camping ground near the present Dominion station of the Lachine railway. The old bridge is all that remains to mark where a river had been ; no trace of the old river bed can now be seen. Near by, on the bank of the St. Lawrence, stands that old building known at the beginninir of this century as '^ Chapman's Brew^ery." Close by are the ruins of the " Hadley Homestead " ; Mr. Hadley was famed for his stock of line cattle, known all over Canada. On this farm w^as fought the fatal duel on the 22nd of May, 1838, betw^een Major Ward of the Royals and Captain Sweeney of the Volunteers; Ward was instantly killed. Adjoining the Hadley farm is the old Pavilion, being all that remains to mark tlie spot of Montreal's celebrated race-course of fifty years ago. Opposite the Pavilion, midway in the St. Law- rence, floating in queenly beauty, is the " Nuns' " 6 THE MASSACRE OF LACHTNE. or St. Paul's Fslaiid, l)eiuitii'ul for sitiuitiou, well wooded to tlie water's edge. Farther on — aljove the Nuns' T:land — is Tsle Heron, right in tlie centre of the St. Lawrence; noted at the present day lor its innnense water power - ,uoing to waste, which is intended shortly to he utilized lor electric light and other pur- Facing Isle Heron is '' Verdun/' the home of our old friend Mr. John Crawlbrd, the veteran fox hunter of Montreal, who, when mounted on his spirited charger, although four score, sits his horse like a hoy of eighteen. SUBERCASE'S STOCKADE, 1(580. The next spot of interest are the ruins in and around '* Knox's Mills," with water-power, which, if utilized, might supply power for one- half the mills and factories in Canada. Near by the old mill may still be seen the ruins of " Subercase's Stockade," in which he was sta- tioned with two hundred men on the night of the 4th of August, 1G89. The far-famed Lachine Rapids are facing us, rolling, tossing, and tumbling in the self-same course as for untold centuries ! We may be per- ■ i % I CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 7 mitted to say : '* Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou roUest now ! " Four acres above Knox's mill, in front of the Sonierville House, is the spot where the shad- iishing is carried on during the passing up of the shad about the first week of June in each year. Farther up, at the six-mile post, is the eastern boundary of what was known as the " LaSalle Common," of 200 acres, set apart by LaSalle in 1G66^ when Seigneur of Lower Lachine. This common was parcelled out amongst the neighboring farmers in 1835, and is now covered with orchards and comfortable cottages. THE KING'S POSTS OF 1812. Next to the old common, just at the present water works bridge, was the eastern boundary of the English " King's Posts," the most celebrated post in Canada during the war of 1812. Every British soldier, every British regiment sailed westwards in bateaux from this place and landed here on their return from Upper Canada at the end of the war ; this was before the building of the Lachine canal. The writer saw the last soldier, bag and baggage, leave this post over sixty years ago. 8 THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE. Hi LA SALLE'S CANADIAN HOME OF 1366. Adjoining the ''King's Posts" still stands the Canadian home of Robert de La Salle, now crum- bling down — soon to mingle with the dust of ages, with no Canadian patriotic enough to do honour to the memory of La Salle — the brio-litest })icture either in Canadian or American history, by saving and restoring what remains of his old home ; although the writer's family have offered to the public '>,50() square feet of land, as a gift, say, seventy feet fronting on the Loiver Lachine road, by fifty feet in depth, to enclose the old home. La Salle needs no monument along our mountain slope ! — no storied urn nor animated bust ! — to perpetuate or transmit his name to future generations. This whole iiG^thern conti- nent, boundless and vast, bi.irs unmistakable traces of his footsteps. But his home — his old Canadian home — every rubble stone thereof should be held sacred by Canadians and Ameri- cans to the latest generation. THE WRITER'S BIRTHl'LACE. With the profoundest reverence the writer uncovers his head as he passes this old spot — his birthplace. He was born within the old walls CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. that at one time surroundeil LaSalle's home; and with a isilent praj-er : — "That justice and judg- ment may yet meet in our family estate." This estate of about 1,(JU() acres of Land, on this Lower Lachine road, has been wrenched from our family by a dastardly act of " Man's inhumanity to man." Contrary to the la^\ s of God ! Contrary to the law of England ; and in direct violation of the clcil /rtvt's of Lower Canada, as declared by the judgment of the Court of Queen's Bench for Lower Canada : '' That this whole estate belongs to the family under the law of this province." Bui, tiieir lordships of the Privy Council imre Jed to thinJ,' — ^' That our French Jaw, forbiddinsr bequests to non-existing corporations, or for their foundation or creation, without the permission of the Croivn, was abrogated by the Code." The question now rests with the legislators of Quebec to pronounce upon and to declare what is the law of Lower Canada on this point. The old '• Penner " farm, now Mr. Doran's, is next to LaSalle's home. This farm, three- quarters of a century ago, was known all over Canada for its hop-fields and for its fine stock of imported English cattle, particularly sheep; and *' Penner's cider " was known beyond the bounda- ^ 10 THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE. rics of Cauiula. The writer remember.^ Mr. Peimer having seventy acres under hops, and of his having made four hundred punoheons of cider in one year — in l8ol. Mr. Penner served in the Montreal cavalrv duriuL*' the war of 1S12, and was captain of the Lachine Troop during tlie rebellion of 1S37. Next to the " Penner " is the Newman farm, famed for its orchard of about fifty acres, valued from $5,000 to $8,000 per annum, according to the year. We must hurry on, the Windmill is within a mile distant. THE OLD WI^'DMILL. A writer has said : — '' If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright ; go visit it by pale moon- light." But, reader, if you would view the old windmill at Lachine aright, you should take a carriage drive or a morning walk by the Lower Lachine Road, as the writer has done, and arrive at this historical spot about half an hour before sunset. What a magnificent view there presents itself to the eye ! Lake St. Louis, stretching Avestwards twe^ity miles, is spread right before you as a mirror, without a ripple on its broad CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 11 surface of over two luiiidrtHl s(|uare miles — a. tiling of beauty — all ablaze, with the rays of the setting sun dancing in gorgeous colours over its silvery watcMs. There are few sights in Canada to be compared witli the \ .ew to l)e had there. Suppose you take your seat with us on the hill side, close under the wings of the old mill ; you have, right opposite to you — on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, the old Indian town of Caughnawaga, a relic of departed days ; this spot, on which the present mill stands, is the spot on which the old mill of 1G80 stood. This was known as the Windmill point from earliest days; and this is the very identical spot from which the early French explorers had their first full view of Lake St. ijouis, impressing upon them the belief that the large body of water spread out before thtm was the opening of a water-way through Canada to China which called forth the exclama- tion---'- Z« Chine !^^ hence the name "Lachine" given to this place. Two hundred years ago, in 1689, the windmill and its surroundings must have been the centre of the ancient village. Three acres from the mill stood Fort Remy^ and close l:)y the Fort stood the first little Catholic 12 THE MA.SSACIIE OK LACHINE. cliiipc'l of liiicliiiK'. hiiilt in l(»T<», aiul tlu- first c'lmrcli — tliL' old parish church ol' Liicliinc — wiis ut'terwtirtls huilt in 1701, inside the walls of Fort Ivcmy. The i)rescnt novitiate of the ** Fathers Ohlats'' stands on the ground of the oUl church and within the walls where Fort Remy of IGS'J stood. This is trulv "storied ii:round ! " Therefore, this old windmill and its surround- ings was the centre of the Lachine of two hundred vears aQ;o. THE NIGHT BErORE THE MASSACRE. This is a charming evening in August, ISSU ; as we sit h^ the old mill and attempt to draw a picture of two hundred years ago. The St. Law- rence flowed quietly past as at present ; Lake St. Louis was then wooded down to its very water's edge; Caughnawaga point was then as now; all else unchanged. Let us suppose this to he the evening of the 4th of August, 1089 ; the small bell of the little Catholic chapel had tolled the hour of Vespers ; the devout worshippers had oftered up their prayers of thankfulness to the God of Heaven ; and then ^' arm in arm," or " hand in hand," many Evangelines and many Gabriels, mio-ht be seen wending their way home- CANADIAN PEN AND INK SIvETCllES. 18 wards ; puurinii* forth tliclr simple talrs of love, and arranging to meet at an early morning matin ; but, God ! what a changu ht'lorL* the morning's dawn! They had all. priest and people, appeared before the i^n-eat altar on high, to celebrate their lirst matins in heaven ! THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE, JtJSlA In the year KiSS the inhabitants of Freneh Canada, particularly those living on the Island of Montreal, were in constant dread of an Indian raid. It was known that year (lOSS) that two bands, amounting to about 1,00(1 lro([uois, had formed camps on the Upper St. Lawrence, one encampment being near Frontenac (Kingston), the other, farther down, on Lake St. Francis, pre- paratory to a descent on Montreal, to take revenge for some wrongs, real or imaginary _ suffered by them at the hands of the French. During the first days of August, 1G89, the people of Lachine could have seen from this Windmill Point stray Indian canoes darting across Lake St. Louis, from the neighbourhood of Isle Perrot to the Chateauguay shore. Such a sight in those early days was a common thing, of every day occurrence, and caused no alarm, and was no 14 THE MASSACIIK OV LAC'IIINH. indit'jition tliiit !it tliiit vorv time tliore la\' liiddcii nearly two limidrcd Indian canoes and iihoiit lil'tt'cn hundred wild Iro(|uoi.s, in cuncealniunt behind those small islands along the south shore of Lake St. Louis, between the Canglnniwaua point and the mouth of the Cliateauguay river. On the night of the 1th of August, Lljbl), a heavy storm of thunder, hail and rain passed over Lake St. Louis, aud during the prevailing dark- ness that ibllowed the storm, this band of l,o()() Iro([U()is crossed over to Lachine, a distance of aljout five uiiles from their hiding i>lace, and landed between the Windmill Point and the pre- sent Lachine Canal. In those early days there was a large bay or inlet between where stood the old Grammar School of sixty years ago, and the first locks built on the Lachine Canal ; this was just at tl)e entrance of that great marsh which then passed between Cote St. Pierre and Cote St. Paul. This was the actual landing place of that savage band of Iroquois. From their landing place they spread right and left ; quietly surrounding every house and ham- let ; this was about ten at night. The unsuspect- ing inmates had early retired to rest ! The dread Indian war-whoop was raised about midnight ; CANADIAN VES AND INK SKKTCHES. 1") a sound too well known in Cnnadu in eailv days. Then connnenctMl the work of death ! No '' door posts nor lintels'' were sprinkled with the blood of the passover land), as in the (hi> s (^f Moses, to stay the hand ol' the destroyer ; for within the space of one hour, over two hundred persons fell victims to the uplifted tomahawk and the un- sheathed scalping knife of those dread savages ! THE :\IuKNLNCi AFJ'KK THE MASSACRE. The thunderstorm is over — the death scene of the past night is ended ! And the morning of the 5th of August, 1G8D, witnessed, as usual, a glorious sunrise shedding his first rays across Lake St. Louis, and smiling, '' as il earth con- tained no tomb ! " But the silence of death reigned supreme along the whole front of the Lachine shore ! There was not one living soul left to tell the dread tale of the past night ! There were no mo' rners there! No Eachel weeping for her lost ones — all w e dead ! Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth. No ! not the dog that watched the household hearth escaped that night of blood ! All perished ! The mangled bodies of grey-haired sire and grandchild ; victims of the tomahawk and scalp- 16 THE MASSACRE OF LACIIIXE. ing knile, lay thick around ; Avhile the blood- thirsty Iroquois, the. only witnesses of this scene of blood, were holdinsi; hioh carnival over their 7 O O work of death ! And naught was heard there save the Avild chant of the dread Indians' dismal song — all else was silent ! THE INDIAN CAMP OF 1GS9. The Iroquois were not wanting in military tactics ; to conceal their whereabouts from their enemy — the French, they hauled up their canoes about a mile into the deep forest, where they established their camp or headquarters ; their plunder was carried there. They found in the trading stores at Lachine a large supply of French brandy and wines, of which they supplied them- selves freely, and became beastly drunk for days. The exac position of this '^ Indian camp of 1689 " is not known to the present generation ; but to the boys of the old grammar school of Lachine of sixty years ago it was a familiar spot. The boys then, with their bows and arrows and fishing lines, with hooks made from pins, used to fish there for brook trout and minnows in that branch of the St. Pierre which ran back of CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 11 of of to I at of Lachine and crossed the Upper Lachine Road near by the present Blue Bonnets. It was then a large stream, having a depth of two or three feet of water in midsummer. It has since disappeared — dried up — by new water- courses having been cut. This camp was over a mile from the river shore, close by the present Dominion station, on the Lachine railway, and extending back to the foot of Cote St. Luke. The branch of the St. Pierre passed through the centre of the camp ; to this place, in the then deep forest, the Iroquois hauled up their canoes. It is not improbable that in those early days scouting parties from this camp found sufficient depth of water to use their canoes to pass on close to Montreal through that deep marsh, between Cote St. Paul and Cote St. Pierre, which was a lake in early days ; if so, their camp was wisely selected for offensive operations, being difficuH of approach or finding out. If the reader will take a seat with us on the brow of Cote St. Luke, behind the present Fashion race course, above the Blue Bonnets, he will have a full view right below him, stretching over to the Dominion station, of the very identical spot 2 i[ ■ ,. 18 THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE. ,ii^ of this historical Indian camp of 1G89 ; on which this band of 1,500 savage Iroquois had their headquarters for over two months ; the phnider of the Ishmd of Montreal was carried there, and such of the inhabitants as were reserved for future torture were held there as c. ptives. SUBERCASE'S ADVANCE. On the 5th of August, 1G81), the day after the massacre, Subercase, a young French officer, who had about 200 rejiulars under him in a stockade on tlie Lower Lachine Road, some three niiletri from the Windmill Point, advanced to this scene of blood ; the ruins of this stockade are still to be seen near Knox's mills, and which is stated in the history of that time to have been six miles distant from Montreal. When Subercase with his band, now increased to about 300 men, had reached late in the day that scene of death, a horrible sight met their gaze — the houses still burning, and the bodies of their former inmates strewn about or hanging from the stakes on which they had been tor- tured. They then learned that the Iroquois were all encamped about a mile farther on in the deep I i CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 19 forest, and that they were then beastly and hope- h^.ssly drunk from the hrand-y taken from the storehouses of the traders at Lachine. This was the time to strike a decisive bh)W ! The opportunity was h^st! The drawn sword of the avenger was stayed ! Sword in hand, at the head of his men, this daring young officer, Suljeroase, entered the deep forest, resolved on deadlj^ revenge, and had he been allowed to proceed, the vengeance he would have dealt out would have rivalled in story the "Relief of Lucknow" of our own day! ]5ut at that moment a voice was heard from the rear, commanding a halt ; it was tliat of the Chevalier de Vaudreuil, just arrived from Montreal, by the Lower Lachine Road, with positive orders from Denonville, the Governor, to run no risks, and stand solely on the defensive. Subercase was furious. High words passed between him and Vaudreuil, but he was forced to obey. The sword of the avenger was sheathed, a grand opportunity wms lost, and lost forever. THE CLOSING SCENE. It is not our intention to chronicle the bloody deeds of those dark days during the two months 20 THE MASSACRE OF LA(;HINE. the Iroquois held posse; 'on of the ishnid, rav- aging the whole country for a circuit of about twenty miles, even up to the palisades and gates ol' Montreal, The reader Avill iind a i'ull account in the history of Canada at that time. Thev finally took to their canoes in the middle of October ; crossing over to the Chateauguay shore, carrying with them over one hundred captives or prisoners reserved for torture there. On the night after those fiends in human form had left, there were gathered on the Lachine shore, groups stricken dumb through terror, of speechless, stupefied men, women and children, gazing in breathless silence — the silence of despair ! — on the lires that shed their lights across Lake St. Louis, in which their captive friends, theii wives, their parents and children agonized — suffering death in forms too horrible to dwell upon. The closino; act of those savaae demons on the Chateauguay shore was even more appalling than the opening one at Lachine on the night of the 4th of August, 1689. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 21 7 of hts le le I an le LANDING OF GENERAL AMHERST'S ARMY. Seventy years later, in the early days of Sep- tember, 17G0, the people of Lachine saw another sight, but not " at dead of night." This was the approach of Amherst's army of about 10,000 men, advancing on Montreal. Their boats of all kinds — canoes, bateaux, barges and scows, must have amounted to thousands, and literally speaking, covered Lake St. Louis. This armament was prepared on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, below Kingston, on the present American shore, then British. They descended the rapids of the St. Lawrence and anchored in front and above Lachine. The army advanced in the rear of Montreal by the roads leading to the back of the mountain. In the writer's young days there were a good many old men living at Lachine who had been eye-witnesses of the landing of this army, being, we believe, the largest British army ever landed at one time at any one place in America. The writer will, further on, give a fuller account of this army. Suffice it to say that Montreal was captured, or, rather, capitulated, by which the whole of Canada became at the time of the cession a British colony. oo THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE. THE OLD OR A:\IMAR SCHOOL OF LACHINE. This was a cele])rated school sixty years ago ; it liad a Government grant of £J0() a year, and there were usually eighty hoys attending it. The hoys of the North-West and the Hudson Bay Company were sent down to he educated there, and there were always some twenty boys from Montreal as hoarders there. We could name a long list of North-West boys — the McKenzies, Keiths, McLeods, Seivewrights, McMurrays, McGillivrays, Rowands, &c. Dr. Rowand, of Quebec, was a scholar there; also the Lieut.- Governor of Ontario, Sir Alexander Campbell, was one of the boys there for two years. The most noted teacher was David Jones ; he retired to Quebec in 1831 and died there. THE CANADIAN HOME OF ROBERT DE LA SALLE. 'ii' r; !h CHAPTER II. THE CANADIAN HOME OE ROBERT DE LA SALLE. Sometime between the years 1G09 and 1615, Champlain, then Governor of French Canada, established three liir-trading pos^s, one at Tadousac, one at Three Rivers, the other at the head of the Rapids, at Lower Lachine, eight miles above Montreal. This was done thirty years before tlie foundation of Montreal in 1642, by Maisonneuve, and a dozen to fifteen years previous to the formation of the company of the '' One Hundred Associates." The post at Lachine, being just below the junc- tion of the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence, became the most important tradiug post in the colony, and was periodically visited, spring and fall, by the various tribes of Indians living on the shores of the Upper Ottawa and the lakes emptying into the St. Lawrence, to sell or to exchange their furs. 26 CANADIAN HOME OF ROIJERT DE LA SALLE. About lil'ty years after the establisliiiient of tlie post at Lachine, there hinded, sometime dur- ing the year 1G66, on the spot where the found- ation of Montreal had been hiid some twenty-five years previous, a youth from ohl France, in his li4th year, of manly form and noble bearing, whose calm exterior bespoke one who would shrink from no danger, and who Avould cling with unllinching tenacity to any cause he might espouse. This youth was Ptobert de La Salle, who for twenty-one years acted a most conspicuous part in the early history of Canada. La Salle, in quest of new discoveries, and with the hope of finding a water-way through Canada to China, travelled and re-travelled over the then unbroken forests of the great West, and traversed and re-traversed — or rather coasted — in his frail Indian canoe, all of our vast inland lakes, and westward and southward by the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the then other unknown rivers, in search of the great object of his ambi- tion, nntil he met his death in March, 1687, somewhere, we believe, on the banks of the Missouri. The present is not to deal wita La Salle's dis- coveries or explorations — these are matters of 1 •:.1 i CANADIAN PEN AND INK SK HTCIIKS. 27 liistory — but simply to point out a spot, an old laiidniMi'k, iiejircr our own houiu, ot" which lesv, probably not one in a thousand of the inhabitants of Montreal, is aware. It is the Canadian home of IJobert de La Salle — the home in whioli he lived Tor some lour years ol' his early Canadian life, and in which he planned and matured the great schemes which engrossed the last sixteen years of his life. Champlain died in 163o, and about the year 1G44, the sjentlemen of the Seminary of St. Sulpice ac([uired, or had granted to them, the Island of Montreal, as Seigneurs. La Salle, shortl}' after his arrival, ac(iuired from the Seminary of St. Sulpice a urant of land at Lower Lachine, as seigneur, which included the trading post established by Champhiin. On the Lower Lachine Road, two miles above the Lachine Rapids, just at the head of the '' new inland cut" of the Montreal Water Works, on the " Fraser Homestead Farm," adjoining the old ''English King's Posts," (which was also part of the La Salle estate), stands an old stone building, sixty feet fronting on the road, and some thirty feet deep, one storey and a half high. The inside has a cellar, two Hoors and a garret, 1 28 CANADIAN HOME OK ROIJEIIT DK LA SALLR. •ill tilt' Willis lire [)iercoil I'or over thii'ty <^-iui or luop holes, which are ([lute perfect inside, hut the out- side of theui (the gini-holes) has, from time to time, heen plastered over to keep out the cold, to protect it for the uses to which this old Ijuilding has heen turned in later years. The first lloor is a good deal hroken up, having heen used for many years as a cider-house ; the old mill and cider-presses are still there. The outside walls still present a fair appearance, except the east gahle-end, which is a little separ- ated at the top from the main huilding. The inside timbers are nearly as sound to-day as when built, except where rain has reached them. This was the home of Robert de LaSalle, a name dear to all Canadians. How few now know of its existence, and fewer still of its whereabouts ! Its walls have withstood tlie rough blasts of nearly three centuries. The waters of the St. Lawrence still glide quietly by it as of old, but the rich fur-laden tieets of Indian canoes no longer visit that spot, nor is the merry song of the Canadian voyageur now heard there. Those days are gone ! This post at Lachine was the semi-annual resort of the Indian tribes from their fi\r-distant •9 I 1 ( CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCIIHS. 2H lie kv iuii ire. .lal Lilt hinitiiig grounds tc. excluinge their lurs with liiiSiille, juid it lA on record thiit ii hiind ol' Senecii Indiiins, with tlu'ii ehiel", spent a whole winter witli him !»t his home. The tread ol' passing armies, French oi' English, with their contingents ot* Indian warriors, "all painted and leathered," on their march west- ward or homeward to Montreal, was ti familiar sound there, and oT IVec^uent occurrence in the olden time. This was the point of embarkation hv bateaux or canoe westward, and resulted in the establishment of the English •• King's Posts " in later years. Connected with his home, LaSalle reserved 420 acres as a " Homestead" for himself. This com- prised the present '" Eraser Homestead " and the two adjoining farms. lie also reserved a common of 200 acres. This common remained intact until the year 183-5, when it was divided among the neighbouring farmers. As a protection from the Indians, a stone wall was built ten to twelve feet high, three acres in front and five acres on the east side of his home. The remains of this old wall may yet be seen. Within this enclosure there was planted an orchard of the choicest pears and other fruits 30 CANADIAN HOME OF ROBERT DE LA SALLE. !-■ iVoni old P'rnuce. This orchard onlv foil into decay within the past fifty years ; its final des- truc'iion only occurred in 1859, during the intense cold oi" tliat winter. The foregoing is a short description of one of the most interesting old landmarks of Canada. It is the oldest building now standing in Canada. The writer's grandfather visited this old place over one handred years ago, and some twenty-five years later becauie the purchaser of the "' Eraser Homestead Farm," on which the old home of Robert de La Salle still stands and may be seen. There are few now ol'the earlier landmarks of French Canada remaining Those in the towns and cities are, one by one, fast disappearing before the march of modern improvement. It appears to be the rage no\v-a-days to tear or slash down every relic that reminds us that Canada liaib a history, and that she had pioneers centuries ago, outstrippers of all in tracing the outlines of trackless western wilds and the shores of then unknown rivers, to whose almost romantic ex- ploits the historian, Parkman, has devoted nearly a lifetime, by writing volume after volume, to instruct the Canadian reader in the history and lives of our eavly explorers. i ■1 ■i CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 31 Lii Sallo needs no monumeut along our moun- tain slope. " No storied urn nor animated bust," to perpetuate or to transmit to future generations the great deeds of liis purely unselfish life ! This whole northern continent, boundless and vast, bears unmistakable traces of bis footsteps. His life was devoted to, and finally sacrificed, ill the endeavour to extend the boundaries of his native land — Old France ! His discoveries and explorations were all made in the interest of the land of his birth, the country he loved ; there- fore, so long as the noble St. Lawrence wdnds its course seiiw'ard, and our vast inland lakes exist as feeders thereof, or the great and broad Mississippi rolls its mighty waters to the main, these river banks and those lake shores — if all else were mute — will ever silently testify to the memory of that youthful explorer, La Salle, who first trod or traced their far western or southern shores. Even over one hundred years ago, when these +W0 cumbrous boats or rafts, as pictured by Longfellow, were floating upon the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi, laden with the wrecks of a nation — the Acadians — one bearing Evangeline with her guide, the Father Ftxician, 32 CANADIAN nO.ME OF ROBERT DE LA SALLE. in full pursuit of the lleeing and wandering Gabriel, even a full century ])efore that time, the youthful La Salle had traced those shores and marked the course of that great river. Wonder- ful man ! Truly, he has left his footprints on the sands of time ! CarriaGfes full of American and other tourists every day during the sunnner travelling season roll along that splendid turnpike, the Lower Lachine Road, pausing and admiring the grandeur of the Lachine Rapids — the old Sault St. Louis — and reaching the quiet waters above ; then passing the unknown and almost forgotten and totally neglected home of the most remarkable explorer recorded in Canadian or American liistorv — the Canadian home of Robert de La Salle, which still stands at the foot of the ^'' Fraser Hill," two miles above the Lachine Rapids. Imagination carries me back through the dim mists of over two centuries. A scene is pictured before me. It is the primeval beauty of that now historic spot selected by La Salle for his home, which I fail in words to paint. Take that part of the road from the foot of the Fraser Hill along the river bank westward two dim ured that ■ii> "I $ :m ,t -•i iV^I CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 33 miles to the present Windmill Point, The river bank is over two hundred feet high between these two points. How often, methinks, perhaps thousand of times, had the young, the learned La Salle — learned in all the deep and sacred learning of the Jesuit Fathers — walked or paced, com- panionless and alone, in deep meditation, over these two short miles of road during his four year's sojourn there ? Directly opposite to the Windmill Point, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, at the foot of Lake St. Louis, stands the old Indian town of Caughnawaga, a relic of the past ! This is truly " storied ground " ; La Salle lived there some twenty years before the *' Massacre at Lachine," ])y the Iroquois Indians, on the night of the 4th of August, 168U, when, within the space of one hour over two hundred persons were put to death in the neighbourhood of Lachine. To his home, at the foot of the Fraser Hill, the first greeting borne on the early morning air would be to him the familiar sounds from the roar of the rapids, two miles below. Then we might infer that his daily stroll would be west- ward to the Windmill Point. What a magnifi- cent view there presents itself. It was there, 3 84 CANADIAN HOME OF ROBERT DE LA SALLE. f; and there only, where La Salle could have had the first full view presented to him of the broad smooth surface of Lake St. Louis stretching far to the west, pointing the road for some daring spirit like himself to lead the way in search of a WATER CHANNEL to China through Canada — hence the name Lachine. The question now is : What ought to be done with this historic old building ? It has been in our family for four generations. It is tlie inten- tion of the writer to set apart 3,500 square feet, {^ay seventy feet fronting on the Lower Lachine Road, and (ifty feet in depth, to enclose the old building, as sacred to the memory of LaSalle. Therefore, we may ask, is there not patriotism enough remaining in Canadians to come forward and assist in having this old building restored, and to preserve the home of Robert de LaSalle from falling into decay, or from being blotted out of existence 1 It is due to LaSalle's memory that something should be done, and that speedily, by his admir- ing thousands on this continent. They have now a fitting opportunity to show their respect by giving him a "local habitation," as well as a name ; and where can be fou :d a more suitable I»\t CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 35 place than the home in which he had lived during the four years of his early Canadian life? The place can never be disturbed, being eight miles above Montreal, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and would be sacred for all time, free from the calls or the encroachments of modern improvements. Three of the LaSalle elm trees, venerable with years, still stand on the river-bank, at the head of the old stone wall, a:- silent sentinels of a bygone age. tore'-. , iSalle id out Note. — During the thunder-storm on Monday night, the 4th of August, 1890, one of the old " La Salle Elms," on the " Fraser Homestead rami," Lower Lachine, was badly damaged, a large limb was broken and tlirown across the road, completely stopping travel, until it was cut up. This tree is over two hundred years old, and measures twenty feet in circumference half a foot from the ground. ii :ilil'il ii:illi ' i!l|r t: THE MARCH OF THE SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN. 1 t V a P k tl n< CHAPTER HI. THE MARCH OF THE SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN During the War of 1812. The march of tlie Macdonnell men ! They were not all Macdonnells ; neither were thoy all Glengarrians, nor even Scotchmen, in that brave little band of six hundred, led by Red George — Colonel George Macdonnell, of the Glengarrians, the hero of Ogdensburg. The officers were nearly all Scotchmen, or, at least, bore Scotch names ; Ijut fully five-sixths of the men were sturdy young French Canadian voyageurs and hardy shanty men ; the woodman's axe and the boatman's oar or paddle were as playthings in their hands. They were just such kind of men as had lately served in the Canadian contingent under L rd Wolsoley in the land of the Pharaohs. Come, young Canadian reader, let us go back nearly four score years — to the month of October, 40 MARCH OF SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN. '■^ il 1813; to those dark but glorious days in the past history of our country — to those days when our noble and })rave ancestors had to defend a fron- tier over one thousand miles in length, against the assaults of an enemy ten times their number ; manfully facing every invasion, and finally driving the enemy from our borders. The story or the sketch ol some of the gallant deeds of our forefathers will, assuredly, strike some chord in the *' peace-bound pulses " of the young Canadian heart. The celebrated march of sixty-two English miles in twenty-six hours, by the Light Division, under Crawford, to reach the field of Talavera ; to cover and protect the retreat of the British army under Lord Wellington, after that terrible tight, w^iich Wellington had won, but was after- wards obliged to retreat or fall back and take up another position, is familiar to every one the least acquainted with the marches, the counter- marches, and the battles of the Peninsular w^ar. The writer, as a boy, was intimate with many of the men of the 95th Rifles, one of the regi- ments of that Light Division, and he now recalls the delight with which he had listened to the stirring stories of the old soldiers. Only seven- I CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 41 teen men we believe, fell out of the ranks during that long march of sixty-two miles. Crawford, with his division, was posted high up among the Spanish hills, nearly three ordinary days' march from the scene of the conilict. lie, like the war- horse of old, " had scented the battle afar," and liis anxiety for the safety of his chief caused him to decide, in a moment, to strij) every man to the lightest marching order, and to march directly on Talavera. At nearly every league of their advance caval- rymen from the field of Talavera met them, reporting progress of the Imttle, and then con- veying back to Lord Wellington the welcome news of the steady and sure advjince of Crawfoid and his men to his support. The excitement pervading all ranks was intense. Every man in the ranks knew the distance ahead to be reached, and he could count, almost to a certainty, the very hour of the arrival of the division on the field to join in the light, or to cover and protect the rear of the now retreating British army. The formation of military camps close by the Canadian frontier, extending from Plattsburg to Detroit, during the summer and autumn of 1813, gave evidence of impending coming events; the 42 MARCH OF SIX IIUNDUED MACDONNELL MEN'. ii .'1 aiiia iind siibstjinco oT which was to strike a decisive l)low for the reduction of Canuda l)efore the close of that year. Tlie Americans had made themselves masters of the whole Western Am- herstbiirg frontier, having dispersed the British force serving under General Proctor. Only a few hundreds of Proctor's men escaped by falling ])ack and retreating through the then dense forests of Western Canada by way of Ancaster to the entrenched position at Burlington Heights. Fort Georue, at the mouth of the Niagara, was still in the possession of the Americans. To our story or sketch — " The March of the Macdonnell men." It w\as not altogether a march ; it was partly a march and partly a sail — a sail of one hundred and sevent lies down the rapids of the St. Law' . iOni Kingston to Beauharnois, and a marv. of twenty miles from Beauharnois through the backwoods to join and support the rear of DeSalaberry's small force ; then facing, watching and disputing the advance of Hampton's army of twenty times their number. This extra- ordinary sail and march of 190 miles was per- formed in the almost incredible short space of time of sixty hours of actual travel after leaving CANADIAN I'EN AND INK SKETCHES. 48 (Iretl the and Kinii'fiton, until they reached the hattle-fiehl of Chateauguay. Sir George Prevost, the commander-in-chier ol' the British army in Canada, was at Kingston on the 20th of October, 181.'>. The American army of some 10,1)00 strong was then concentrating in the neighbourhood of Kingston, under General Wilkinson, making preparations for a descent of the St. Lawrence to attack Montreal. Hampt(m's army of about the same strength, watched by DeSalaberry, was advancing on Montreal by way of Chateauguay, to form ji junction with Wilkin- son on the shores of Lake St. Louis, above Lachine. Those were dark days for the fate of Montreal. Sir George Prevost mounted his horse at Kingston, to proceed by relays of horse with all possible speed to the threatened points m Lower Canada. Before starting he sent for Macdonnell (Red George), who had lately been appointed to the command of a battalion of French Canadian Fencibles. Macdonnell was then at Kiniiston organizing and drilling that newdy-raised regi- ment. Prevost asked him if his men were fit to proceed to Chateauguay, and how soon ? Macdonnell's reply was that his men woulc ^ 44 MARCH OF SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN. lii ready to embark so soon as they had dinner. Plucky boys, such was the material our Canadian army of 1812 was composed of. Prevost gave him carte blanche, simply enjoining on him to throw his whole force in front of Hampton's advance. If we may use a vulgar term, Macdonnell found himself in a '' iix." He had not only to lind boats, but to secure pilots to conduct his force down the dangerous rapids of the St. Law- rence. These preparations, fortunately, did not take much over half a day ; there were then plenty of bateaux and other boats at Kingston ; every man was on board that night to sail the next morning. That sail of one hundred and seven tv miles down the St. Lawrence from Kingston to Beau- harnois, in open boats, was quite a different undertaking to a sail now-a-days in one of our well-built and well-equipped lake steamers. Macdonnell and his six hundred men had only bateaux and common flat-bottom boats or scows, row-boats, with paddle and oar to propel them, to face the dangers of the Long Sault, the Coteau, the Cedars and the Cascade rapids ; the breaking of OAi oar or the loss of a paddle would be a serious matter to them. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 45 :ing But those boats contained not only brave men, but men skilled in the dangers of the navigation through which they had to pass. A goodly number of them were old voyageurs, having many times previously faced the dangers then ahead of them. It was just fifty-three years before that time, in ITGO, when General Amherst passed down these same rapids from Oswego, with his army of about 10,000 men, advancing on Montreal, losing in one of these rapids, the Coteau, sixty-eight bateaux and eifrhtv-ei2;ht men. Macdonnell did not lose one l)oat or one man in his descent. Besides the dangers of the rapids, this little force, after leaving Kingston, had to work its way through the gunboats and the armed schooners attached to Wilkinson's force ; and on their onward course through the Thousand Islands and down the St. Lawrence, they were exposed at all points to the enemy's marksmen and to the guns at the various fortified posts as they passed, causing them to be on their guard the whole way, and to hug closely the Canadian shore, out of reach of the enemy's bullets. They reached Beauharnois on the evening of the 24th of October, 1813, having encountered a 46 MARCH OF SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN. heavy storm on Lake St. Louis after clearing the Cascade Kapids ; thence from Beauharnois, by a midnight march, in Indian file, of twenty miles, through the backwoods, arriving at DeSalaberry's rear at early morning of the 2-)th. — the ever to be remembered 25th day of October, 1813 — in advance of Sir George Prevost, who had ridden down l)y relays of horse. On Prevost meeting wdt.i Macdonnell, he ex- claimed in a tone of great surprise : '* And where are your men, Alacdonnell '? " '" There," said Macdonnell, pointing to six hundred wornout men sleeping all around on the ground, not one man missing. Thus accomplishing the distance from Kingston to the battle-field of Chateauguay, 170 miles by water, and 20 miles by land, in sixty hours of actual travel. What a timely arrival was Macdonnell's force to DeSalaberry, whose whole force previous to this did not exceed four hundred men. That same day, the 2-5tli October, Hampton's advance Avas arrested, and then began a retreat, an igno- minious retreat, before a force now increased to nbout one thousand men, not one-tenth of the invading army — that is, counting all their ranks, regular and militia. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 47 in L2:no- It is not our intentit)n to chronicle the many daring Teats of" DeSalaberrj's little band of Cana- dian Yoltigeurs, and the hardships they had to endure for weeks in watching and in disputing the advance of Hampton's army, but simply to record, as at the head of this article, " The March oi^ the Six Hundred MacdonncU Men," and we liave done this to the best of our humble ability. The advance of Wilkinson's arni}^ was arrested at Chrysler's Farm, and there forced to take to their boats and cross the St. Lawrence ; thereby relieving Montreal from the joint attack of those two American armies. Seventy-live years have come and passed away since the meetiu"" of Macdonnell and DeSalaberrv on the battle-field of Chateauguay. This was a meeting of two kindred spirits — l)rothers in arms ; Macdonnell was a true representative of the Hiorhland ^•entleman of the old time, de- scended from a family of soldiers ; war, for centu- ries, had been their calling or profession. The same mio-ht be said of all Highlanders at the beginning of the last century. Scotch names could then be found in every army of Europe. France can boast of her celebrated Marshal Mac- donald. DeSalaberry was a true type of a French 48 MARCH OF SIX HUNDRED MACDONNELL MEN. nobleman, a worthy representative of an old French family. The DeSalaberrys were early settlers in French Canada. The most striking historical feature of these two Canadians is this : They were representatives of two noble families which, seventy years before the meeting of these two men at Chateauguay, were in arms against the Crown of Great Britain. The Macdonnells Avere all out in the rebellion of 1745, closing with flital Culloden. DeSalaberry's ancestors were then soldiers of Old France. We may here add that in religion they belonged to the same church — the Church of Rome. If we mistake not, there w^ere two DeSala- berrys at the storming and fall of Cuidad Eodrigo, in January, 1812, one in the British, the other in the French army. We, as Canadians, are allowing our old land- marks to pass out of remembrance, or to fall into decay. Would it not be a fitting tribute of respect to the memories of those two noble Canadians to mark the spot where they first met ? If nothing better^ let us erect a simple " May- pole," or a cross, after the Canadian custom ; or. ■^ ■ * * 11 old early these atives before .iguay, ritain. lion of iers of eliii:ion urcli of )eSala- yuidatl British, . laiid- 11 into )ect to ans to CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 40 better still, a Scotch cairn, composed of loose stones, headed with the following inscription : — " This is the spot where DeSahiberry and Mac- donnell met on the 25th of October, 1813/' Stoiiey Creek and Chateauguay will ever be noted as important turning points in the war of 1812. Harvey, with his seven hun(;' d and four unloaded muskets and flint^.ess locks, checked the advance of Dearborn's army ai Stoney Creek on Sunday morning, the 6tli of June, 1813. Harvey's force was composed of fully three- fourths regulars. DeSalaberry, with his small force of voltigeurs, consisting of nine-tenths of young French Canadian boys and voyageurs, watched for weeks, and finally arrested and checked the advance of Hampton's armv, then in full march on Montreal. This is a bright feather, gracing for all time the bonnets of our }oung French Canadian boys — les bonnets routes and the tuques bleu of Lower Canada. iV* t >> \ ^ ' May- ni ; or. ill FIFTY YEARS AGO. I III 'i 1 Hi CHAPTER IV. FIFTY YEARS AGO. I THE GREAT SCARE ON THE IStu OF DECEMBER, 1837. •' There was a sound," but not of revelry, through the dark and narrow streets of old Montreal, on the night of the 13th December, 1S37. It was the sound of armed men, mustering and hurrying in wild confusion, and under fear- ful excitement, all concentrating to a rallying point, the old " Champ de Mars," or parade ground. In the early morning of that eventful day, Montreal was all astir to witness the departure of Sir John Colborne, the Commander-in-Chief, at the head of his little army of about 2,000 men, to disperse the rebel force encamped at the village of St. Eustache, about twenty miles to the north. The whole northern district was then in open rebellion. The city of Montreal ^^0 64 FIFTY YEARS AGO. was left that day almost entirely to the protection of the volunteer force. THE COMMA NDEFUIN-CHIEF OF 1837. That grand old soldier, Sir John Colborne, was one of the few then living who had stood by the side of Sir John Moore on Corunna's fatal strand, where : — " Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corpse to the ramparts we hurried, Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried." And among the last words spoken by the dying hero was a recommendation for Colborne's promotion. And again, at the closing hour of the great Napoleon's downfall, when the Old Guard, com- posed of veterans of Wagram and Austerlitz, with Ney, the bravest of the brave, at their head, were advancing to an assured victory, our Colborne was there, right in front of that mighty mass of livino; valour as thev advanced. He stood at the head of his old regiment, the 52nd, which, with the 71st and 95th, formed part of " Adams' Brigade," posted on the right centre of the British position. This brigade was the first f-T, CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 55 CtlOll jorne, od l)y 1 fatal to arrest and check the advance of the Old Guard. Readers of the Battle of Waterloo will recall Colborne's position on that (ield. The reader of this day will appreciate this Ismail tribute of respect to the memory of our (;ommander-in-Chief of 1837. Now, to our story. Such of the citizens of Montreal as were on the street that night, at about eight o'clock, would liave seen a horseman, one of the Lachine Troop of Cavalry, so well known by their >y the borne's o;reat coni- :erlitz, their ry, our nighty He J 52nd, art of ntre of le first BEAR-SKIN HELMETS, dashing along our streets at a mad gallop. That trooper was Alexander Fraser, the writer's brother, now in his seventy-first year, hale and liearty, and living at No. 6 Mance Street, Montreal. The guard at the city gate, at Dow's brewery, was no hindrance to his wild speed. The crossed bayonets of the four sentries posted there were cleared at one bound, consigning the sentries to a warmer spot than that on which they stood that cold December night. His uniforn being known to the sentries, saved him from a passing shot. Then down old St. Joseph and Notre Dame streets at the same wild pace, causing terror to 56 FIFTY YEARS AGO. the small groups congregated at every street corner, until he reached the MAIN (lUAIlD, which stood nearly in front of the present Court House. And there, without dismounting, delivered his verbal despatch from Major Penner, commanding officer at Lachine, to the officer of the dav in connnand at Montreal, nearly as follows : — "' The rebels have escaped from St. Eustache, *' and are reported advancing in force on Lachine, *' to capture the arms stored there for the frontier " volunteers." This despatch was delivered at the Main Guard within thirty minutes after the trooper had mounted his liorse at Lower Lachine, the dis- tance being over eight miles. Then there was wild hurrying on the streets of Montreal. " To arms ! " was the crv, " the rebels are at hand. The alarm bells rang ; the news flew like lightning, reaching every nook and corner of the city in a few minutes. The city was confined within small limits at that time. The wild excitement of that night can never be forgotten by the living ones. The boys CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKKTOHES. 57 street , Court L'et I his anding lav ill stache, ichine, mntier Guard r had le dis- streets " the |g; the nook The t that it can e boys of that night are now approaching their three score years and ten. Tliere were hurried mountings of stan'odicers and urderlies. The rallying words were, every man to his post, the headquarters of his company or Regiment, and within the space of two hours nearly 4,000 men, vokuiteers, old and young, merchants, professional men, clerks, mechanics and labourers, stood side by side in their ranks, shoulder to slioulder, ready to do their duty. It was a grand sight to see the mustering squads fall in and take up their double-quick march to the rallying point, but it is regrettable now to think that so dire a necessity ever existed in our country. The different Regiments took up their line of march to the outskirts of the cityj and proceeded as far as the top of the Tan- neries Hill, the high road to Lachine, halting there for orders from the front to direct their onward course. THE ALARM AT LACHINE AND ITS CAUSE. About seven o'clock that night, the writer was sitting beside Major Penner, in his house at Lower Lachine, when a trooper, Richard Robin- son, arrived, almost breathless, with the news, 58 FIFTY YEAES AGO. brought to the village by Paul Lebert, a French loyalist, living near St. Genevieve, that the rebels were advancing in force from St. Eustache, to capture the arms stored at Lachine for the frontier volunteers. Major Penner was on his horse within five minutes, and galloped off to the village, a dis- tance of three miles, leaving orders with the writer to summon the foot companies to muster and reach the village with all possible speed, and if the small force in the village had to retreat, the mustering companies would endeavour to join them at the foot of the Coteau Hill, the present Blue Bonnets. THE MUSTERING AT LOWER LACHINE. The second company of foot. Captain Thos. A. Begley's, mustered at the old barracks, the " King's posts " ; every man was there by half- past eight. By that time the excitement was greatly added to, by the women and children of the village having fled their homes, and every farm-house on the Lower Lachine Road was filled by them, they actually declaring that the rebels had already reached the village. This looked very serious to us as we were falling in. ..'■?,' CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES, 59 OS. A. the half- was Id re 11 every was t the This ill. By ten o'clock every man was in front of Latlamme's Hotel, the headquarters of the Lachine Brigade, presenting a front of about two hundred and forty bayonets and nearly sixty swordsmen, as fine a body of men as could be found in the Province. Word having been sent to Caughnawaga. over two hundred Indian warriors crossed the river and joined the Bri- gade. By advice of old Colonel Wilgress, a Penin- sular veteran, then living at Lachine, who assumed the direction of affairs, the troop of cavalry and the village company of foot (Captain Lepensee's) were sent to tiie front, half-a-mile above the village, to watch and report tlie advance of the rebels. The three other compa- nies of foot arrived shortlv afterwards. The first to arrive was Captain Begley's, from Lower Lachir.e. The writer was with this com- pany. We came up at the double-quick, nearly a run, and formed opposite Lathiinme's. Such a cheer as greeted our arrival ! It rent the very air. Then came Captain Carmichael with his Cote St. Paul company, by the way of the canal bank, and lastly, Captain Charles, with his com- pany from Cote St. Pierre and the Tanneries, 60 FIFTY YEARS AGO. arrived and formed in line, araid a deafening cheer. ARRIVAL OF THE INDIAN WARRIOR.S. But let us turn our eyes to the river front — to the St. Lawrence. What a cheering sight was there ! The river was literally covered with Indian canoes ; every warrior in Caughnawaga was crossing to join the Lachine Brigade. The cheer of welcome from tlmt little band of volun- teers, which greeted the arrival of the Indian warriors, and their wild war whoop in response, was a sound, a sight, and a scene, the like of which will never again be seen or heard in this Province. By ten o'clock fully 500 men, of all classes, stood in the old village. The night passed over without any enemy putting in an appearance. There were no telegraphs in those early days. All communication was made and kept up by the cavalry. The Lachine Troop was then over- worked, carrying despatches and keeping up and open the lines of communication with the scat- tered outposts. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 61 Llening mt — to lit was ] with uiwaga :. The volun- Indian sponse. like of in thiis classes, id over arance. days. by the over- ip and e scat- ^:| THE MORNING OF THE 14th PECEMBER, 18:17. The next morning the old village presented the appearance of a military camp, with its varied costnmes, every man in his own dress, and earl}' that morning hnndreds of the Montreal volunteers had come out. There must, at least, have been fully 1,500 men congregated that morning at Lachine. It was a grand sight to see the Lachine Troop and the four companies of foot form line — about 300 men — with their old Major, mounted in front, thanking his •• boys," as he called them, also the Indians, for having turned out so well and so loyally. The roll was then called ; cheer after cheer went up as boys and ii'rev-headed men answered "here" to their names. What, if that roll were called to-dav ! Not oO out of that 300 would be found to answer. They have long since responded to a higher roll- call. Peace to their memories ! Thus ended the great scare of the 13th Decem- ber. 1837. The rebels were dispersed from St. Eustache, and the troubles in Lower Canada ceased for that year. The following winter passed over quietly. Seed time came, id a bountiful harvest crowned 62 FIFTY YEARS AGO. the year, but instead ol' the usual autumn thanks- givings of a grateful people, the standard of rebellion was again raised in November, 1838. Rootless walls and ruined homes marked its deso- lating tracks, leaving a dark blot on the pages of our country's history. I thanks- dard of r, 1838. its deso- e pages JOHN GRANT'S, THE SCOTCH HOUSE. ■'t: i< (( li ll OJ ai til w IK ci ] Tl ni th Sc CHAPTER Y. JOHN GRANT'S, THE SCOTCH HOUSE. AN OLD LANDMARK OF MONTREAL. '* Walk about Zion, tell the towers thereof, " mark ye all her bulwarks, consider her palaces, " that ye may tell it to the generation foUow- " ing." Such was the command to preserve and hold in everlasting remembrance the landmarks of Jerusalem. Let us attempt to follow in the footsteps of old, and restore or point out from among the ruins of time and the wreck of surrounding matter, the whereabouts of some old spots in our own city, now nearly forgotten. John Grant's " Inn " or " Tavern " — tht name "Hotel" was not known in those early days. This old house is still standing, and bears the number " 47 St. Henry street." Fifty years ago this house was a noted place. It was then the Scotch head centre of Lower Canada. There was 66 JOHN grant's, the SCOTCH HOUSE. not a Scotchman or Scotch familv then livintir within a radius of one hundred miles, embracing the Scotch counties of Glengarry and Argenteuil, and the Scotch settled parts of Chateauguay, but had at one time or another slept within its walls, or had partaken of its old-time hospi- talities. Not to have known John Grant, or not to have been known by him, was ignorance which no Scotchman of that day would like to acknowledge. Those now living who knew him will never forget his kindly smile and the true Highland greeting of our old host. The old hostess, Mrs. Grant, died in this city during the month of August, 1885, in her ninety-first year. " We shall meet at Grant's," was an appoint- ment often made by parties then living at the extremes of the Scotch counties. This old house was well known in the Scotch Highlands, and it was a common practice in those early days for friends in Scotland having relatives living in Canada to address letters for them to " John Grant's, Montreal." Such letters never failed to reach their destination. The home or the where- abouts of nearly every Scotch Highlander or Scotch familv settled in the Scotch Canadian CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 61 I . living ►racing iiteuil, Aiguay, within hospi- to have lich no wledge. I never ighhmd 3SS, Mrs. lonth of ippoint- at the (1 house , and it lays for Lving in " John failed to e where- inder or I'anadian % counties, or serving in the Hudson Bay Company, was known at this old house. Durinii' the troubles of 1837 and 1838, " John Grant's" was tlie Montreal headquarters of the two Glengarry regiments then serving on the Pliillipsburg and Napierville frontier, and also of the Lachine Brigade, and during the winter of 1838 it was the most Tioted military resort in Montreal. The writer recalls one night; it was, we believe, the 13th of February, 1838, during the illumination to celebrate the installation of Sir John Colborne as Governor-General. About midnight, just ns tlie meu^bers of the Lachine Troo]i were leaving for home, an order reached Grant's for ten of the troop to start immediately for St. John's. Within an hour they were on the ice, to cross to Laprairie, to be stationed by twos, ever3^ nine miles, to carry despatches. The last two reached the fort at " Isle aux Noix " the same evening by six o'clock. This was quick work, and a hard, cold ride, the thermometer being below zero, and the roads heavy with snow. This old house was the town meeting place of the gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Company, and old Sir George Simpson's gig, or caJer-he, during 68 JOHN grant's, the SCOTCH HOUSE. his stay at Ljichine, could be seen twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, entering the '' inn-yard" reguhirly at ten, and leaving punctually at three. This was also the Montreal headquarters or meet- ing place of the Scotch lumberers from the Ottawa. They were noisy boys, and made things lively on their annual escape from their backwoods to civilized life. Tliey were known in those early days as the " Grand River Roarers." On the opposite side of the street, on the corner of St. Maurice, a noted and rising young Glengarrian had his Montreal headquarters for many years, in the Iront room, in the second storey, just above the present number "86," St. Henry street. The place was then known as ** Anderson's grocery." This v/as John Sandlield Macdonald's " club room " or meeting place for his political friends in Lower Canada, and many a deep subject in poli^^ics was discussed in that room. Sandfield afterwards, in later years, trans- ferred his quarters to the St. James' club, but the old room and his favourite arm-chair were held sacred for him by Mrs. Anderson until his death ; she always called it " Sandfield's room." Some of our older politicians may remember this place. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 69 >> the 'i .'>: I Time has changed everything in and around that old house. The dignity and the military bearing of the veteran officers of the Glengarry Highlanders, the dash and the swagger of the young bloods of the Lachine Troop of cavalry, with their fierce looking bearskin helmets, and the noisy but innocent revelries of the Scotch lumberers, fresh from their backwoods, are not now heard or seen there. Those days are gone, and have passed away for ever. How changed is all around ! This old house, for several years past, until very lately, was the resort and the headquarters of horse dealers. The Canadian trader in horses and the American buyer met there. The language in around the old '* inn yard" was changed. A frequenter of that old place of fifty years ago, were he to have stepped in there on one of those hu.j days during the horse trading season, would hardly have appreciated the " horse slang phrases " that would have fallen en his ear. And should we visit that old house at the present day : — " Its echoes and its empty tread Would sound like voices from the dead." This short sketch may meet the eye of many old Scotchmen, now scattered far and wide apart, 70 JOHN GRANT S, THE SCOTCH HOUSE. over the wliole Dominion of Ciinuda, who, perliaps, will heave a nigh while they call to mind the times of old and the days of other years when they and we were young ! Let us close this by adding : Peace to the memory of John Grant ! He was a good man, a good man of the old time ; a true Highlander, a loyal subject, and a staunch supporter of the " Auld Kirk " of Scot- land. ,('■<: ■*. I 1 ^n "^h. , who, call to jr years IS close f John I of tlie ct, and )f Scot- FIFTY YEARS AGO. ■*! CHAPTER VI. FIFTY YKA118 AOO. 9 '11 SUNDAY, THE FOURTH OF NOVEMBER, 1838. Fifty long years have passed away since that ever to be remembered Sunday morning, the 4th of November, 1838. Few of the men, and even few of the boys of Montreal of that day are now living ; they have long since been gathered to their fathers. Not ten in a hundred of tho.se who took an active part in the exciting scenes of that stirring week ending the 11th of November, 1838, can now be found here. The present gen- eration will, no doubt, appreciate a pen and ink sketch of the opening day of the second rebellion of Lower Canada by one who was an eye-witness and shouldered his musket at that time. The rebellion of 1837 had closed, and the winter of 1838 passed over quietly, so far as Lower Canada was concerned, and the volunteers were called upon to nile their arms and to lay •74 FIFTY YEARS AGO. aside their warlike apparel. It was, literally speaking, '^ turning their swords into plough- shares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and to study war no more." The boys did not alto- gether relish this, for, it must be admitted, they were spoiling for a fight. Springtime came, sammer passed, a bountiful harvest crowned the year, and the chill blasts of November had again made fields and forests bare. Low, nuirmuring . ands of discontent were then heard, here, there, and everywhere, over the whole length and breadth of the land, something like a smouldering volcano, ready to burst forth at any moment ; and instead of the usual autumn thanksgiving of a grateful people for a bountiful harvest, the standard of rebellion was again raised in November, 1838. Roofless walls and ruined homes marked its desolating tracks^ leav- ing a dark blot on the pages of our country's history On Sunday morning, the 4th of November, 1838, the standard of rebellion was again raised in Lower Canada. The whole south side of the St. Lawrence was once more in open rebellion. The principal camps were at Beauharnois and Chateauguay. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 75 terally )lough- iH, and 3t alto- d, they untiful )lasts of ;ts bare, re then VGY the aething st forth autumn untiful again Is and leav- :s ,»u )untry's ember, raised of the ^hellion. ois and The first actual outbreak of this second rebel- lion occurred at Beauharnois on Saturday after- noon, the 3rd. The patriots, as they styled themselves, seized the mail steamer " Henry Brougham,'' while on her way down from the c| Cascades to Lachine. The passengers were de- tained as prisoners, among whom were Sheriff Mclntyre, of Cornwall, and Duncan McDonald, ]iow of Montreal. In the early morning of Sunday, the 4th, the patriots of Chateauguay marched in force on Caughnawaga to disarm the Indians. The In- dians were then attending early mass in a small chai)el half a mile behind their village. The chapel was surrounded by the patriots. They said they came as friends to have a parley. The Indians expressed surprise that friends should come armed, and asked them to pile their arms preparatory^ to a friendly talk The innocent patriots piled their arms; they were immediately taken possession of by the Indians. Sixty-four of the patriots were made prisoners ; eleven more were secured during the day ; making in all soventy-five prisoners. The rest of them escaped through the wocds to their camp at Cha- teauguay. ♦76 FIFTY YEARS AOO. m The arrival of the prisoners at Lachine was the finst intimation there of the outbreak of the second rebellion. The Indians of Caughnawagii crossed the river with the first lot of sixty-four prisoners, and landed them near the Windmill, close by the old Parish French Church, just at the foot of the cross road leading through Cote St. Paul. This was about ten o'clock. The people of Lower Lachine were then on their waj to attend morning service at their different churches. Fancy their surprise ! Here was new work Ibr them. It did not take long to muster Captain Begley's company of foot and twenty of the cavalry, who took the prisoners in charge. The line of march was soon formed. Instead of taking the high road to Montreal by the way of Cote St. Pierre — the Upper Lachine Road — the march was taken by the cross road through Cote St. Paul. It was a hard tramp of three hours ; it had been raining most of the previous week ; the mud was ankle deep. The men would not hear of any conveyances being provided ; the prisoners must walk it, they said ; the men also walked. The march of this escort and their pris- oners through Cote St. Paul and the Tanneries caused great exciteuient. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 11 line was ik of the hnawaga ixty-foiir /"indmill, , just at ua;li Cote ik. The heir way different was new to muster twenty of ;harge. Instead ^ the way Road — through of three previous len would ided ; the men also heir pris- Tanneries By the time it reached the Tanneries fully one hundred stragglers had joined, but not exactly comprehending what it really was, as perfect silence was maintained in the ranks. News of the incoming prisoners, with their escort, had early reached town. Their numbers were swelled by hundreds of stragglers on their onward course. There were no telegraphs in those early days to transmit the news, and the report had reached Montreal that the Lachine Brigade was marching in, in full force, having the whole rebel camp of Chateauguay as prisoners. Such was the actual report that reached the city that Sunday morning, the 4tli November, 1838. The reader of this day may picture to himself the excitement, hurry and bustle on the streets of old Montreal caused by this report. Far out in the outskirts of the city, towards the Tanneries, the escort was met by thousands of the citizens. The sight that met their astonished gaze was strange and new to them. Here was a large body of men advancing, having been largely supplemented by stragglers. Ten of the Lachine Troop rode in front, and ten in the rear, and on lK)th sides were thirty men of the Lower Lachine company of foot, having the sixty -four prisoners '1 78 FIFTY YEARS AGO. in the centre. The strnjjrclers who had joined were totally ignorant of the whole afTair, except the fact of seeing the prisoners and their escort. The writer was one of the escort. There have heen, time and again, many programmed proces- sions on onr streets, hut never hefore or since that day has so remaikahle a procession passed along the streets of old Montreal. In front and in rear, as stead}' as regulars, rode the young boys of the Lachine Troop, with their bearskin helmets and drawn swords, and the foot company on both sides, with fixed bayonets, guarding and protecting the nrisoners from the surrounding excited and enraged citizens. They moved along steadily and in perfect silence. Come, vounai: Canadian reader, and take vour stand with us on the front steps of the old French Cathedral ; let us suppose the time to be about three o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday, the 4tli of November, I808 ; and, in retrospect, let us cast our eyes up Notre Dame street. An im- mense crowd, reaching back to McGill street, having no flags waving nor drums beating to announce their approach, is slowly, solemnly advancing in funeral-like procession ! What is it, and who are they ? It is this escort from CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. ^9 joined except escort. B have proces- r since passed Hit and young 2arskin »mpany ng and unding ^ along e vour French about lie 4tli let us n ini- street, Ling to ienmly hat is It fro in Lacbine ^vitlI their sixty-lour prisoners wending their way down to the then " new gaol," with thousands of the citizens lining the streets and following in the rear. It was a sad day, nnd truly "a funeral-like procession " for the poor prisoners, all young men in the prime of life and manhood. They had marched out from their camp at Chateanguay in the early dawn of that Sunday morning, in high hopes and full of life and vigour , «l> ^S- '■.. Wf<\ % V <^ ' % ^ I. 6^ KEMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. );;. a i( T si in vi ta o^ (it fa w tl] Tn er CHAPTER VII. REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. Lachine, Monday, the 5th of NoveTnber,' 1838. — The morn is up again ! But not " the dewy " morn with breath all incense and with cheek " all bloom." It was a dull, cold November one. The old village presented a grand and cheering sight. The Brigade of three hundred men was in full force ; not in the same rig as in the pre- vious December. They were now in full mili- tary costume, having comfortable pilot cloth overcoats, grey trousers with red stripes, all able-bodied men, farmers, farmers' sons, and farm hands, well fitted for any hard or rough work. The words, '■' the might that slumbers in a peasant's arm," might be fittingly applied to them. Besides the Brigade, the village was filled with Indians from Caughnawaga, and there were sev- eral hundred of the Montreal men who had ( •■ li 88 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. joined. It was expected the order would be issued at any moment to advance on Cliateau- guay. It was witli difficulty the men were restrained from making an attack on their own hook, without orders. This wouhl have spoiled the whole affair, and might liave proved disas- trous. One dear to all was missing ; their old leader, Major Penner, was not there. He had gone over to Enghand that summer to pay a visit to his old Hereford home. The men missed him sadly. 8ir John Colborne supplied the vacancy by send- ing out Captain Campbell, of the 7th Hussars. The boys soon took to their new leader. Sir John Colborne's plan was to place his regu- lars between the rebel camps at Chateauguay and Beauharnois, and the frontier, to intercept succour and prevent escape, leaving the Lachine force to watch their front and prevent their escape to the northern district. His, Sir Jolin's, headquarters were at St. Johns. Orders were sent for the Glengarry Highlanders to cross the river at Coteau du Lac, and to march down the south side of the St. Lawrence on Beauharnois, to arrive there on Saturday night, the 10th. The Lachine Brigade, with volunteers from Montreal, to cross 8. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 89 1(1 be ateau- were [V own spoiled disas- leader, le over bis old sadly. y send- [ussars. s regu- ay and uccour brce to to the uarters or the ver at th side arrive achine o cross to Caiigbiiawaga the same nigbt, Saturday, to join with tlu' Indians, and to march on Chateauguay. The duties of the Lachine Brigade were severe and trying during the week. They had to watch, patrol and guard the whole lake shore from La- chine to Pointe Claire. The two rebel camps (Chateauguaay and Bcauharnois) were on the south side of the lake, and at any time a night attack might be expected. There arrived at Lachine during the Avoek a large quantity of arms, ammunition and blankets for the Glengarries. They were placed on board a small steamer, to be conveyed to the Cascades, but for want of communication to ascertain where the Glengarries were, the steamer was detained at Lachine until Saturday. Saturday night came. The Brigade knew nothing of the intended advance on Chateauguay until Captain Campbell issued his orders ; bateaux were collected, of which a goodly number were then at Lachine, and the order given at dead of night to embark. This looked as if some real work was to be done before morning. The horses of the Lachine Troop stepped into the bateaux as steadily as if entering their stalls. The embark- ation was soon completed. The river was crossed no REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBEIiLION 1838. to Caughiiawiigii, where the Indiiins joined. The force siinoiinted to iibout 800 men of uU arms. At midnight, or early on Sunday morniui;-, march was nnide tlirough tlie woods on Chateaugiiay. The whole of the brigade was not in this ad- Vance on Chateaugiiay. Captain Carmichael, witli part of his Cote St. Paul Company, had been placed in charge of a steamer early in the week, to go up the Ottawa, and Lieutenant Carmichael had left that Saturday, at noon, in cliarge of the steamer, for the Cascades, having on ])oard the arms and clothini*; for the Glenucarries ; the writer was one of th(5 guards on this steamer. Eiirly on Sunday morning, the 11th November, the force from Lachine and Caughnawaga, under Captain Campbell, reached Chateauguay. The patriots having, doubtless, learned of the arrival of the Glengarries at Beauharnois during Satur- day night, as we shall relate in another chapter, deserted their camp on the first approach of the Lachine force It is well thev did, and that his- tory has not to record the loss of valuabk^ lives. A few stray shots were exchanged, but they fell short of their mark. It would be well if we could say that this ended the day. Then connnenced the work of destruction. 1-18. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 01 Tlie IS. At march lay. iliis ad- ichael, id been reek, to ael had of the ird the writer irember, I, under ^ The arrival i^' Satur- chapter, h of the hat his- ilc lives. :hev icll ^ve could traction. Fires l)roke out here, there, and everywliere around. It had the appearance at one time as if the whole village and the surrounding homesteads would fall a prey to the devouring element. No one seemed to know the origin of the (ires, or by whom started ; all ])retended ignorance on that })()int. The lingleaders. however, were found out, and instantly ordered l)y Cai)tain Campbell to leave the village and return to Caughnawaga. This was Captain Begley's company, from Lower Lachine, to which the writer belonged; but he was absent that day at Beauharnois. The men became unmanaiieable, whether throuLih drink or the disappointment of not getting a ,/'///'/, the writer could not learn. ])ut in their madness, it was said, they set lire to ten houses alone, before they could be stopped, placed under arrest, and ordered back to Lachine in disgrace. Before order was restored, I'ully a score of houses, with barns and homesteads, fell before the devouring flames. It was a sickening — a heart- rending sight, to see poor, helpless women and children, in utter grief and stricken 'vnb with terror, begging for protection ! Their little trea- sures—their household goods — the homes of their youth — all vanishi. '-'jfore their very eyes ! D2 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELTilON 1838. Their fathers, their hiisbiiiuls, their brothers — the assembled patriots of yesterday — now scat- tered wild through the woods, homeless, friend- less, seeking shelter where they may. Reader, young reader, this is a true picture of a dark day in Canadian history. It would make your very heart's blood run cold, were you to wit ness such a scene as this. Pardon us, if we exclaim : Thy ruined homes, Chateauguay ! and thy burning homesteads, a sad remembrance bring ! CHAITEll VIII. "i. The preparation of bateaux and barges at the village of Lachine on Saturday morning, the 10th of November, I808, was evidence of some impor- tant move to advance either on Chateauguay or Beauharnois. The men looked to their guns and accoutrements, to be ready for any sudden call. Tliese bateaux were used that night to cross to Caughnawaga, as stated in the last chapter. The bugle sound to muster was a daily call. At the muster this morning a demand was made for twenty-live volunteers to take charge of the steamer to the Cascades, with the arms and cloth- ing for the Glengarries ; every man in the ranks stepped forward to go. The requisite number was soon selected and marched on board ; the writer among them. During the previous few days, news had reached Lachine of the gallant affairs by the frontier volunteers at Lacolle and Odelltown. Stray reports had come that the American sympathizers were collecting in force at Ogdensburg to cross lU REMINIS(;KNCP:S CANADIAN KEHKIiUON 1888. to Proscott, when tliov luNird tluit the (jileii- iiiirrv HiL'liliindurs hud hd't Upper (Jnuiuhi. y,The iR'Xt woek l)roiight lU'Ws how our Hiockvillc and Prescott boys acijiuttt'd tliemselves .so nobly iit the l)attlo of the Windmill Point, at PreHCott. Men of the present day know very little of the suller- ings and hardships endured b} the vohniteers of those days. Kvery man bore himself proudly, aa if the fate of the Empire rested on his good old musket and his well-filled eartridge-box. "All on board," was the order given at noon. It was a pulling little steamer, not nuich larger than one of those small tuirs to be seen on our canals during the summer. There were nuiny anxious eyes cast after us as we left, and many good wishes, anjd even silent prayers, expressed for our safe return. The reader will remember that it was on the previous Saturday that the steamer " Henry Broughana' was captured by tlie patriots, and our little steamer, with its precious load of arms and clothing, was just starting to pass over the same waters, with enemies every- where around us. This wa.s our first sail over Lake St. Louis; in fact, it was our first sail on a steamer. The water was smooth, without a ripple. The boys being »'.v 18. Gleii- llo iind ' jit the Men Huli'er- ,eei's ol' idly, us )od old t noon. L larger on our many I many pressed lUMnber i: at the by the )recious ting to everv- )uis ; m L' water being CANAP'^N TEN AND INK SKKTCIIES. !>5 uj) for sport, havin.ii hsirned tliat tlie i)atriots iiad no cannon, i)rev;iih'd on tlie ciiptain to run dosi' into tlie Beunharnois shore, just outol'gun- shot read). IIjuI the patriots known the value of our eariio and the weakness of the •ruard, they ^vould — beinir from :'>,ni)<) to 4,000 strong— liave captured tlie whole of us. We passed within a nnle of the town. Hundreds of the patriots were seen on the sliore. They remained silent specta- tors of our onward course, doubtless wondering wlio or what we were. Poor fellows ! Thev were i";norant of our mis- sion and of our weakness, and also of the fate awaiting thcu), and which befell them before the dawn of the next morning. Indue course, just about dusk, we approached the Cascades, slowly and cautiously steaming up to the old mail steamer wharf. We did not know who were there; on nearing it we recognized the bonnets of the Glengarries. To our cheer, theirs in response came. We then learned that a com- pany of them had been left in charge of the vil lage. It appears now nearly incredible that these men were there for over two days without hearing a word from Lachine ; communication was inter- rupted. 96 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. We learned from them that the Glengarries had been looking for ug ever since the previous Thursday, and on that morning (Saturday) had crossed the St. Lawrence at Hungry Bay, above Coteau du Lac, to march down on Beauharnois. The captain of the company would not receive the arms and clothing from us, his force being too small, he said, to protect them. We were, there- fore, obliged to keep them on board. Night closed in. It was clear and cold. Our position was not a very comfortable one. We had to keep a strict guard all night; no sleep. We were within a few miles of the patriot camp. What if they had known our position, and hud had pluck ? In preparing to make ourselves com- fortable for the night, fancy our surprise to find that we had left Lachine without laying in provi- sions of any kind, not even, as our old drill ser- geant said, having one ration of grog for him. He was an East Indian soldier. Poor old John Murrills ! Peace to his memory ! There was not a loaf of bread, nor even a biscuit, to be luid in the village ; the Glengarries had eaten them clean out. Some of us did not get a bite for thirty -six hours, not till after our return to Lachine the next after- noon. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 91 The little steamer's deck was our home that night, hungry but not cold, for we had plenty of firewood. Bye-and-bye, as darkness set in, our eyes were strained to catch any movement on the Beauharnois side of the St. Lawrence. Moving, flickering flashes were to be seen here and • there on the opposite shore. What were these ? It was soon discovered ; or, at least, we believed those lights, imaginary or real, to indicate the line of marcli of the Glengarry men, nearly 2,000 strons:. The flashes we attributed to the retlec- tion of the moonlight on their guns. Nigh on fifty years have come and gone since that eventful night, when we paced the deck of our little steamer close by the old wharf at the Cascades. The writer only knows of one now living besides himself of that little band of twenty-five Lachine boys. The others have long since been gathered to their fathers. Let us try and picture our then dangerous position, which at the time, and under the consequent excitement, we did not seriously realize. Within a few miles of us was the chief patriot camp of about 4,000 men. They had it in their power, ha,d they had courage, to capture our boat, cargo, and the whole of our little band of twenty-five. We ought not 98 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1888. to have romaiiied there ov^er night with our valu- able cargo, ill so dangerous and exposed a position. We should have steamed back to Lachine. As night grew on apace, our gaze was constantly directed to the march of the Glengarry men. At times their line of march would be lost to view by some curve or other obstruction of the road ; thence emerging they marched steadily onward, in regular order, or apparently so to us, from our distant midnight view point. The sight or scene was grand beyond description. Our knowledge that they were the Glengarries was gathered from the guard in the village ; otherwise we would have put them down as a body of the patriots on some midnight expedition. We passed a sleepless, anxious night, constantly on the watch. Nothing worthy of note occurred, except that a small boat twice appeared near us by the shore with a couple of men in it. This gave us no concern at the time, as they pretended to belong to the village. After the dispersion of the patriot camp, we learned, to our astonishment, that our position had been visited that night, and that an attack was planned and would have been made on us early on Sunday morning by a body of picked CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 99 men from the patriot camp. The march of the Glengarry men and their arrival in the neighbour- hood of Beauharnois, about midnight of Saturday, diverted the attention of the patriots to matters nearer their own home, and saved us from falling into their hands. The return home, and our visit to Beauharnois on Sunday morning, appear in the next chapter. The company of the Glengarries stationed at the Cascades that night was commanded by Simon Fraser, of St. Andrews, the discoverer of the Fraser Kiver. CHAPTER IX. « •■v Sunday morning, the 11th of November, 1838, found us still safe on board our little steamer at the Cascades. The morning was bright and clea*', and the day turned into one of those warm Indian summer days, nowhere to be met with, at least to such enjoyable perfection, as in this Canada of ours. Such was that Sunday morning. It was the first time in the lives of most of us to realize that no breakfast was awaiting us. We resigned ourselves philosophically to our fate just because we could not help it. We knew nothing of what had taken place at Beauharnois during the night, nor did we know where our Glengarry friends on the opposite side of the river were. However, we resolved to get up steam and feel our way down the lake. We may here state, that it was with difficulty the young boys were prevented from breaking open the arms in our charge and taking out one hun- dred muskets, and loading them, so that each t 102 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. volunteer would have five guns instead of one ! This was overruled by our old drill-ser<.:eant, who called us " mad young ibols,*' and said " that one musket and one bayonet was as much as any British soldier could handle. This just rebulce from an old soldier silenced the '' vouncr bloods " and restored order. In due course Beauharnois was reached. We noticed clouds of smoke rising here, there, and everywhere around, giving evidence that some work was going on. As we approached the shore, it was quite perceptible that the town had changed hands since the previous afternoon. The uniform of the Gleniiarries and the red coats of the 71st Regulars along the shore satisfied us of our safetv in steaminii: direct to the wharf alongside of the captured mail steamer " Henry Brougham." The sight of our little steamer making direct for the town attracted the attention of the whole force on the shore. They were as curious to know who or what we were, or whence we came, as were our friends, the patriots of yesterday. As we neared the wharf, the staff officers of the Glengarries and the officers of the 71st were con- gregated on the deck of the " Henry Brougham " CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 103 to meet us, to get what news we had. The first person the writer met on Landing was his uncle, Colonel Fniser, and with him was Major Mac- Martin. Our stcry was soon told. We knew nothing of the advance on Chateauguay, having left Lachine on Saturday hefore the force crossed to Caughnawaga. They were anxious to know the fate of Cha- teauguay, just eight miles from them. The writer found himself among old friends in the Glengarries — not only friends, but kindred of the nearest ties. These grand old men, the Colonels of the Glengarries, Alexander Fraser, the two Macdonells, and Alexander Chisholm — in short, half of their officers were old veterans, having served their king and their country on many a hard fought field on our country's fron- tier — at Lundy's Lane, Queenston Heights, Chip- pewa and Chrysler Farm, during the war of 1812. Colonel Fraser, of the 1st regiment, was well known in Montreal; he was every inch a soldier, just such another, and of the same height and build, as our own old landmark, Colonel John Dyde. We stole away from our steamer for half an hour to see the sights in the town. Fires were k 104 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN REBELLION 1838. still burning, and the greater part of the place was in ashes. The streets were crowded with armed men. They had been on the march since the previous Monday, and were spattered with mud, bearing evidence of the roads they had passed over. These Glengarries were grand men ; fully one half of them stood over six feet, and well built in proportion. They were nearly as efficient in drill as the regulars, having been in barracks on the frontier at Napierville and Phillipsburg most of the previous winter. There were none but Highland bonnets there — the Glengarries and the 71st Kegiment; and had there been any real work to do, they would have proved themselves worthy sons of Old Scot- land — of that storied land where a Fingal fought and an Ossian sang. The language that morning in'^Beauluirnois was altogether Gaelic, our mother tongue, though we did not understand it. As for music, there was none, save the soul- stirring notes of the pibroch, " which Scotland's hills " have often heard, and heard, too, have her " Saxon foes — how in the noon of nig-ht that **^ pibroch thrills, savage and shrill ! But with ^' the breath which Ills their mountain pipe, so «' fill the mountaineers with the fierce native CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 105 *' daring which instills the stirring memory of a " thousand years, and Evan's, Donald's fame, *^ rings in each clansman's ears ! " And right royally did the pipers do their duty. Take it all in all, Beauharnois presented a strange, wild scene on that Sunday morning. The fires were not the Avork of che Glengarries ; they were started by the loyal inhabitants of the place, in revenge for what they had suffered. It nmst, however, be admitted that several hun- dreds of the Glengarries returned home as cav- alrymen, mounted on stray French ponies, which they said they found loose and untied by the wayside. These, however, had all to be ac- counted for ten years later in the Rebellion Losses Bill. We had not much time to ramble before the order was given to collect us on board, to leave with despatches for Montreal. This was a great disappointment; we would have preferred remain- ing. But, hark ! A wild cheer is heard from the Chateauguay side; it is taken up and con- tinued by the armed men through the town. All eyes were turned in that direction. What is it ? The tramp of advancing horse is heard. Yes, there they come, as the well-known bear- 106 REMINISCENCES CANADIAN RKUELLION 1838. skin helmets of the Lachiiie Troop appenr in sight, at a full canter, and draw up right in front of the wharf where our steamer lay. There were only four of them, with a guide, who had led them through the woods from Chateauguay with news I. am Captain Campbell's force. We recognized our troopers from Lachine, and they us, but we could not leave our position to speak to them. Their horses and themselves were covered with mud ; they had been in their saddles for over twelve hours, over hard country roads. But how they came there was a mystery to us, as we had left them at Lachine the pre- vious morning. Our position was equally puz- zling to them ; they had seen us leave Lachine on Saturday at noon, and now they saw our boat alongside of the captured steamer " Henry Brougham." Had we, they enquired, fallen into the hands of the rebels yesterday, and were now being released ? We learned that Captain Campbell, after reach- ing Chateauguay that morning, wishing to com- municate with the Glengarries, to find out where they were, called for four troopers to ride through the woods to Beauharnois. Four of them, all young men of about nineteen years of age, stepped CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 107 to the front and volunteered to go. It was a perilous ride; the woods were swarming with the scattered patriots from the two camps of Cha- teauguay and Beauharnois. We could select one from that little hand of four young troopers, as he proudly sat on his nohle cliarger in front of the assenihled staff of the Glengarry Highlanders. He afterwards figured prominently and successfully in connuer- cial circles in Montreal, without leaving one blot on his commercial integrity and honesty. He has long since been gathered to his fathers. But his living relatives, the noble men of Glengarry, one of whose proud names he bore, will ever point the withering finger of true, ])iting, Scot- tish scorn — Natlian-like — " Thou art the man ! " to the head of that body .of " five professing Christians of the Protestant faith " in Montreal for the wreck of that young trooper .> estate, and the ruin of his family. Silence has a tongue ! The writer's family was represented by about a dozen of its members in the force at Beauhar- nois that Sunday morning. There were his three uncles — his mother's brothers — namely. Colonel Fraser and two of his brothers, besides several younger members of the Glengarry fami- 108 REMINISCEKCErt CANADIAN REHELL'ON 1838. lies, and tlicn tlie writer jind his brother from Lachine, the yoiin^j; trooper above referred to. Having hiinck'd over the arms and clotliing to the Glengarries, we bade them farewell, and then started on our homeward tri[). Tlie Chateau- guay shore, as we steamed down, was all in a blaze ; or, rather, clouds of smoke rising from the burning homesteads, as described in our last chapter. We were ignorant of the advance on Chateauguay until we reached Lachine that Sunday afternoon, except wluit we saw and heard at Beauharnois. As we neared Lachine, the whole shore was alive with people, armed men, women and chil- dren. Lar2:e numbers had come out from Mont- real ; in fiict, every man who could hire a conveyance was there. They were all excite- ment to learn the news we brought ; there were no telegraphs in those days. It soon spread round that Beauharnois was in the possession of the Glengarries. We were not allowed much time to rest, being immediately ordered, with all the other spare men in the village, to proceed to Pointe Claire to guard the lake shore above La- chine, so as to prevent the escape of the patriots to the northern districts. Carts were provided CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 109 to convey us. The roads were in a horrid state. Some of us were so used up that we actually fell asleep in the carts on the road. We were kept for a week picketed by twos and threes in the farm-houses a^ong tht lake shore. It was fully three weeks before the scattered fragments of the old Lachiue Brigade had returned to head([uarters at Laflamme's Hotel, without one accident occurring, full of stories and little incidents connected with their differ- ent movements and various positions since the morning of Sunday, the 4th. On Saturda}^ the 5th of September, 1885, the writer paid a visit to old James Davidson, at the Tanneries. lie served as a sergeant in Captain Carinichael's company of foot in 1837. We fcund the old man, then approaching his four-score years, hale and hearty, sitting by his own vine, and under his own apple tree. The storms of forty-eight winters had passed over our heads since we first met on the 18 ^h of December, 1837. CANADIAN OLENGARRY OYER FORTY YEARS AGO. n c Gle men This hav( goes ofd meet posit in hi to a his c whos uneoi At feeliu Both ing 01 CHAPTER X. CANADIAN GLENGARRY OVER FORTY YEARS AGO. Glengaery! Home of fair women and brave men ! Home of Canada's fairest and bravest ! This is their memorial for all time. They may have been poor, so far as the world's wealth goes; but they were not wanting in that dignity of character which marks the Scotch Highlander, meet him where you may, no matter in what position of life. He is dignified and soldier-like in his bearing. He prides himself on belonging to a nation of soldiers, and that he can claim as bis own those stern Scottish highlands, behind whose mountain barriers Roman eagles still found unconquered foes. At the time of which we write, the old martial feeling prevailed and predominated in Glengarry. Both old and young took more delight in recount- ing or listening to the stories and the glories of 114 CANADIAN GLENGARRY FORTY YEARS AGO. past wars tlian in " venerating the plough," and many a young Norval then live ^ in those back- woods of Canada ready to follow to the field some warlike lord, but fortune or misfortune forbade. It is now a little over forty years since our first visit. This happened a few years after the troubles of 1SS7 and 1838. We had seen a good deal of the Glen<2;arry Highlanders before that visit, but we were ignorant of the homes in which they lived. To tell the truth, we had formed very curious notions of them. The writer, as a boy, had ridden among the staff officers of the 1st Regiment (Colonel Fraser) in February, 1838, on their entrance to Montreal, preparatory to their being sent to the frontier. That was a grand reception and entrance ; there were over one hundred double sleighs conveying the regiment. It was a perfect jam all the way from the Tanneries, where Major (afterwards Colonel David) met them with a guard of honour, and escorted them down to their temporary bar- racks In some old warehouses then standing near the present Custom House. "We again met the same regiment at Beauharnois in November, 1838. Therefore, we knew a little of what manner of men they were. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 115 But, to our visit : It was early in the month of March. The winter roads were in good condi- tion for sleighing. There were no railways in those early days in Canada, except that sliort line between Laprairie and St. John's. Our con- veyance was a single cutter and a smart horse. There were two of us ; the distance was about eighty miles, which took two days to perform by easy stages, halting the first night at the old stage house at the Cedars. Tn the early afternoon of the second day we reached the old inn at Lancaster, and informed the host that we were on a visit to Fraserfield, th? residence of Colonel Eraser, and obtained from him all information as to the roads. The coun- try was then new to us. We followed his direc- tions, and reached our destination, about three miles above Williamstown, a little after dusk. We had often heard that Fraserfield was one of the finest country residences in Upper Canada, but, really, we had no idea that so grand a build- ing was to be found in the wilds of Glengarry as the one before which we drew up. It was a large two-storey, cut-stone, double house, situate in the centre of a block of land of 1,000 acres, and on our arrival was all ablaze, lighted up from " top to 116 CANADIAN GLENGARRY FORTY YEARS AGO bottom " ; evidently a gay party was there assem- bled. We feared we might be looked upon as unwelcome guests, as we had not announced our intended visit. A large party had just seated themselves to dinner. We felt taken aback, and wished our visit had been delayed a day later. A true Highland welcome greeted us, which soon made us feel at home. They were all Highlanders, including the ladies, seated around that festive board. Every one, although personally strangers, appeared to know of us and all about us, or, rather, they all knew the Lower Canadian home whence we came ; therefore, as the saying is, we were soon put at our ease. The merry-making at the time of our visit was to do honour to the meeting of old friends — North-Westers, Hudson Bay Company traders, and old military men. Glengarry could then boast of a goodly number of the latter — veterans of the war of 1812. There were, in fact, at that time nearly one hundred commissioned officers living in the county who had served in the two regiments during the rebellion ; therefore, the tone was military. There had been several dinner parties and balls previous to our arrival, and a few followed. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. m Let us try to picture and re-people that old dining-hall at Fraserfield, as we entered and took our seats among that noted and dignified assem- blage. There was the old colonel himself at the head of the table doing the honours, as he well knew how. He was known far and near in Can- ada, even from Sarnia to Gaspe. We shall try and give the names of the assembled guests as correctly as we can. There were the Hon. George McTavish, of the H. B. Co., and Miss Cameron, afterwards Mrs. McTavish ; old Dr. Grant, father of Sir James Grant, of Ottawa ; Dr. Mclntyre, now Sheriff at Cornwall ; Col. Carmichael, of the Regular Army, then commanding on particular service at the Old Fort at the Coteau ; old Hugh McGillis, of Wil- liamstown, uncle of the late John McGillis, of this city ; old Mr. McGillivray, father of Dunmaglass ; the two McDonnells (Greenfield and Miles), we believe, were there, at least some members of these two families were present, and, if we mis- take not, old Captain Cattanach was present, and several other gentlemen, not forgetting the ladies of the different families. Every Glengarrian will recall and bring to mind those old names, and if they were not per- 118 CANADIAN GLENGARRY FORTY YEARS AGO. sonall}' known to him, still he will recognize them as landmarks of his native county of the past generation. The ravages of forty years have left but few remaining of the old, or even of the young, who had joined in that merry-making. The writer can only call to mind three living besides him- self, namely : Sheriff Mclntyre and his wife, and Mrs. Pringle, wife of Judge Pringle, of Cornwall. Ti?ese two were daughters of Colonel Fraser, being the only living members of his family. There may possibly be some of the younger mem- bers of the other families still living who were in that company, but the writer is not aware of such. We spent a few days with our kind friends, and paid many visits to old friends of our family who had often visited our paternal home in Lower Canada. Among others, we paid a visit to Father Mackenzie, of the Kirk, at the Wil- liamstown Manse, also to old St. Raphaels, to pay our respects to Father John Macdonald. By the way, all Glengarrians will remember that Colonel Fraser belonged to the Catholic Church. There was a spot very dear to the writer, close hy old St. Raphaels. It was the early childhood CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 119 home of his mother. It was the spot on which his maternal grandfather had pitched his Cana- dian tent, and erected his Glengarry Log House. This old Log House was raised close by the home and the church of that good old priest, the late Bishop Macdonnell, whose first charge, we believe, was at St. Raphaels. Those dear old Log Houses of Canada ! Those early homes of the fathers of an empire yet to be ! Few of them now remain. They, like their occupants, have vanished, or have gone down to dust ; but we trust that the spots on which they stood will be held sacred by succeeding generations of Canadians. That dear old Glengarry Log House! The writer's maternal grandfather and grandmother, and his mother, once lived there. Pause, reader, old or young, you may drop or withhold the welling tear. Just fancy yourself standing on or close by a spot so sacred and hallowed by the same kindred ties to you as was this dear old Glengarry Log House to the writer. What spot on earth could be more sacred ? The old grandmother of that Glengarry Log House lived there till about her ninetieth year. She was the mother of Colonel Fraser. We saw her old spinning-wheel, one of those grand old 120 CANADIAN GLENGARRY FORTY YEARS AGO. » Bpinning-wlieels of early Canadian days, and the knJtting-needleH with which she had knitted pair after pair of warm stockings and woollen gloves for her two soldier boys, while they were doing battle on the Niagara frontier for their king and their country, during the war of 1812. The same might be said of hundreds of other Glengarry mothers. Many of those Glengarry boj^s were laid low on Queenston Heights, Lundy's Lane, Chippewa, and at the evacuation of old Fort George, and other lesser fights in 1812. This short sketch of a visit may prove interest- ing to many young Glengarrians, who have come to the front within the past forty years, to read of a social gathering of a past generation in their native county, and they may recall the scenes which gladdened their young days. Old Montrealers will remember the return of the Glengarries from the frontier in the spring of 1838, and to have seen that '' big Glengarry Highlander" shoulder the cannon of the regi- ment a three pounder, and present arms with it while passing in review before Sir John Col- borne. A CxLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH FIFTY YEARS AGO. T of th til us th th ou th cr< St( ca: an ne CHArXER XI. A GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH FIFTY YEARS AGO. The old people of Montreal may have some faint recollection of a Glengarry double sleigh of half a century ago, but to the young of this generation, and even to young Glengarrians of the present day, it will be quite a novelty to them to learn how their worthy grandfathers used to come to town. Therefore, we shall bring them back to those good, quiet old times before the introduction of railways into this Canada of ours. There were two noted annual arrivals in those early days, which caused more talk and created greater excitement on the streets of old Montreal than the arrival now-a-days of an ocean steamer. One was the arrival of the first Indian canoe from the North-West, carrying the news and the letters of a past year from those then nearly Polar regions. The other was the first 124 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. batch of Glengarry double sleighs to reach '' John Grant's/' or some other of the Scotch inns or taverns of Montreal, about Christmas week, loaded with all good things to replenish the cel- lars of the citizens, and to place before the traders in pork, butter, cheese, etc., an oppor- tunity for profitable investment. Glengarry was then, as now, some seventy or eighty miles from Montreal, but travelling was quite different. You could not then take an early morning train at Lancaster or Alexandria and come to " town," as Montreal was then called, and spend some six hours and get back the same night. To undertake a jo- rney in the old days in winter was a matter of a week — two days to come down, three days here, and two days to return. A contemplated visit in the old time by a Glengarry farmer was known from one end of his concession to the other. It was spoken of for weeks ut kirk or chapel as an event, and many and various were the little commissions imposed upon him to execute. Since the construction of railways, the farm- houses are stripped, nearly weekly, by traders purchasing everything the farmer or his good wife has to sell, such as eggs, butter, cheese, etc. ; CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 125 therefore, doing away entirely with the Glen- garry double sleighs to Montreal about the Christ- mas week. The present is to picture one of those old double sleighs with which the writer was so familiar in his young days. The County of Glengarry, at the time of which we write, was fairly an agricultural one. The land had not yet been overworked nor impover- ished. The farms were well stocked, having from ten to fifteen head of horned cattle, some half a dozen of good horses, n team or two of oxen, some fifteen to twenty pigs, and about fiftj- shee]^ on each farm, besides a well-filled poultry yard of hens, turkeys, ducks, geese, &c. From such resources at hand, the reader may fancy, the people lived in great comfort. The only scarce thing was ready cash. The young men of ti\e county usually went to the shanties during the winter months, with their teams of oxen or horses, to haul the square timber from the woods in which it was cut, to the nearest stream bank, thence to be floated in the spring. The hospitality of the people was un- bounded, particularly to strangers, just such as existed in the Acadian land of old time, and, unmolested by visits from revenue inspectors or 126 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. guagers, Donald and Evan " plied the beverage from their own fair sheaves, that fired their Highland blood with mickle glee." A great change has taken place since those primitive days. The young men, during the past forty years, have almost entirely left the county, a goodly number of them to follow the occupaticm of contractors on public works in the United States and Canada. Many of them have prospered. Not one-half, we believe, of the young men could now be found in the old County of Glengarry as were there at the time of the rebellion of 1837, when nearly two thousand fighting men were mustered in one week. "We invite the reader to come with us, in retro- spect, to a ftirm house in Lochiel, in the then backwoods of Glengarry. There is a large home- made sleigh standing empty under the barn shed. It is some ten to twelve feet long, four to five feet wide, with sides three to four feet high. The runners were cut from a large birch or elm tree. The whole is '* home-made," except the iron on the runners and the necessary nails and bolts. The whippletrees and traces may be the same as used for plough or harrow. This is the old Glengarry double sleigh, all home-made, strong and well built, of which we write. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 127 Now, to the loading — let us take a peep at its contents : Some ten or a dozen small tubs or kegs of butter in the bottom, a dozen or two small cheeses, a few bags of timothy seed, then much prized, a few fowl, turkeys, geese, etc., to fill up gaps, then eight to ten well-fed dressed hogs (Glengarry pork was nearly equal to Irish), besides many little odds and ends, such as home- made socks and mits, then much prized in Mont- real, and, maybe, a few extra hides and stray furs collected at the farm-house during the year. This is something after the fashion a Glengarry double sleigh was loaded in the old time before leaving for Montreal ; the whole, we suppose, to weigh about 2,500 to 3,000 pounds, representing a cash value from $200 to $250. The time is the second week of December, with good sleighing ; the delay in starting is waiting to hear if the ferries are frozen over ; all is now ready. Food for man and horse had to be added to the load. This was some dozen bundles of hay and a few bags of oats for the horses, and a small kist or box containing a good-sized boiled ham and a couple of loaves of bread, with a few other small items, such as a select cheese and a little '' croudie " for the men on the road, not for- 128 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. getting a little half-gallon brown jug, containing something to keep out the bitter cold. By the way, this top load of hay towering high, some- thing like a loaded elephant, served as a nice protection for the men from the cold winds, by making a cozy seat in the centre of it. And if the good wife made up her mind to go down to town, she would be nearly as comfortable as at her own fireside. The reader might suppose the cost for such a trip of eighty miles would be very expensive. It did not cost over a dollar and a half to reach Montreal. Here it is, an actual fact. The end of the first day found them at the Cedars, a halt having been made at mid-day to water and feed the horses. This cost them nothing ; they were fed out of the sleigh supplies. The men also had their food with them, but we shall allow them to indulge in a few pots of beer on the road during the day, costing about a quarter of a dollar. Beer was then cheap — three to four cop- pers a glass. This was the actual outlay in cash the first day until they reached the Cedars. The horses had to be stabled at the Cedars, costing a quarter of a dollar for a double stall for the night. The men fed their horses from their CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 129 own supplies, costing nothing. As for the men (there were always two with a double sleigh) a double bed would cost a shilling, but Glengarrians of that day were accustomed to rough it ; and in- variably made beds for themselves in a corner of the large old-fashioned bar-room, by using their buffalo robes and blankets, thereby saving a little. We shall, however, suppose they spent a quarter each for beer, or something else, to wash down the food from their supply box. The first halt the second dav was at the Gas- cades, to water the horses, and sixpence for beer. The next was at St. Annes, to water, and another sixpence for beer. The third was at Pointe Claire, for an hour, to feed horses and men, and we shall allow them a shilling for beer. Lachine is the next halt, to water, and sixpence for beer. The charges for beer on the road may not have been actually indulged in by the men, but they had to pay about sixpence at each halting-place to the country innkeeper for the use of his shed to water and feed the horses, and for this pay- ment were each entitled to a glass of beer — take it or not. About sunset, the second day, a long string of double sleighs (Glengarriai\s always came in 130 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. squads of twelve or fifteen) might be seen be- tween Dow's brewery and the Tanneries, jogging along at a slow pace of about five miles an hour. If their approach was slow, they made noise enough announcing the coming of the Cameron and the Macdonald men to town. The reader of to-day never heard the merry cling-clong of the loud-sounding, large Glengarry bells of those days. They could be heard fully half a mile distant. Those Glengarry bells were as characteristic of the people as were their own bagpipes. Highlanders always make a noise by making themselves heard and felt when they come to the front, be it at market town, in the legislative halls, or on the battle-field. Just as the shades of evening are closing over the unlighted streets of old Montreal, the sleighs are passing down St. Joseph street, some wend- ing their way to John Grant's, on St. Henry street, others to Sandy Shaw's, at the corner of Wellington and Grey Nun street, a few to Widow McBarton's on St. Paul street, opposite to the centre of the present St. Ann's market, and a portion of tliem finding their way to Jemmy Cameron's, the Glasgow tavern, on the Main street. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 131 There were then a goodly number of Scotch taverns in Montreal, having large stabling. These were the resort of the Glengarrians ; they could stable their horses for a quarter of a dollar a day, while they fed thein out of their sleigh supplies ; therefore costing them a mere tritle for the two or three days they spent in town. The men could live like princes, as they thought, at a cost of half a dollar a day each. This was the charge per day at any of those Scotch taverns. The morning talk the next day at every break- fiist table, rich or poor, was of the arrival of the Glengarry sleighs. People now-a-days, when we have railway trains arriving every hour, can hardly conceive the importance such an arrival was to the old inhabitants of Montreal. Per- haps for a full month previous, the whole out- side country had been cut off, waiting the freez- ing of the rivers and ferries, many articles of country produce becoming scarce and dear, and sleigh loads of good things from the TOWNSHIPS ARGENTEUIL AND GLENGARRY were anxiously looked for. An early visit to the Scotch taverns by the thrifty housewives of old Montreal, was the first duty of the day. There they found Donald, 132 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. .'I l! ! Evan and Sandy prepared, with all the native dignity of Highlanders, to greet their town cus- tomers, and to allow the ladies to inspect their good things, and tubs of butter, cheese, turkeys, etc., soon found ready sale. Glengarry butter had a special character of being good in those early days, and the first arrivals found ready sale to private families ; the traders and merchants picked up the balance. Some of the older Glengarrians who had visited town several times before had learned that sides of pork cut into nice " roasting pieces " found a ready sale; therefore, they had prepared them- selves for this demand, by which they profited largely. Our Glengarry friends soon found their sleighs empty, and their pockets full of good hard silver. We shall allow them to prepare for their return home, after purchasing such needed articles as they required for their houses and their farms, these being mostly in the hardware line, such as axes, saws, nails, etc., but one very common arti- cle, " Liverpool salt," took up most of the sleigh ; nearly every sleigh carried half a ton of salt home. This article was cheap, about a shilling a bushel, but one of the most expensive for a 'ii CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 133 farmer to buy from the country merchant, owing to the heavy charge of transport in those early (lays. The old Glengarry double sleigh, like the once far-famed mail coach of Old England, is now an institution of the past — a relic of de- parted days. We shall never again see one on the road. We might use the vulgar phrase, " Their usefulness is gone." Never again shall their loud-sounding bells, once so familiar here, be heard on the streets of Montreal, announcing their welcome arrival during the Christmas week. Those days are gone^ never again to return ! Relic of departed days, farewell ! The writer has endeavoured to picture one of those sleighs, and its usefulness, to the best of his humble ability. Although not a Glengarrian, he was as familiar in his young days with a Glen- garry double sleigh as most Glengarrians. He has seen squads of twenty-five, and some- times fifty, on the road at one time, and he is one of the very few now living in Montreal who rode in from Lachine with the 1st Regiment of the Glengarry Highlanders, on their entrance to Montreal in February, 1838, when there were m 134 GLENGARRY DOUBLE SLEIGH 50 YEARS AGO. nearly two hundred double sleighs conveying the two regiments on their way to the Napier- ville frontier, where they were stationed during the winter of 1838. :i;. ' I .li CANADIAN AUBOR DAY, 1889. ■'iii I y cl a I ol d( H se T ro e\ Se op bn sa CHAPTER XII. CANADIAN ARBOli DAY, 1889. The people of Lower Canada have decided of late years to celebrate their Arbor Day in the fall of the year — in the month of November. This change of putting off our spring work to the autumn is something like a neglect of the duties of our youth, and crowding those duties upon our declining years. Tliis is not quite natural ; spring is the time to plant, the autumn the season to gather in that which is planted. Come, gentle spring ; ethereal mildness, come ! The softening air is balm, echo the mountains round; the forest smiles, and every heart and every sense is joy ! Thus sang the poet of " The Seasons." Spring is the time of the singing of birds — the opening of flowers, and the bursting forth of buds. Let Canadians, then, join in the Univer- sal Hymn to the " God of Seasons " as they roll, by celebrating our Arbor Days. 138 CANADIAN ARBOR DAY, 1889. " I planted me vineyards ; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits." This we believe to be a true account of an Arbor Day nearly three thousand years ago in the Holy Land, in and around Jeru- salem, as recorded by King ' ^lomon. We learn from the teachings of the past our lessons of to-day, and we can never know too much of the good done in the times of old and in the days of other years. What a beautiful picture ! A lesson for all generations of men. Behold the great king cast- ing aside for a day his royal robes and joining with his people in the good work of making gar- dens, planting trees, decorating and beautifying the land, and then proclaiming to all peoples and lands, as recorded in Holy Writ, " I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees iu them of all kinds of fruits." Therefore, Arbor Day, in this and every land, is just a following in the footsteps and adopting the lessons as laid down by the wisest and greatest of men — by King Solomon. Canada owes much to two men — the late James LitUe, formerly of Caledonia, in the County of Kaldimand, Ontario, where the writer first met CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 139 liim in 1846. His particular study or hobby, during liis long lifetime, was the preservation of our forests, and no man in Canada, from long experience, was so well fitted to write on the subject. And the Hon. H. G. Joly De LotBiniere has devoted much time and study to forestry, and the planting and renewing of our forests, and we believe it was through or by him that Arbor Day has become an established thing or fixed institution in Lower Canada. Those Arbor Days, simple and primitive though they be, will have a decided and perma- nent eftect for good, and will create a taste in the rising generation for the making of gardens and orchards, and the planting of forest trees. A noble taste, and worthy to be encouraged ; it ins- tills a love of country, a love of home. Trees planted in our young days around the home of our youth stand like sentinels ; beacons that ever live and are always fresh in the memory of the wanderer. They grow on and flourish, and when the wanderer returns in after years to visit the home of his youth — the scenes of his childhood — the members of his fiimily may all be dead or scat- tered, as in the case of the writer, the trees T^ 140 CANADIAN ARBOR DAY, 1889. alone, which he planted in early life, are there — blossoming, as of old, in spring time — bearing tempting fruit in summer, and crowned in autumn with their frost- tinged leaves, closing the year in gorgeous colours, a prelude to a coming spring. The school boys and girls of the present day, who have their tastes fostered and encouraged both by precept and example, will not only grow up having a practical knowledge of t ee planting, but they will never suffer the trees so planted by them to languish or be destroyed. From every point of view, the observance of Arbor Day is good, both in its practical effects and its educating influences on the future. The time is not distant when every parish or township in Canada will recognize the importance of tree planting, and will celebrate Arbor Day with enthusiasm, thereby elevating the tastes by creating a noble rivalry in the rising generation to beautify our country. The roots are generally planted too deep by our city amateurs, far below their original posi- tion in the nursery or the forest; and, again, the trees selected are, in most cases too large for planting. Select young trees, and plant them as CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 141 near the surf\ice as they formerly grew. Go look at oiir forest trees; the roots, in most cases, will be found running on the surface, or slightly below. In man}^ cases, in city planting, the trees are stuck down deep like telegraph posts into the cold clay ; forcing their roots, if they grow at all, to grow upwards in search of good soil. A young tree is a tender thing, therefore handle it ten- derly — plant it carefully ; better to plant a dozen well than a hundred carelessly. Our worthy forefathers found this country an unbroken forest ; their duty was to level the forest — to make food-producing farms for us, their children. The giant trees fell before the sturdy blows of their axes, giving place to cleared farms, to smiling wheat fields and rich meadows ; theirs was not the duty to heed the cry of " Woodman, spare that tree " ; all shared the same fate. The duty, however, of the present generation is to decorate and beautify those now treeless farms by planting portions of each, by ditch and fence side, with trees, which will not only be pleasing to the eye, but will afford shade to the farm cattle, and will also add value to the farms, for which a coming generation will thank us. Be always sticking in a tree on the farm ; it will grow while you sleep. ' e 142 CANADIAN ARBOR DAY, 1889. OUR OWN ARBOR DAY. The writer has kept to the old standard, and has made the spring of the year — the month of May — his phmtmg season ; and celehrated his Arbor Day of 1889 by completing a young orchard of about thirty acres. This planting was made on the family homestead at Lower Jjachine, better known as the *' La Salle Home- stead." La Salle had reserved 420 acres of land as a homestead for himself. (See Parkman's LaSalle.} This comprised the present Fraser homestead and the two adjoining farms to the east, bordering on the " LaSalle Common " of 200 acres, which LaSalle had set apart ; this common was parcelled out to the neighbouring farmers in 1835. These two adjoining farms formed part of the Fraser Homestead until very lately. It is a disgrace to Canadians that this old Cana- dian landmark should be allowed to go to ruin, and to be blotted out of existence. This historical Canadian homestead has be- longed to the writer's family for five generations. It came into his possession a few years ago, and is all of a wreck of a family estate of about one thousand acres, on the Lower Lachine Road, that n^w belongs to the family. The first orchard CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 143 planted in Canada was planted on this old farm, over two centuries ago. The apples and the pears were the choicest from old France. The writer made a solemn resolve, when the old homestead came into his possession, to plant a new orchard on the ground where the old one stood, and he has carried out that resolve under difficulties and without means, which will be an example for the young men of Canada V) copy and to mark that where there is a will there is a way. TO PLANT NUT-BEARING TREES. The writer has resolved to try a new kind of planting next fall. He intends to take a field, on the farm above the young orchard — the fields contain fifteen acres, say three acres broad by five acres long — and to plant nuts six to eight feet apart, about an inch deep, by the fence side, all round the field, which would be sixteen acres round, mixing the nuts, a butternut, an oak, then a hickory, and so on ; they could easily be thinned out in after years. He has resolved on this for his future Arbor days^ taking one field each year. This is a simple way to propagate our nut- bearing trees, and they would require no after- 144 CANADIAN ARBOR DAY, 1889. transplanting. The boys of Canada should make a note of this, and give it a fair trial. Trees, groves and forests have, in all ages of the world, received the particular attention and study of the sacred writers, and have added grace and beauty to the poet's lines, notably, the Psalms of David. Who has not read of the " goodly cedars " — the cedars of Lebanon, and the stately oaks of Bashan ? ksome of those giant cedars on the sunny slopes of Lebanon, which had with- stood the storms of a thousand years, may have been twigs or mere saplings on the rise of one or other of the great empires of the East, and were, centuries afterwards, still green in middle age on the downfall thereof. How delightful, supremely delightful, just as the opening buds are bursting forth, and stray Howers — wildlings of nature — are peeping up, here and there, by ditch and fence side, to have a stroll during the silence of an early Sabbath morning in May, through an old orchard in Can- ada, with blossom and bloom overhead, and the song of birds from every tree around. This is a picture which no pencil can trace ; this is ** Nature's Picture Gallery," free to all, without price and without money ; affording a rich treat CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 145 to him who has an eye to see and a taste to appre- ciate the beauties of nature scattered around in wild profusion. Let Canadians, then, join in the universal hymn to the '* God of Seasons" as they roll, by celebrating our Arbor Days. 10 A A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY VISIT TO THE HOME OF MY YOUTH. wr wa th( at bee on me] the froi I wal bra: nan pi a; grei thei CHAPTER XIII. A FIFTIETH ANNIYERSARY VISIT TO THE HOME OF MY YOUTH. On Sunday, the 18th of October, 1885, the writer paid a visit to the home of his youth. It was just fifty years before that day, on Sunday, the 18th of October, 1835, that his mother died at the old homestead. Few men living have been privileged to visit the home of their youth on the fiftieth anniversary of a day so full of sad memories. The echoes and the empty tread of the old farm-house sounded in his ears like voices from the dead ! How changed was all around ! Its ruined walls and its almost roofless home a sad remem- brance bring. Not one of kith, kindred or of name to be found there. Not one of the many playmates of our youth. They are all gone. The greater number of them have been gathered to their fathers. Others of them have found other 160 A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY VISIT, ETC. homos. Wo I'olt as r stranger, a desolate stranger, at the home and amid the very scenes of our youth. We stood beneath tlie same clear, blue sky, unchanged — such as gladdened our young days. We trod the very same ground as of old ; but, nevertheless, a change, a great change, had been wrought. This was the old home in which grandsire, grandame, father and mother lived, laboured and died. This was the home where sisters and brothers were born and grew up " side by side," but now '' their graves or their homes are severed far and wide." The living remnant have been driven from their home by hard oppression, by wrong and outrage, with which earth is filled. We sought the old garden, where the pear, the plum and cherry of Old France were choicest of fruit, but nothing remains to mark where a garden had been ; a green sod covers the whole spot. Even the old hawthorn, which stood at the foot of the garden, with its seats beneath the shade, where, fifty years ago, we studied our lessons, or pondered over some favourite author, has suc- cumbed to the ravages of time, or fallen beneath the leveller's axe. CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 161 We sought the old seat by the roadHitle, at the corner of the old stone wall. Nothing remains to mark the spot except the two .su[)p{)rting stones. This old seat was the summer evening resort of old and young — " for talking age and whispering lovers made." Many a tale of the old time, Scotch or Canadian, was told and re-told on that old seat. It was the family out-door seat. Old men now living, who were brought up in the country, will, on reading this, recall and bring to mind just sucii another seat close by the homes of their early youth. And, perchance, they may re-people those dear old seats with faces from the dead — with forms which are ever present in their memories. Wander where we may, voices from the dead will ever ring in our ears, rejoicing the heart, or maybe, filling it with deep sorrow in dwelling upon the wrongs and ravages of time. This is where the old orchard stood, partly en- closed by a stone wall. Over five hundred trees were standing there fifty years ago. Not a score of them now remains. They were of the choicest kinds imported from old France. Some of them planted in the days of Champlain by the early Jesuit Fathers, and added to by LaSalle and his 152 A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY VISIT, ETC. successors. This old orchard was long known as the oldest in Canada. A feeling of deepest sad- ness crept over us as we paced, in solemn silence, the old orchard ground. We could mark the spot where this and that old tree stood, bearing tempt- ing but not forbidden fruit. '^ This was the home of our youth," we said, but what a change ! Changed in all save the same clear blue sky above, and the same almost hallowed earth beneath, on which we stood ! It still bears the family name, but not one of the family is there. " Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." Shall the wicked prevail '? we asked. Then the words of the Psalmist, the sweet singer of Israel, came forciblv to mind : " I have seen the wicked in " great power, and spreading himself like a green " bay tree, yet he passed away, and, lo ! he was '* not ; yea, I sought him, but he could riot be " found." Such, we said, might happen in God's providence in this very case. We strolled along to the parish Scotch church, ihe church in which we sat over fifty years ago, on its first opening in September, 1833. We walked silently, solemnly and alone to the old family pew. As we entered the church, the minister CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 153 was giving out the old Scotch paraphrase, the 20th : " How glorious Zion's Courts appear. The city of our God," &c. This called forth memo- ries of past days. Those grand old paraphrases of the Church of Scotland are not much used now. What a change has taken place in that quiet, old church ! Not over four were present of those who were at the opening in 1833. On conclusion of the Scotch service, we called on our friend, the Rev. Father Pich6, whose grand new church, the parish church of Lachine, is close hy the Scotch church. The good priest was delighted to see us, and doubly so when we explained to him the anniversary of our visit to his parish. We spoke over all the wrongs con- nected with our family troubles. He assured uz that his prayers, the prayers of his congregation, and the prayers of the good nuns were constantly before the Throne of God on behalf of our family. This simple sketch of a visit to an old Cana- dian home may meet the eye of many a grey- haired wanderer, whose early home is, perhaps, thousands of miles awav, and may awaken in him " ties that stretch beyond the aeep, and love " that scorns the lapse of time." This is a true picture of many an old home. What home is 154 A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY VISIT, ETC. there without its tale of sorrow, by which fami- lies have been wronged, ruined and scattered to the four winds of heaven ? The wrong-doer is to be pitied. Mark him well, as he walks the public path : " He ever bears about a silent court " of justice in his breast. Himself the judge and ''jury, and himself the prisoner at the bar, ever ^' condemned." This old home is not only dear to the writer as being his birthplace, but it will ever be held sacred by Canadians of all coming generations as being the spot on which the home of the most noted character in Canadian history s^ill stands. This was the Canadian home of Robert de La Salle, as described in chapter second. We wandered back to our city abode, ponder- ing over the anniversary which had induced us to pay a visit to the home of our youth. Truly, life is but a dream, a shadow ! The death that occurred fifty years ago, and the faces and forms of the then living ones of that quiet old Canadian farm-house, were fresh in the memory of the writer, and the whole sad scene was before him, life like, as it were, in an unpainted picture, as if it had occurred but yesterday. Such is life ! THE FALLS OF NIAGARA OYER FORTY YEARS AGO. ^J "D toui repl clea evei plea sojo Fall acco if it true T] time then earli whal shilli CHAPTER XIV. THE FALLS OF NIAGARA OYER FORTY YEARS AGO. " Did you ever do the Falls ? " asked an American tourist the other day of the writer. " No," we replied ; " but the Falls once did us in a way that cleaned out our then little purse." We, how- ever, at that time, in our young days, had the pleasure of enjoying a most delightful visit or sojourn — not as a guest — of two weeks at the Falls of Niagara. That visit, and how it was accomplished, is now as fresh in our memory as if it were yesterday ; of which the following is a true and faithful account : — This was over forty years ago. It was spring time, in the month of April, 1845. We were then at Toronto, better known a few years earlier as *^ Muddy Little York." We had what we supposed a well-filled purse of English shillings and half-crowns, amounting, all told, to 158 FALLS OF NIAGARA FORTY YEARS AGO. fifteen dollars and fifty cents; cash was then scarce in the West. All was " store pay." Fifty to seventy-five pounds a year was then a fair salary for a young clerk, very little of which was paid him in cash. His board cost him ten dollars a month, paid in store pay. Then his clothing was charged to his account in the store ; so that a young clerk in those days in the West, after his board and clothing were paid, had not much over five to six dollars a month left him for pocket money ; therefore, we considered ourselves as passing rich in having fifteen dollars and fifty cents in our purse. We had given up our old situation, and had made a new engagement, to be entered upon on the first of May following ; and having a little over two weeks' spare time, and, as we thought, a well-filled purse, the question was, where to go and how to spend it to the best advantage in sight-seeing. Fortunately, we found a companion, a genuine young Hibernian, well informed, about our own age, having a little spare time, too, and equally rich, our two united purses amounting to a little over thirty dollars; so we joined hands, and a visit to the Falls of Niagara was decided on. The vulgar term of " doing the Falls " was not (CANADIAN TEN AM) INK SKETCHES. 159 known in our young days. Our baggage was not heavy ; besides the clothes we wore, a small carpet bag, containing a change of linen, socks, etc., a Mackintosh and a walking stick, comprised our whob' baggage. Travelling was cheap in those early days. It was on a Saturday morning, in the month of April, 1845, that we walked on board the steamer at Toronto, to cross Lake Ontario to Queenston, from which place there was a horse OAR to Drummondville, within a mile of the Falls. The trip from Toronto to Drummond- ville cost us three dollars. We entered the Head Inn in the village, an unpretending place, and arranged for two weeks' board and lodging at half a dollar a day each. This amounted to fourteen dollars for both of us for the two weeks, by which our purse was light- ened one-half. We had comfortable quarters ; there were no visitors but ourselves at that time at the Falls. Our host was ignorant of our wealth or standing. We kept that secret to our- sel»c;s, maintaining a dignified reserve; no doubt putting on a few little airs, as most travellers do. No personal in the local papers announced our arrival, but our appearance being respectable, 160 FALLS OF N1A(4AR.\ FORTY YEARS A(fO. conmijinded the respect of the vilhigers. We had the phice all to ourselves. The next morning, Sunday, an April morning, we strolled down after breakfast to have our first view of the Falls of Niagara. The constant and continuous roar— or rather thunders, from the tumbling rapids, rang in our ears the whole of the previous night. Tt was nuisic grand and wild. It chimed in, and was in accord with our youthful tastes. It was a charming morning, with blossom and bloom overhead; there was silence all around, the silence of a Sabbath morn- ing in a quiet country side. Nothing was heard save the song of birds the early spring notes of those little choristers of the woods; and the thunders of Niagara ascending high and far above, made us feel somehow as if we had been transported to ftiiryland. We cannot, even at this lapse of time, find words to express fittingly our feelings — the feel- ings which crept over us as we approached the mighty cataract ; where the waters of Lake Erie and the other Upper Lakes find their outlet into Lake Ontario over a space less than half a mile in width. Our thoughts, our feelings, expressed in deep- CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 161 est silence, rose upwards, as it were, from " NATURE UP TO NATURE'S GOD." Such were our thoughts, our feelings, as we strolled down from the village of Drummondville on that April Sunday morning, over forty years ago, with the song of birds and the thunders of the cataract sounding in our ears, and blossom and bloom overhead, to have our first full view of the Falls of Niagara. " Proud demon of the waters ! " we exclaimed, " Thou, around whose dark and stormy brow cir- *' cles the rainbow's varied gem ! " There we stood for the first time, gazing in wonder and in silent admiration on that mighty mass of water as it rolled in majestic splendi)ur over its rock- bound sunmiit, in an almost unbroken wave into the yawning whirlpool below ! "Come," we said, "expressive silence, muse its praise ! " There have been many accounts descriptive of the Falls of Niagara and the surrounding coun- try, but the best is that contained in tbc journal of Captain Enys, of the 21)th Regiment, written over one hundred years ago, in 1787. It gives a true account, from Fort Sclosser, on the Ameri- 11 162 FALLS OF NIAGARA FORTY YEARS AGO. can side, two miles above the Falls, down to the foot of the Falls, and for four miles down on the Canadian shore. The whole river bank, on both sides of the Niagara, was then an unbroken forest. Captain Enys' journal was obtained from his son in New Zealand, and is now deposited in the Canadian Archives, Ottawa. [See Dou- glas Brymner's Report for 1886, page ccxxvi.] There were no guide-books in those early days to instruct the visitor HOAV TO DO THE FALLS, as it is vulgarly termed. We were entirely guided by our former limited reading, and by our open eyes ; and we did them — the Falls— to our entire satisfaction, and, perhaps, better than the thousands who annually visit them. We often smile when we hear people ask : Which is the best season to visit the Falls ? We have often heard the expression of disappointment : — •* That few people were there — nobody of note." What did they go for ? Was it to see and to meet with CONGREGATED SHODDY, or was it to view one of the grandest sights to be seen on this continent ? CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 163 The Falls of Niagara are the same at all sea- sons — spring time, summer or winter. We have since visited them at all seasons, and were we asked the best time to do so, we would, without hesitation, say winter. We, at one time, visited them during the month of March, when the whole mass of ice from Lake Erie came rushing over the Falls in such quantities, that the river from the town of Niagara upwards got jammed, forming a bridge of ice for miles. Few visitors have seen this grand sight. At another time we saw, on an early spring morning, the whole of the surrounding trees covered with icicles, caused by the spray from the Falls, hanging and swing- ing from the branches, and glistening and disap- pearing under the rays of the sun, affording a sight which no pen can describe nor pencil paint. The whole neighbourhood has many attractions besides the Falls. It was springtime on our firbc visit. The surrounding country is famed for its old Canadian homesteads and its fruit orchards and flower gardens, being the earliest settled parts of Western Canada by the U. E. Loj^alists. The whole country was then in bloom. The apple, the pear, and the peach orchards, with plum gar- dens in the old Niagara district, the then garden 1G4 FALLS OF NIAGARA FORTY YEARS AOO. of Canada, were in full blosHoni. Couple this grand night with that of the Falls, and the reader of this day will say that we, two young Canadian tourists, were more fortunate in our time of "doing the Falls" than most visitors. After the first few da^s, still keeping Drum- moudville lor our heiuhjuarlers, we arranged to visit the different battle-lields on the Niagara frontier. The field of Lundy's liiine is within ten minutes' walk from Drummondville; Queens- ton Heights, a little over an hour's walk ; Chip- pewa, about the same distance ; old Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo, some six or seven hours' walk upwards along the banks of the Niagara ; and Stoney Creek, about seven miles from Hamilton, on the Cirimsby road. All these Canadian Battle Fields were laid down in our programme of this visit, which we faithfully carried out. Truly, this is storied ground ! Every footstep recalls the l^ygone history of early Canadian days. Long befox'e a British drum was heard, or a Fnion Jack of England floated in those once far Western wilds, the daring explorers of < dd France had visited the Falls, and were familiar with the banks of the Niagara. LaSalle, over two centuries ago, established a CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 166 trading post on the very spot where Fort Niagara now stands ; and a few niilet^ above the Falls, near Navy Island, he (LaSalle) built his little schooner, the " Grillin," the rude pioneer of those magnilicent floating castles which have, since that day, passed over the rough waters of old Erie, while hundreds of them, like the *' Griffin," now lie buried dee}) beneath its untrodden sands • During the three years of the war of 1812, the Canadian bank of the Niagara river, from Fort Erie, opposite Buftalo, down to Fort George, on Lake Ontario, was one continuous battle field. There was a constant and continued march and countermarch up and down its banks, of armed men, cavalry, artillery, infantry, besides a large contingent of Indian warriors. There were fought on those banks the several affairs around the walls of old Fort Erie, besides the battles of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Queenston Heights, and old Fort George, not counting those on t'le American side, all occurring within a stretch of some thirty miles, rendering those banks pre-eminently historical and truly storied ground for Canadians and Americans of all coming generations to pause, meditate on, and ponder over the gallant deeds of their forefathers. 166 PALIS -F NIAGARA FORTY YEARS AGO. Before closing this sketch, imagination fondly stoops to trace and to draw a picture of those far- off by -gone days, when the red man, Lo, the poor Indian ! was lord and master of this whole con- tinent. We cannot but think, and reasonably so, that the land around this proud demon of the waters was held sacred, as neutral, consecrated ground? for the many, fixr-sep.-; rated, warlike tribes ; and on its banks they could enjoy their calumet of peace and cup of joy, and here, too, in perfect security, " the wild deer arched his neck from " glades, and then, unhu^ited, sor : his woods *' and wilderness again." We shall, in another chapter, fight over one of oar Niagara frontier battles of 1812. BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY'S LANE. J c s a o t d dj CHAPTER XV. V' BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY'S LANE. t e On our return from a Sunday morning stroll to the Falls of Niagara, we found a card from a Mr. Anderson — or rather Captain Anderson, by which title he was better known, — waiting us at our inn at the village of Drummondville. Ander- son was a noted character at the Falls, and acted as guide to strangers. He had served in the British artillery on the field of Lundy's Lane on the night of the 25th July, 1814. This card was an intimation that he was at our command, and as a recompense for his ser- vices, our host informed us that he had arranged that matter. The captain, it appears, liked his dram, as all old soldiers did and do, and our host satisfied him that he and a friend of his would have the honour of drinking to our health every day during our stay. The captain proposed a walk to the field of 110 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY's LANE. Lundy's Lane, within ii mile of the Falls, being close by and bordering on the village of Drum- niondville. Although it was Sunday, we could not resist the temptation, remembering that Waterloo was fought on a Sunday. We noticed that the captain had fortified himself by a visit to the bar before starting. " This is the field of Lundy's Lane," said our guide, as he took his stand on the front steps of the old church in which the country people were then at morning service. " There," said he, directing our attention to a certain part of the field, " was General Sir Gordon Drummond's position, and there," pointing to another part, " was where our artillery was posted, on the hill, close by the church where we were then standing. " There," pointing to the right, in front of the hill, he said, " was the way, or road, by which the American Colonel, Miller, advanced with his regiment at a bayonet charge and cap- tured our artillery, bayonetting most of our men and making prisoners of the rest." "Hurrah, boys!" he cried, forgetting, under the excitement of the moment, that he was stand- ing on the steps of a church filled with worship- pers. The old man was actually carried back The^ the iiear CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 171 some thirty years to the real dreadful struggle of that desperate hayonet charge, of which he was an eye-witness on that very spot. " Hurrah, boys! " he cried, " there," pointing to the left of the British position, "there come the 89th red coats at a mad charge, with a wild, ringing British cheer." This outburst of enthusiasm soon emptied the church ; the country people were anxious to learn what was going on outside, and to hear the old man fight Lundy's Lane over again. The country people appeared to enjoy it very much ; so did we. The whole scene was some- thing new and strange to us. Across that road, Lundy's Lane, Colonel Miller, elated by his first success, advanced to meet the British 89th Regi- ment, bayonet to bayonet. It was a short but bloody struggle ; the Americans were repulsed with dreadful slaughter, and our artillery recap- tured. There were three battles fought during the war of 1812,— .♦ « LUNDY'S LANE, STONEY CHEEK AND CHATEAUGUAY. Their very mention will ever strike a chord in the " peace-bound pulses " of the young Canadian heart. A pride of country will ever be associated 1*72 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY's LANE. with those Canadian battlefields. The writer had relatives on nearly every field during the war of 1812. It was over thirty years before our visit that the battle of Lundy's Lane was fought on this spot during the evening and night of the 25th July, 1814. To make this chapter more interest- ing to the young Canadian reiider of this day, we shall give a short account of the several affiiirs ; the movements and the positions of the two armies on the Niagara frontier during the month of July, 1814, preceding Lundy's Lane. They will bear in mind that at that time there were no telegraphs, no railways, and no steamers. All comnmnication between Fort George, at the head of the lake, and Kingston at the foot, had to be made by land, all the way round Lake Onta- rio, nearly 300 miles, or by schooner down the lake. The small British force under General Rial had full possession of the Canadian side of the Niagara frontier, from Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo, down to Fort George, at the mouth of the Niagara river, on Lake Ontario, with Fort George as headquarters. The British also held Fort Nia- gara, on the American side, opposite Fort George. CM CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 173 The American army, of about G,000 men of* all arms, under General Brown, crossed from Buffalo and Black Rock, three miles below Buffalo, on the 3rd of July. Part crossed above Fort Erie ; the main body below, at Black Rock, completely surrounding and cutting of all communication between the small body of British (less than 200 men) in Fort Erie, and the British advanced post at Chippewa. On learning that the Americans had crossed the river. General Rial immediatel}^ advanced his headquarters to Chippewp three nules above the Falls; and on the 4th. thp (^^y after the Ameri- cans had crossed, marc' ^ ^ up the Canadian bank of the Niagara to relieve Fort Erie. It was then he learned of its surrender. General Rial was forced to fall back on Chippewa before superior numbers, having less than 1,500 men. There, at Chippewa, on the afternoon of the oth of July, he made a holt and took a stand to arrest the onward progress of the Americans, but after a desperate fight was repulsed with the loss of about five hundred men. After the battle of Chippewa the British re- treated or fell back to Fort George. The Ameri- cans advanced as far as Queenston, having made 174 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY'S LANE. themselves masters of the whole surrounding country, which they held for three weeks. During this time they committed ravages wliicli remain as a dark blot and a lasting disgrace to the American army ; the remembrance of them has descended from father to son, '^ d are not for- gotten even at this day by the old families in the Niagara district. Besides plundering the farm- houses and country homesteads, they wantonly set fire to and burned the whole village of St. David's, containing about forty houses. These three weeks, from the ord to the 25th of Jaly, 1814, was the darkest period for the British arms during the whole war of 1812 to 1815. The people of the Niagara district were almost driven to despair. Their dreaded and bitter enemy had possession of their homes. General Sir Gordon Drummond was then at Kingston, about three hundred miles distant, by land route, from the scene of conflict on the Nia- gara frontier. On the first intelligence of the reverses on the Niagara frontier reaching Kingston, Sir Gordon Drummond posted for York (Toronto), from which place he sailed on Sunday, the 24th, reach- ing Fort George on Monday, the 25th July, 1814. CANADIAN TEN AND INK SKETCHES. 115 Previous to his arrival, the Americans had re- treated from Qiieenston to Chippewa ; Gen. Rial had also, after leaving a force in the two forts, Forts George and Niagara, retreated or fallen back to form a junction with parts of the 103rd and 104th regiments, then advancing from Bur- lington Heights. Having met with the expected reinforcements at the TWENTY-MILE CREEK, he. General Rial, faced about and took up his line of march on Lundy's Lane, having learned on the road of the American retreat from Queenston to Chippewa. The American General having also learned, through his scouts, of General Rial's retreat, or facing back from Fort George, advanced again that afternoon, the 25th, from Chippewa to Lundy's Lane. Hence the meeting of the ad- vanced bodies of the now two advancing armies on Monday evening, tl e 25th July, 181 4, on the field of Lundy's Lane. Lundy's Lane ! ever to be remembered battle- field ! " Is the spot marked with no colossal bust, nor column trophied for triumphal show? None ! " Reader, young Canadian reader, have 176 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY'S LANE. you ever stood on a battlefield of your country — one on which you could claim to have had rela- tives doing battle for their king and country ? The writer could claim this, and prided himself, as a boy, while standing on the field of Lundy's Lane, of having had two of his mother's brothers foremost in the fight on that ever-glorious Cana- dian battlefield. These two then voung soldiers were afterwards, during the Rebellion of 1837, Colonel Alexander Fraser and Major Donald Fraser, of the 1st Eegiment of the Glengarry Highlanders. General Sir Gordon Drumraond, immediately after his arrival at Fort George, took up his line of mnrcb by way of Queenston to support the advance of General Rial from the TWENTY-MILE CREEK on Lundy's Lane (the heat under the broiling July sun was excessive), but on his (Drunimond's) arriving within three miles of the field, he found that Rial had already decided on a retrograde movement before superior numbers. He had not forgotten his disastrous stand at ^hippewa on the 5th. This backward movement was arrested by General Drummond, who ordered a face about CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 177 and a return toLuiidy'n Lane. The British force was now increased to a little over 3,000 men. The American force amounted to about 5,000. The meeting place of General Drummond with General Rial was somewhere close by where stood, some two weeks previous, the pretty little village of St. Davids, surrounded by its orchards and cornfields, then a smouldering pile ; the lires in some places were still burning. This savage deed of the American army met the gaze of the newly -arrived British soldiers, a sight so unusual in civilized warfare; coupled with which, the assembled women and children, now rendered liouseless and homeless, clinging around the sol- diers, and pointing to their ruined homes, and crying for revenge, whetted the bayonets and nerved the arms of both regulars and militia, as they passed onwards to the field of Lundy's Lane, vowing vengeance, to conquer or to die on that field. It was just sev.n months before that time when that small band of determined British soldiers and Canadian militia crossed at midnight from Fort George and captured Fort Niagara; then took and burned the towns of Lewiston, Man- chester, Black Rock and Bufi'alo, in revenge for 12 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 It ■- 12.2 t 1^ 12.0 1.8 i£ IIIIIM Q< 178 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY'S LANE. the burning of Newark (Niagarca) by the Ameri- cans in December, 1813. It was evening — about sunset ! Then began in earnest that dreadful struggle on Lundy's Lane. The Americans fought with a sure cer- tainty of victory. They had been successful in every affair during the month. The Canadian militia fought with desperation. They were goaded on nearly to madness by the outrages per- petrated on their homes by the Americans. Revenge ! was their battle cry. We shall not attempt to describe that fearful hand-to-hand and foot-to- foot deadly struggle — the giving and the taking of death. Every man in the British ranks fought as if the fate of the Empire rested on his bayonet. Scattered bands, fighting independently here, there, and everywhere over the field, were blazing at each other within pistol-shot range, and bayonetting or clubbing with the butt- ends of their muskets or rifles in the dark. " It was bloody, butchering work," said an old soldier. There, within a small compass, and in some places in heaps, over 1,700 men lay dead or dying on that bloody field, being over one-fifth of the CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 179 combatants engaged. Every fifth man went down ! The Americans being worsted at all points, withdrew about midnight to Chippewa, their headquarters, three miles distant, leaving the little British force musters of the field — of a field covered with the dead and dying of both armies, and on which the victors sank down, totally ex- hiiusted after their six hours' hard fighting, and their long march during the early part of the day from Fort George and the Twenty-Mile Creek. Who can picture that bloody field ! The fol- lowing words, descriptive of how a British soldier fights, to be found in Napier's account of the battle of Albuera : — " They closed on their terri- ble enemv, and then was seen with what a strength and majesty the British soldier fights ! " may be fittingly applied to this desperate hand- to-hand struggle on Lundy's Lane. The thunders of Niagara, silenced or drowned during the rage of battle, were once more heard, and the still nearer sounds, the groans of the wounded and the dying, rang in the ears of the survivors, as they sank down exhausted on the won field to seek repose. 180 BATTLEFIELD OF LUNDY S LANE. At early sunrise on the morning of the 26th of July, 1814, the field of Lundy's Lane presented a ghastly sight ! The dead and the dying lay thick around. The heat was so intense that the bodies had to be disposed of without delay. The dead were collected and placed in two heaps to be burned — the British dead in one; the Americans in the other. The tires were then lighted, and what remained of that mass of " living valour " of yesterday was soon reduced to a smouldering pile of ashes. A fearful necessity ! It had to be done. Putrefaction had set in ; a terrible stench arose from all parts of the held. Long before break of day of the 20th, and even before the crowning cheers of the victors had reached the camp followers, the field of Lundy's Lane presented another sight, perhaps the sad- dest — the most affecting one, full of hopes and fears, connected with a battlefield. Close by, in the rear, as camp followers, listening in fearful suspense to every volley and cheer from that fearfully contested field, were hundreds of women and children — the mothers, the wives, the daugh- ters, the sisters of the brave men of the Niagara district. These were earlv on the field, searching among the living, the dying and the dead, for CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 181 loved ones. Even these forgot for the moment their dead in the general rejoicing of a great national victory. The victors were not allowed much time for rest. The sun arose, a glorious July sun, shed- ding his first beams over this field of death, and " smiling as if earth contained no tomb." The bugle sounded the muster call ; then sprang up, as if by magic, from all parts of the field, about 1,500 unwounded but nearly exhausted men, and quickly forming in new ranks beside new com- rades — theirs of yesterday being dead — prepara- tory to an advance to follow after the enemy. The Americans had retreated during the night to Chippewa, but the next day they continued their retreat to Fort Erie, throwing all their artillery and heavy baggage into the Niagara. The greater part of them crossed the Niagara at Black Rock and Buffalo, leaving a strong force in Fort Erie on the Canadian side of the river. OUR ANTIQUITIES. c b g u v: or al re br gl' no afl an SU( pic fac CHAPTER XVI. OUR ANTIQUITIES. A RECENT VISIT TO THE CANADIAN HOME OF ROBERT DE LA SALLE. On a bright morning during the month of Octo- ber, 1887, the writer was induced by an intelli- gent stranger, of French extraction, from the United States, to join him in a walk to pay a visit to the old home of Robert de la Salle, situate on the banks of the St. Lawrence, two miles above the Lachine Rapids, eight mile«* from Mont- real. It was a charming morning, clear and bracing, not cold. Autumn was then in her full glory, the frost-tinged leaves of varied hue, which no pencil can paint nor pen adequately describe, affording a sight to the admirer of nature to pause and meditate upon, nowhere to be met with to such enjoyable perfection as in Ct. 'li — fittingly pictured by an old writer as ; ^* Sober autumn fading into age." 186 OUR ANTIQUITIES. The rulnH of tlie Cjinadiiui home of Robert de la Salle still stand on the banks of the St. Law- rence, two miles above the Lachine Rapidy, close by the head entrance of the Montreal water works. There nre three ways of reaching it : First, by the Lower Lachine road ; second, by a walk along the bjinks of the water works ; and third, along the Lachine Canal to the Cote St. Paul bridge; thence by cutting through the rear of the Cote Si". Paul farms, taking a direct line south, about five miles, through the woods by an old Indian trail known to few. This brings you to the river front, just at the old home. We took the latter route. The walk across the rear of Cote St. Paul is a charming one^ its cultivated farms, with young thriving orchards on most of them, and snug looking dwelling houses and substantial farm buildings, denoting comfort. This walk is sel- dom taken. On your right, beneath, you have the Lachine canal, and far away, above, you have the high land of Cote St. Pierre, and then, be- tween the canal and Cote St. Pierre, there is that broad deep valley, a lake in former days, but now it is the highway for railways, and since it was CANADIAN PEN AND INK SKETCHES. 18Y drained it has become the vegetable garden of Montreal. In due time, after a walk of two hours and a half, we reached La Salle's old home — the home of the most noted chnracter in Canadian or Ameri- can history. Few know of it, and fewer still are aware that this old home — this historical Cana- dian landmark — is within so short a distance of the city of Montreal. It is not now " a thing of beauty.'' It is crumbling down, jind will soon mix with the dust of ages. " And this is the home of Robert de la Salle !" exclaimed our friend, bowing low with deepest reverence, and exhibiting feelings of the pro- foundest veneration as he approached the old building. It was to us a familiar spot, as being enclosed within the old stone wall that at one time surrounded the hame of our youth. To satisfy the curiosity of our new friend, we entered the building and explored the inside ; in doing so, we had to be careful