T. Watkin Jones
The Fenians advanced into Upper Canada at the beginning of June 1866 and faced a force of militia. The invaders won the battle but lost the war when they retreated back to the U.S.
Hamilton, 10th July, 1866
My dear Ellen
I'll try now that I have time to give you a short account of this Fenian invasion. As there was some apprehensions of a Fenian attack we were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to march at a moments notice- so on the 1t of June about 6:30a.m. the city was aroused by the noise of three big battery guns which are at the drill shed being discharged, this being the preconcerted signal every one of course knew what it meant. I had got up early that morning to ride a young horse that needed exercise so upon hearing the gun I postponed my ride for an indefinite period and getting some breakfast put on my uniform and accoutrements and started for the drill shed. When I got there I found about 100 of our fellows, and the rest came running in in dozens. When we were all assembled the roles of the different companies were called and our arms and accoutrements inspected. When we were marched to the railway station where a special train was waiting for us, so away we went not knowing and not caring where, so long as we had a chance to have a brush with the "Finnagans". How little did we then think that our hopes were so near being realized- about 4:30 p.m. we arrived at a place called Dunnville, on the coast of Lake Erie and as there was no barrack accommodation for troops, we were billeted on the inhabitants. Our adjutant (Captain Henry) showed very good discrimination in this for he arranged it so that the men were all sent to the same social class as that to which they belonged in Hamilton- for instance fellows in No 3 and 5, who worked in the shops of the Great Western railway works, Blacksmiths, Machinists, Strikers etc were all sent to the taverns, whilst other companies not composed of such rough material were sent to the shop keepers and the fellows in No "one" and a few of No "Six" were billeted upon the nicest people in the place. This of course was done to give the people as good an impression of the regiment as possible. I and three others were sent to the house of a Doctor Hart. He is very well off and doesn't practice but is an extensive ship owner on the lakes. They were all very kind to us, gave us nice rooms and said they were expecting us after we cleaned our traps and selves. We had a very nice dinner and began anticipating some fun as there were two young ladies and a pretty governess, all very musical. The nes the people had in Dunnville was- that the Fenians had crossed from Buffalo- to Fort Erie in the night and were advancing to destroy the Welland Canal- that they had cut down the telegraph posts and burnt the railway bridges to prevent the trains from brining troops. When we heard this we knew that our stay in Dunnville would e but a short one, so we determined to make it as agreeable as we could, so we asked the young ladies for some music, one of them sat down and opened the piano and Georgey MacKenzie (He was shot afterwards) hunted up a music book for her and she had just commenced that song from Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake" which begins "Soldier rest, thy warefare's o'er" when as if to give a direct lie to the statement twang twang goes a blugle in the street and on throwing up the window we saw "Stair" our orderly-bugler and the six company buglers standing in the street making the quiet little town echo, again with "The Assembly" so our flirting in the evening, like my ride in the morning, had to be "indefinitely deferred." So hastily getting into our accoutrements we said good bye and rejoined our comrades when we fell in by companies. The rolls were called and not a man was absent, so we took the train again and came down to Port Colborne, where we found the Queen's Own Rifles, from Toronto. It was about 10 pm when we got there and the "Queen's Own" fellows came alongside the train and enquired through the window for any 13th men they knew. The "Queen's Own" were billeted and as there was no more room we were ordered to remain in the train all night. About 3 am on Saturday morning the Queen's Own were assembled and remained in the street for a while after which they were placed on the train with us, until 5 am when we steamed slowly down towards Ridgeway, for fear the rails might have been tampered with. I must tell you before I go any farther that the whole force was under the command of our Colonel "Booker" and that he has showed himself (altho' a good drill) to be quite incompetent to command men in danger, and that he does not see far enough ahead to provide for the comfort of the men or for any exigency that might arise.- in addition to which he is a conceited, arrogant, cowardly, nervous poltroon. He had orders from Colonel Peacock of the 16th who commanded a large force of Regulars and Volunteers, two batteries of horse artillery and a troop of Volunteer cavalry to form a junction with him and on no account to risk an engagement, but someone told him that the Fenians were only 200 strong, and all drunk so his vanity suggested what a fine thing it would be to go himself and destroy them all without any assistance from the regulars, and instead of 200 drunken men, he found 1500 well armed in a strong position, and under an officer of bravery and experience.
However we steamed slowly and cautiously from Port Colborne to Ridgeway where we left the train and fell in upon a road that ran at right angles to the railway, here we loaded with ball cartridge and advanced towards the Fenian position in the following order, The "Queen's Own" being Rifles of course were the advanced guard, then we came and then the York Rifles (a single company) as a rear guard. We marched down in quarter distance column- that is each company extending right across the road, from fence to fence, and one company 4 paces in front of another- so on from rear to front. After advancing awhile in this order two companies of the "Queen's Own" were sent, one on each side of the roads, to skirmish the woods we advanced that way for a long time, without seeing anything and began to think the Fenians must have retired when just at half past seven bang goes a rifle upon one side of the road- then a couple of dozen shots in quick succession. Then four more companies were sent forward to reinforce those already at the front. They kept advancing and the Fenians retiring for about half a mile- even the main body, following along the road in their rear acting as a reserve and both keeping up a heavy fire all the time. By this time the Fenian outposts had fallen back upon their reserves- where they made a stubborn resistance and took shelter behind some breast works they had thrown up and pured a tremendous fire upon our skirmish line. However nearly all their bullets were too high. After a while Major Gilmore of the "Queen's Own" said that his mens ammunition was getting exhausted and asker Colonel Booker to relieve them, so our right wing- Nos 1, 2 and 3 companies deployed upon No 3 and then extended in skirmishing order up a road that ran parallel to the Fenian front. They had built barricades of rails, wood, earth, stones and everything they could get their hands on. They had the fences of every field barricaded in this way and in every bit of high ground they had dry rifle pits and regular trenches and had taken possession of a brick farm house on their right which they had filled with their best shots, their commander Colonel Sheil must be a long headed fellow as he has seen a great deal of this sort of thing in the American war.
When we extended in skirmishing order along those woods up the road I spoke of before the bugle sounded "advance" and never was order more promptly obeyed. It would have done your heart good to see the way our fellows dashed at the fence of the road, climbed over and took up their dressing on the other side I had felt rather queer before but, now I began to feel pretty jolly. Up to this none of the balls came very near us, but now they came screaming about our ears and cutting up the young wheat about our feet, but still most of them were too high.
At this time the Fenians held a large orchard with both their wings behind breast works on their right and left and the Queen's Own were about 250 yards from them, with their supports about 100 yards in their rear. We advanced at the double until we came to where the rifles (Queens Own) were when they retired through our spaces and left nothing but the enemy in our front.
The Fenians advanced into Upper Canada at the beginning of June 1866 and faced a force of militia. The invaders won the battle but lost the war when they retreated back to the U.S.
Hamilton, 10th July, 1866
My dear Ellen
I'll try now that I have time to give you a short account of this Fenian invasion. As there was some apprehensions of a Fenian attack we were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to march at a moments notice- so on the 1t of June about 6:30a.m. the city was aroused by the noise of three big battery guns which are at the drill shed being discharged, this being the preconcerted signal every one of course knew what it meant. I had got up early that morning to ride a young horse that needed exercise so upon hearing the gun I postponed my ride for an indefinite period and getting some breakfast put on my uniform and accoutrements and started for the drill shed. When I got there I found about 100 of our fellows, and the rest came running in in dozens. When we were all assembled the roles of the different companies were called and our arms and accoutrements inspected. When we were marched to the railway station where a special train was waiting for us, so away we went not knowing and not caring where, so long as we had a chance to have a brush with the "Finnagans". How little did we then think that our hopes were so near being realized- about 4:30 p.m. we arrived at a place called Dunnville, on the coast of Lake Erie and as there was no barrack accommodation for troops, we were billeted on the inhabitants. Our adjutant (Captain Henry) showed very good discrimination in this for he arranged it so that the men were all sent to the same social class as that to which they belonged in Hamilton- for instance fellows in No 3 and 5, who worked in the shops of the Great Western railway works, Blacksmiths, Machinists, Strikers etc were all sent to the taverns, whilst other companies not composed of such rough material were sent to the shop keepers and the fellows in No "one" and a few of No "Six" were billeted upon the nicest people in the place. This of course was done to give the people as good an impression of the regiment as possible. I and three others were sent to the house of a Doctor Hart. He is very well off and doesn't practice but is an extensive ship owner on the lakes. They were all very kind to us, gave us nice rooms and said they were expecting us after we cleaned our traps and selves. We had a very nice dinner and began anticipating some fun as there were two young ladies and a pretty governess, all very musical. The nes the people had in Dunnville was- that the Fenians had crossed from Buffalo- to Fort Erie in the night and were advancing to destroy the Welland Canal- that they had cut down the telegraph posts and burnt the railway bridges to prevent the trains from brining troops. When we heard this we knew that our stay in Dunnville would e but a short one, so we determined to make it as agreeable as we could, so we asked the young ladies for some music, one of them sat down and opened the piano and Georgey MacKenzie (He was shot afterwards) hunted up a music book for her and she had just commenced that song from Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake" which begins "Soldier rest, thy warefare's o'er" when as if to give a direct lie to the statement twang twang goes a blugle in the street and on throwing up the window we saw "Stair" our orderly-bugler and the six company buglers standing in the street making the quiet little town echo, again with "The Assembly" so our flirting in the evening, like my ride in the morning, had to be "indefinitely deferred." So hastily getting into our accoutrements we said good bye and rejoined our comrades when we fell in by companies. The rolls were called and not a man was absent, so we took the train again and came down to Port Colborne, where we found the Queen's Own Rifles, from Toronto. It was about 10 pm when we got there and the "Queen's Own" fellows came alongside the train and enquired through the window for any 13th men they knew. The "Queen's Own" were billeted and as there was no more room we were ordered to remain in the train all night. About 3 am on Saturday morning the Queen's Own were assembled and remained in the street for a while after which they were placed on the train with us, until 5 am when we steamed slowly down towards Ridgeway, for fear the rails might have been tampered with. I must tell you before I go any farther that the whole force was under the command of our Colonel "Booker" and that he has showed himself (altho' a good drill) to be quite incompetent to command men in danger, and that he does not see far enough ahead to provide for the comfort of the men or for any exigency that might arise.- in addition to which he is a conceited, arrogant, cowardly, nervous poltroon. He had orders from Colonel Peacock of the 16th who commanded a large force of Regulars and Volunteers, two batteries of horse artillery and a troop of Volunteer cavalry to form a junction with him and on no account to risk an engagement, but someone told him that the Fenians were only 200 strong, and all drunk so his vanity suggested what a fine thing it would be to go himself and destroy them all without any assistance from the regulars, and instead of 200 drunken men, he found 1500 well armed in a strong position, and under an officer of bravery and experience.
However we steamed slowly and cautiously from Port Colborne to Ridgeway where we left the train and fell in upon a road that ran at right angles to the railway, here we loaded with ball cartridge and advanced towards the Fenian position in the following order, The "Queen's Own" being Rifles of course were the advanced guard, then we came and then the York Rifles (a single company) as a rear guard. We marched down in quarter distance column- that is each company extending right across the road, from fence to fence, and one company 4 paces in front of another- so on from rear to front. After advancing awhile in this order two companies of the "Queen's Own" were sent, one on each side of the roads, to skirmish the woods we advanced that way for a long time, without seeing anything and began to think the Fenians must have retired when just at half past seven bang goes a rifle upon one side of the road- then a couple of dozen shots in quick succession. Then four more companies were sent forward to reinforce those already at the front. They kept advancing and the Fenians retiring for about half a mile- even the main body, following along the road in their rear acting as a reserve and both keeping up a heavy fire all the time. By this time the Fenian outposts had fallen back upon their reserves- where they made a stubborn resistance and took shelter behind some breast works they had thrown up and pured a tremendous fire upon our skirmish line. However nearly all their bullets were too high. After a while Major Gilmore of the "Queen's Own" said that his mens ammunition was getting exhausted and asker Colonel Booker to relieve them, so our right wing- Nos 1, 2 and 3 companies deployed upon No 3 and then extended in skirmishing order up a road that ran parallel to the Fenian front. They had built barricades of rails, wood, earth, stones and everything they could get their hands on. They had the fences of every field barricaded in this way and in every bit of high ground they had dry rifle pits and regular trenches and had taken possession of a brick farm house on their right which they had filled with their best shots, their commander Colonel Sheil must be a long headed fellow as he has seen a great deal of this sort of thing in the American war.
When we extended in skirmishing order along those woods up the road I spoke of before the bugle sounded "advance" and never was order more promptly obeyed. It would have done your heart good to see the way our fellows dashed at the fence of the road, climbed over and took up their dressing on the other side I had felt rather queer before but, now I began to feel pretty jolly. Up to this none of the balls came very near us, but now they came screaming about our ears and cutting up the young wheat about our feet, but still most of them were too high.
At this time the Fenians held a large orchard with both their wings behind breast works on their right and left and the Queen's Own were about 250 yards from them, with their supports about 100 yards in their rear. We advanced at the double until we came to where the rifles (Queens Own) were when they retired through our spaces and left nothing but the enemy in our front.
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