The Patriot War of 1838

Portrait of the Honorable Colonel John Prince, circa 1840. Prince was the Officer Commanding of the 3rd Regiment Essex Militia from 1838-1846.

After the War of 1812, the British presence in Upper Canada was solidified although reconstruction was undertaken without much aid from the government. A power-based structure known as the Family Compact was created and it did not promote democratic ideals or progressive reform. In combination with food scarcity and inflation problems in York (now Toronto), erupted into an uprising. The uprising’s leader, newspaper tycoon William Lyon Mackenzie, and members of the Hunter Lodges joined forces with other rebellion leaders to start the Patriot War of 1838. Their goal was to rid North America of the tyrannical British government. The rebels, or Patriots, attempted to attack British territory in the Detroit River area four times due to its geographic isolation and weak border controls. This area, known as the Western District, had only volunteer militiamen to defend it even though its population was approximately twenty thousand.

Tensions came to a head at the Battle of Amherstburg in January 1838. William Lyon Mackenzie’s military commanders, “General” Rensselaer van Rensselaer and “Brigadier General” Thomas Jefferson Sutherland assumed command in Detroit, where the “Patriot Army of the Northwest” had been raised. On 1 January 1838, the group seized five hundred muskets and three small pieces of artillery from the Detroit jail. They also stole two boats, the schooner, Anne, and the steamboat, McComb. Canadians urged the colonial government to send supplies. They also asked American officials to call off the attack. The Royal Essex Cavalry initially supplied 28 men. The 2nd Regiment of Essex Militia sent 150. The Kent Regiment contributed 125 men, led by Captain John Bell and First Lieutenant William Lewis Baby. The men were ready by 2 January, but they were poorly armed to the point where Lieutenant Baby used his personal shotgun. At Sandwich, Major John Prince took control of the group. He joined Colonel Thomas Radcliff and the 2nd Middlesex Regiment, based in London. He organized 40 militiamen from the 2nd Essex under Major William Ambridge, 20 from Windsor under Captain W.G. Hall, 40 Kent Militia under Lieutenant William Baby, and 50 from the St. Thomas Cavalry under Captain James Ermatinger.

The alarm was raised by sentries on Bois Blanc Island (Bob-Lo) at 3:00 p.m. on 8 January 1838. The Patriot schooner, Anne, fired on Amherstburg, damaging houses, barns, and a windmill. The defending volunteers and militia returned fire with muskets, which proved ineffective. The next morning, the Patriot sloop, George Strong, got close to the Canadian shore and was captured by forty Essex militiamen led by Major Prince. At the same time, Thomas Jefferson Sutherland engaged his forces against Fort Malden to seize the fort. Defeated, Sutherland later landed at Bois Blanc Island, planted a Patriot flag, and appealed to the people of Upper Canada to join them. The Anne was damaged while attempting to retreat and was forced to run aground. The vessel was boarded, and officers of the 1st Essex rounded up the crewmembers and several Patriot commanders and led them to shore.

On 10 January, Major Prince greeted the Patriot leader, Dr. E. A. Theller, with a kick in the ribs and an accusation that he was a “damned piratical scoundrel.” It was reported that the Patriots took nine casualties, including one death. Twelve were taken prisoner. The Canadians captured the Patriot ship’s two 6-pounder guns, one 9-pounder, 300 muskets with bayonets, and other ammunition supplies. The prisoners were sent to London to be court-martialed, where half were hanged and the rest transported to van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). Theller, Dodge, and Brophy were detained at Quebec but eventually escaped to the United States.

The forces that did not get captured from the Anne, including Thomas Jefferson Sutherland, retreated to the American-held Sugar Island at the mouth of the Detroit River. He was removed from command by his own men and was subsequently arrested for violating American neutrality laws, calling the Canadians “deluded supporters of British tyranny.”

The Patriots attempted to attack Fighting Island on 25 February 1838. With spectators watching, both sides volleyed artillery fire. The grapeshot fired by the Canadians caused the insurgents to retreat. One Patriot was captured. Those who fought at Fighting Island, such as Lieutenant-Colonel Prince and John Askin of the Essex Militia, were praised for their efforts.

Pelee Island was the location of the next Patriot attack, which took place on 26 February 1838. 460 Patriots occupied the island on the Detroit River. Canadian Major William McCormick, who lived on the island, managed to alert officials at Fort Malden. A strike force comprised of several regular units, along with the newly promoted Lieutenant-Colonel Prince, crossed the icy river on 2 March. The main body of men flushed the Patriots out of the bush, pushing them toward Fish Point. At 2:00 p.m., the entire Patriot force emerged from the brush instead of the divided force the defenders expected. This left ninety-five regular soldiers, twenty-five mounted militiamen, and six Indigenous warriors to fend off hundreds of Americans. They exchanged fire for twenty minutes before the Canadians charged with bayonets. After inflicting several casualties, the Patriots fled into the woods and escaped on sleds to Ohio. Twenty-eight Canadians were wounded in the battle, while eleven Patriots were taken prisoner and forty were wounded. On the same evening, Patriot Thomas Jefferson Sutherland and an accomplice were spotted trying to get onto Pelee Island. Seeing the men on the frozen river, Lieutenant-Colonel John Prince arrested them.

On 3 December 1838, the Patriots attacked Richmond (Windsor). They infiltrated a barracks at the time housing two dozen militiamen, wherein a Patriot captain was killed. The Canadians tried to escape when they ran out of ammunition, two being killed during the endeavor. The insurgents then set the barracks on fire. The Patriots halted their advance at the orchard of Francois Baby. At the orchard, the Patriots encountered the regrouped militia men, who caught the insurgent force in a crossfire. The invaders scattered with hopes of reaching the American shore through Lake St. Clair. Prince, worried that Sandwich was unprotected, asked for backup from the 34th Regiment, an artillery detachment, and fifty-six Indigenous warriors before returning to Windsor. By the time he arrived, the fighting was over. This Patriot defeat resulted in 25 casualties and 26 captured Americans. Dozens more were either captured or found frozen in the woods. Forty-five of these men were tried and sentenced to death, though only six were executed, while others were transported to van Diemen’s Island (Tasmania) or exiled to the United States.

Controversy arose when Colonel Prince ordered five captured Patriots to be killed after the Battle of Windsor. One of the prisoners was told to run for his life with twelve muskets were aimed at his back, the prisoner being shot down “as if in sport.” Prince called for seven more Patriot captives to be executed, but he was convinced to let them live.

Essex residents and members of the militia appealed to Lieutenant-Governor Arthur to express their frustration about the Patriot attacks. Colonel William Elliott stated that the Patriots were to receive an “instant and inevitable death,” and the group came to a consensus that agreed with Prince’s drastic position on the insurgents. Lieutenant-Governor Arthur urged them to use the law and leave the Patriots’ punishment to the authorities. Meanwhile, a newspaper article in the Detroit Daily Advertiser accused Prince of murder and immoral actions. Bounties on Prince’s head made the proposition that Prince demanded, to meet the article’s author, dangerous. When the editor of the paper agreed to arrange a meeting in Detroit, Prince declined. Despite being generally popular among Western District residents, the article’s thirteen authors were Canadian. One of the authors of the piece, William R. Wood, was wounded in the jaw when Prince challenged him to a duel. Two other critics of Prince were publicly whipped. The authors of the piece were put through a court of inquiry. The courts concluded that the authors had “personal hostility” toward Prince and that Prince’s actions were justified “in extreme cases” but were not condoned as general practice. His actions were debated in both houses of British Parliament; they were called “disgusting, barbaric and revolting” by some members. As a result of the proceedings’ public attention, Prince forbade visitors from seeing him at night and threatened to boobytrap his property with shotguns on trip wires. The matter would not be settled until 21 September 1839 when the issue was deemed “regrettable.” Prince maintained command of the 3rd Regiment of Essex Militia throughout the scandal and after its resolution.

The Patriot War dissolved due to divided leadership and poor organization on the part of the insurgent forces, as well as a misunderstanding of the level of frustration Upper Canada had with their British overseers. The Western District area was slowly demilitarized in the following years. This conflict would be the last time the Essex and Kent counties were invaded.

Story by Nicole Pillon, Canada Summer Jobs 2022 participant
with The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association

Source

• Duty Nobly Done, The History of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment by Sandy Antal and Kevin R. Shackleton, 2006 – Chapter 3