Niagara...and Dixie?

[matthew mckeon]

I spent last week in Queenston, Ontario, a part of the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, a few miles from the Falls. Far, far from the Civil War, I thought, where the War is the War of 1812(don't miss the bicenntennial ceremonies next year! Warning: we're the bad guys!)

However, I was surprised to learn that in the immediate postwar period, several high ranking Confederate officers and officials made Niagara on the Lake a refuge, including Jubal Early and briefly, Jefferson Davis!

 

[matthew mckeon]

Also two Civil War generals, Winfield Scott and John Wool, were junior officers in the War of 1812, and fought a battle next to my hotel in Queenston. They lost and their invading army forced to surrender by a motley group of Canadian "coloured" soldiers, redcoats, Iroquois and local militia. It was an invasion over the Niagara river. If is was a movie it would be a mix of "Saving Private Ryan," "Glory," "The Last of the Mohicans" and "Sergeant Preston of the Mounties."

"That's why we sing 'O Canada' and not 'The Star Spangled Banner'" as one proud Canadian local politician put it, a rare piece of jingoism in a nation generally so laid back about patriotism.

 

[Glorybound]

I spent last week in Queenston, Ontario, a part of the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, a few miles from the Falls. Far, far from the Civil War, I thought, where the War is the War of 1812(don't miss the bicenntennial ceremonies next year! Warning: we're the bad guys!)

However, I was surprised to learn that in the immediate postwar period, several high ranking Confederate officers and officials made Niagara on the Lake a refuge, including Jubal Early and briefly, Jefferson Davis!

Matthew, it sounds very scenic there. Maybe that's what those ex-Confederates were looking for at that particular time.


Lee

 

[wilber6150]

Very beautiful spot, though if the battle you are talking about is Lundys Lane, its a bit more complicated and more of a drawl lol But whats gets me is that on the Canadian side of the river you have beautiful wineries and scenic views with beautiful little villages, but if you look acorss the river at the American side all you see is rusty old abandoned factories.. Very sad...

 

[matthew mckeon]

There were free blacks in the Niagara region since the 1790s, ex-British soldiers who left the US after the Revolution and got grants of wilderness as a pension. There were also enslaved blacks, the house servants of American loyalists who had also fled the US. In 1794(?) Royal Governor Simcoe, an abolitionist, declared slavery abolished, and a scheme of gradual emancipation for the few Canadian slaves. A lively traffic ensued for a few years, Blacks from New York State, which hadn't yet abolished slavery fled over to Niagara, while enslaved people in Niagara fled on boats on Lake Erie to Ohio Territory, which was free territory as per the Northwest Ordinance.

In the 1830s, a black man named Mosely was arrested. He had escaped from Kentucky to end up in Niagara On the Lake, and couldn't be touched for being a fugitive. However he was taken a horse to facilitate the first stage of his escape and his owner had him arrested for horse theft. An angry mob of local blacks surrounded the courthouse, aided by the towns residents, a shockingly un Canadian riot ensued, two people were killed, and Mosely effected an escape a second time.

After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a large number of escaped slaves fled over the Niagara River to Canada. Most of these people returned to the United States during the last part of the Civil War.

 

[prroh]

Matthew, it sounds very scenic there. Maybe that's what those ex-Confederates were looking for at that particular time.


Lee

Pickett went to Canada as he feared that he would be tried as a war criminal for hanging the turncoats in Sussex. Grant bailed him out.