Queenstown, Upper Niagara Peninsula, June 21st, 1813
Laura Secord winced,
hearing another tankard slammed onto the oak table in the next room, followed
by a roar of male laughter. She had to get in there and clear the table before
the soldiers started breaking her prized china. Head down, avoiding eye
contact, she meekly entered her dining room, careful to keep her face impassive
despite the anger and despair raging in her heart. She resented having to
billet these soldiers who had taken over her home since the battle of Queenston
Heights last October. She had been lucky to find her husband amongst the dead
and dying on the battlefield and bring him home to recuperate from his injuries,
but it had come at a price. Their freedom. Their once safe home was now more
like a prison.
Bile burned in her
throat upon seeing the carnage of wasted, half-eaten food on the plates. Didn’t
they know…or care that people were starving during this siege? Carefully
stacking the plates, she carried them to the kitchen and set them on the
counter, then returned for the food platters. Firm fingers clamped her hand. “Leave
the bread and cheese. And get more wine.”
“I have no more.”
“Then get more ale,”
the officer snapped.
“I cannot. The
shop is closed for the night.”
With an oath, he
released her hand, allowing her to hurry back to the kitchen.
By the time Laura
finished washing the dishes, the other room had slowly quieted as the men
stumbled to the bedrooms they had appropriated like the rest of the house. She
extinguished the lamp and was about to do the same in the dining room when she heard
a muted conversation. Intrigued, eager to overhear even a morsel that could
help the Loyalist cause and get rid of the hated enemy, she crept closer to the
doorway, yet careful to stay hidden in the shadows. A shiver ran down her spine.
A plot was afoot and boded death for the Loyalists living along the Niagara
Peninsula. She had to get to the outpost to warn James FitzGibbon of the
planned attack by 500 American forces . There was no time to lose. Not even
time to wait to extinguish the lamps.
She worried about
her husband, still recovering from his battle wounds, but perhaps it was best
he didn’t know her plans. She shuddered at what might happen to him when the
soldiers found her missing, but perhaps he could come up with an explanation
for her absence. Her duty now was to her country and the safety of her fellow
citizens.
Careful not to
make a sound, she grabbed her cloak from the hook at the back door. Keeping to
the shadows, she crept across the yard and slipped into the woods. Her heart
thumped so hard that at times she had to stop and hold her breath to listen for
any sound. With only the light of the stars, she walked all night, alert for
any soldier wandering about, fearful of every movement. Her keen sense of
direction, plus knowing the layout of the land, guided her steps to Beaver
Dams, approximately 30 km from Queenstown.
Approximately 17
hours later, Laura was stopped by the sentries at the outpost. Praying they’d
believe her, she took a deep breath and said, “Please take me to Lieutenant FitzGibbon.
I have information of the utmost urgency to give to him.”
And thus, the
story of her trek, her bravery, and her patriotism became legendary…and Laura Secord
became mythologized in Canadian history.
For some readers,
the name Laura Secord may sound familiar from a history class, or a play or
even a poem. Or, maybe it’s because you may have savored a box of delicious Laura
Secord chocolates? You’d be right on both counts. Laura did make that fateful
trek the night of 21-22 June 1813. And isn’t it interesting that a century
later, Frank P. O’Connor began a small candy business in Toronto
and chose
the name, Laura Secord, for his hand-made chocolates. He believed
Laura Secord "was an icon of courage, devotion and loyalty."
It’s
interesting to learn that Laura’s experience served another purpose, thus
making her the stuff of legends. “Historian Cecilia Morgan argues that the Secord story became
famous in the 1880s when upper-class women sought to strengthen the emotional
ties between Canadian women and the British Empire. She writes that they needed
a female heroine to validate their claims for women’s suffrage.”
Laura Secord, née Ingersoll, was
born 13 September 1775 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts where her father had
a hat business. She stood
5 feet
4 inches tall, had a slight frame, and a delicate appearance with brown
eyes and a fair complexion. She was skilled at needlework,
dressmaking and cooking
.
Photo courtesy of vitacollections.ca
While in Massachusetts, her
father, Thomas Ingersoll, rose in the military ranks during the 1775 American
Revolution, but by 1795, had become disillusioned with the treatment of
Loyalist supporters. Thus, he jumped at an opportunity to move to Canada where
land grants were available to develop new settlements. He moved his family to the
Niagara Peninsula where he ran a tavern in Queenston while land was being
cleared and roads built for the proposed settlement. His log cabin was
completed in 1796 and he moved his family there. But his joy was short-lived.
“After Governor Simcoe returned to England in 1796,
opposition grew in Upper Canada to the "Late Loyalists", such as
Thomas, who had come to Canada for the land grants. The grants were greatly
reduced, and Thomas's contract was cancelled for not having all of its
conditions fulfilled. Feeling cheated, in 1805 he moved the family to Credit
River, close to York (present-day Toronto), where he successfully ran an inn
until his 1812 death following a stroke”.
Laura Ingersoll remained in Queenston after her parents and
siblings moved away. Research indicates she married James Secord, a wealthy
merchant, in June (?) 1797. His family were Protestant Hugenots who had fled
persecution in France a century earlier. They had changed their name D’Secor or
Sicar to the Anglican version, Secord, to avoid further persecution in America.
They founded New Rochelle, New York in 1688. At the time of the American
Revolution, Loyalist members of the family anglicized their surname
to Secord. The Secords lived above their shop in Queenston. In 1799
the first of six daughters was born; they only had one son.
The Battle of Queenston Heights
(painting by James B. Dennis, courtesy Library and Archives of
Canada/C-014614)
With the outbreak of the War of
1812, James Secord enlisted as a sergeant with the 1st Lincoln
Militia on October 13th, 1812. James was severely wounded in the
shoulder and leg at the Battle of Queenston Heights. Somehow Laura managed to rescue
him, possibly by begging help from (ironically) three American soldiers? When
the Secords arrived home, they discovered their home had been fired upon and
looted. After the war, with their Queenston
store in ruins, the family was impoverished. “Only James's small war
pension and the rent from 200 acres of land they had in Grantham Township supported
them.”
“On 27 May 1813, the American army launched an attack across
the Niagara River, and captured Fort George. Queenston and the Niagara
area fell to the Americans. Men of military age were sent as prisoners to the
U.S., though the still-recuperating James Secord was not among them. That June,
a number of U.S. soldiers were billeted at the Secords' home.”
Photo by uppercanadahistory.ca
It seems entirely logical that in this close, daily proximity, Laura
overheard a private conversation and felt compelled to report it. With her
husband too injured to make the trek, Laura undertook the mission herself to
warn FitzGibbon by
“taking a circuitous route through inhospitable terrain
to avoid American sentries and being helped by a group of First Nations men
she encountered along the way. She reached FitzGibbon at his headquarters in
the house of John De Cou, probably on 22 or 23 June. On 24 June 1813, American
troops under Colonel Charles Boerstler were ambushed near Beaver Dams by 300
Caughnawaga who were joined by 100 Mohawk warriors led by Captain William
Kerr. FitzGibbon arrived with 50 soldiers from the 49th Regiment and persuaded
Boerstler to surrender. The official reports of the victory made no mention of
Laura Secord.”To be factual here, the exact details of this incident are uncertain,
nor did Laura ever reveal how she learned of the planned attack, but certainly
there was opportunity with soldiers billeted in her home. However, it has been
confirmed she did take a message to FitzGibbon. It’s just not clear who arrived
first with the information: Secord or Mohawk scouts? Photo courtesy of amazon.com
Over the years, as Laura aged, her own accounts to her children and
grandchildren of her “walk in the wilderness” varied, adding further blurring
of the facts. A theory is also presented that Laura Secord’s name was deliberately
not revealed in order to protect her family and/or the indiscreet American soldier
who was overheard. After all, their Queenston home had been fired upon and
looted during the battle at Queenston Heights a few months earlier. (The Secord
home was restored and reoccupied by the Secords). To the present day, the home still
stands in Queenston, fully restored, and is now a museum and gift shop operated
by the Niagara Parks Commission. Another attraction in Queenston is The Laura Secord Legacy Trail, which covers the 32- kilometer route she undertook to
deliver her message to Lt. FitzGibbon.
Laura Secord’s application to the government for a pension
in 1820 was denied. However, her second petition was granted in 1827 when FitzGibbon
testified that on June 22nd, 1813 Mrs. Secord had given him information
of an American attack that caused him to “position Aboriginal warriors to
intercept the Americans.”
While visiting in Canada in 1860, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the
future Edward VII), learned of Laura Secord’s part in the War of 1812. Veterans
of the war had prepared a memorial that described their service. Laura’s
signature was included in the address to the Prince. He later sent her a reward of £100, (equivalent to $9,462 in 2019—a considerable sum in those times.
Laura Secord has been historically made part of “Canadian mythology
and employed to foster Canadian nationalism. Secord has been memorialized in
books, plays, music and even a postage stamp. Historian Pierre Berton asserted
that her story would be "used to underline the growing myth that the War
of 1812 was won by true-blue Canadians.”
James
Secord died of a stroke on 22 February 1841. With his death, his war
pension ended, leaving Laura destitute. She was unable to profitably maintain
her land and was forced to sell much of it to exist.
Laura
Secord died in Chippawa, Ontario (Niagara Falls) on 17 October 1868 at the age
of 93. She was interred next to her husband in the Drummond Hill Cemetery
in Niagara Falls. Her grave is marked by a monument with a bust on top. The inscription on
her grave marker reads:
“To perpetuate the name and fame of
Laura Secord, who walked alone nearly 20 miles by a circuitous difficult and
perilous route, through woods and swamps and over miry roads to warn a British
outpost at DeCew's Falls of an intended attack and thereby enabled Lt. FitzGibbon
on 24 June 1813, with fewer than 50 men of the H.M. 49th Regt., about 15
militiamen and a small force of Six Nations and other Indians under Capt. William
Johnson Kerr and Dominique Ducharme to surprise and attack the enemy at
Beechwoods (or Beaver Dams) and after a short engagement, to capture Col.
Bosler of the U.S. Army and his entire force of 542 men with two field pieces.”
It's been so much fun reading about this brave woman that it's been hard to curtail this. I encourage you to do a Google search and learn more than I was able to share here.
www.elizabethclements.com
