Canada Under Attack (15 page)

By 1814, when the final battle of the war was fought on American soil, near the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, the terms of peace had already been brokered. The war ended with the border much as it had always been. Farmers, merchants, and tradesmen from both countries once again crossed freely to conduct their business. But within Canada, much had changed. For the first time, the country and its people — Native, French, and English — had united against a common enemy and together they had halted a seemingly unstoppable invasion.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
REBELS IN CANADA

With the Americans threat contained, at least for the moment, the Canadian colonies were faced with a new threat. This one was not launched from foreign soil but rose from the centre of the Canadian colonies, fuelled by conflicts of race, economics, and class.

In early November 1837, the threat exploded into war.

The men had waited in silence for hours. The sudden peel of the church bells struck terror in the hearts of some, elation in others. Finally, the English had come for them. The words of their
Patriote
leader, Dr. Wolfred Nelson, an Englishmen who had married a French woman and adopted their cause as his own, rang in their ears, drowning out even the steady clang of the bells. “
It is your lives they seek;
sell them as dearly as you can. Stay steady, don't drop your powder and attend to your
duty — self-preservation
.”

When the first musket fired, it was clear to both the French and English that there could be no turning back. Civil war had begun.

They may not have wanted to become the 14th colony, but that did not mean that Canadians were entirely happy with their government. Upper Canada was controlled by a small, wealthy group known as the Family Compact. In Lower Canada a similar group of elites known as the Château Clique were in control. Resentment simmered as the farmers and soldiers who had fought to protect Canada did not have much say in how they were governed and how their taxes were spent.

Things had started slowly and with little evidence of the violent turn that things were about to take. A tidal wave of revolutions had swept through Europe and one by one the established governments of France, Greece, Belgium, and Poland had fallen; but very little had changed for the residents of Lower Canada. They were still ruled by Britain, which was also the major market for their goods and the source of most of the goods they purchased.

But events soon conspired to change that relationship. Resentment simmered against the ruling elite, most of whom were English. During an election riot in 1832, three Frenchmen were shot and killed by British troops. The repeal of the Corn Laws meant that the Canadians no longer received preferential treatment for their imports or exports. In fact, much of the market in Britain had disappeared. A severe drought added to the misery of the farmers of Lower Canada and they were soon on the verge of starvation. Many lost their farms only to see them bought by new English immigrants, lured by a hierarchy eager to increase the English population of the colony. Worse, the new settlers brought cholera with them and it quickly spread to an already weakened rural French population.

The
Patriotes
, who dominated the Lower Canadian Assembly, adopted a list of 92 Resolutions designed to limit the powers of the unelected, predominantly English upper house, and forwarded it to Britain. For three years the resolutions were ignored by the British. In frustration, the
Patriotes
refused to vote for any money to go toward government supplies and wages, effectively paralyzing the government. Finally, word reached the colonies that the British had rejected the resolutions and instead had adopted 10 separate resolutions, none of which served to change the power structure in Lower Canada. Protests broke out across Lower Canada. Numerous public demonstrations were held, many openly calling for the French to defy their English rulers.

On October 31, 1837, over 5,000 Canadians gathered in Saint-Charles, where Louis-Joseph Papineau called on them to ignore the British resolutions and elect their own governments, judges, and militia officers,

The long and heavy chain of abuses and oppressions under which we suffer, and to which every year has only added a more galling link, proves that our history is but a recapitulation of what other Colonies have endured before us. Our grievances are but a second edition of their grievances. Our petitions for relief are the same. Like theirs, they have been treated with scorn and contempt, and have brought down upon the petitioners but additional outrage and persecution. Thus the experience of the past demonstrates the folly of expecting justice from European authorities.
¹

But others, including Dr. Wolfred Nelson, called for a more violent response. Addressing thousands of supporters he suggested the time for talk had gone, “The time has come,” he said, “to melt down our tin spoons and tin plates and forge them into bullets.”
²

The establishment, including the English merchants and the French Bishop of Montreal, listened in horror. The call to arms brought to mind the bloody horror of the French Revolution. In Montreal, frustrated by a government seemingly held hostage by a small group of disgruntled Frenchmen, the English Doric Club members attacked several newspaper offices and ransacked the home of one of the
Patriote
leaders. In response, the
Patriotes
flew into action. Across Quebec they disarmed government supporters, intimidated judges, and attempted to force the local militias to stay neutral in the conflict to come. Revolution, it seemed, was inevitable.

The government response was swift. A list of
Patriotes
was drawn up and troops were dispatched to arrest them and bring them to Montreal for trial. Papineau was warned in time, but many others were not so fortunate. As Papineau fled to the United States, one group of arrested men was rescued by their fellow
Patriotes
, who attacked the convoy of soldiers bringing them in. Within Montreal companies of loyal militia were raised, primarily from amongst the English population, which at that time numbered half the city's population. This freed the army to meet the rebels who were already massing at Saint-Charles. One troop of 300 soldiers departed from Montreal under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Stephen Gore, determined to head off the rebels.

They marched through the cold, wet snow of a late November storm that turned parts of the road into a pit of mud. As they marched they grew more tired, cold, and hungry. When they reached the village of Saint-Denis on November 23, 1837, they encountered a group of 800 rebels under the command of Dr. Wolfred Nelson. “At long last they came in sight of the place where they would breakfast and where they did breakfast on Powder and ball,”
³
wrote George Nelson. From their barricaded positions on the top floors of the village houses, the poorly armed rebels were able to hit the advancing British troops with deadly accuracy. The peaceful village had been turned into bedlam itself. The church bells rang incessantly, villagers scurried to find shelter, and
Patriote
sympathizers from neighbouring villages streamed in, pitchforks and ancient muskets in hand. The British sank back and loaded their big guns, but even at that great a range, the snipers were able to pick off the gunners while the great guns themselves did scant damage. They were able to take a few houses, but after a pitched battle of over six hours that resulted in British casualties but no discernible movement in position, the British commander ordered a retreat, leaving the cannon behind in their hurry.

The
Patriotes
did not have much time to celebrate their victory. Two days later, on November 25, they were engaged at Saint-Charles under the command of Thomas Storrow Brown. That time the attacking British force was well rested and well-fed. Above all, they were experienced, battle-hardened troops in contrast to the
Patriotes
, who, regardless of their leaders' best attempts, remained an inexperienced, disorganized group. Despite the arrival of over 2,000
Patriotes
before the British flags were seen on the horizon, fewer than 300 would stay to defend the village. The rest fled once they'd seen the shells from the British cannons levelling the village. There would be no British retreat. The barrage of cannon fire was quickly followed up by a British advance and several rounds of musket fire. Then the order came to fix bayonets. The
Patriotes
, with their ancient muskets and too few bayonets, were at a disadvantage.

In the confusion, a small group of
Patriotes
made the pretence of surrendering and then took direct aim at their captors, killing several. The British, outraged at this breech of military etiquette, retaliated by bayoneting large numbers of
Patriotes
and then looting and burning the village. By the time the fog of musket fire had cleared, 150
Patriotes
lay dead on the streets of Saint-Charles. The British had suffered a mere three dead and 18 wounded. After the smoke had cleared and the guns had ceased their horrifying tattoo, families arrived to claim their loved ones on the battlefield. Among them were two young girls. They approached a soldier, Captain George Bell, who was standing guard and asked him to help them find their father. They searched among the tangled web of bodies until they found him. Bell recalled that it was a horrible sight; the man's head had been shattered by a musket ball, his body frozen stiff. The girls had brought a sleigh with them and Bell helped them carry their father's body to it and gently covered him as if to ward off the winter cold. The faces of the girls would haunt Bell for the rest of his life, the one unable to shed a tear, betraying none of the emotion she surely felt, and the other, so overcome with grief that she staggered to the sleigh.
⁴

The battle of Saint-Charles turned the tide in favour of the British. Prisoners were marched to Montreal in chains, where they were paraded through the streets like trophies. The only disappointment for the British was that the rebel leaders had managed to escape. With the southeastern half of Quebec was secure, the British turned their attention to the area north of Montreal, much of which was still in the hands of the
Patriotes
. Two hundred of them had gathered at the village of Saint-Eustache. Many lacked weapons and when they asked for some so that they might defend themselves, their pragmatic leader, Dr. Jean-Olivier Chénier, replied, “Relax, some will be killed and you will take their muskets.”
⁵
On December 15, Lieutenant-Governor John Colborne ordered his men to surround the village and his artillery to fire on its centre. Then, slowly and methodically the soldiers moved in, vice-like, their muskets blazing, to confront the rebels. They took most of the major buildings, leaving just the church in which the
Patriotes
tried to find refuge. An attempt to take the church was thwarted by
Patriotes
who had taken up position on the church's balcony. Instead, the British soldiers set fire to the church and as the
Patriotes
jumped from the windows to escape the flames they were cut down by British soldiers. Captain George Bell recorded the incident in his journal,

[T]he priest's house they kept up a brisk fire upon our men. The guns came up to a corner of the main street, and riddled the church door. The Royals then were ordered to storm it (the rectory), which they did in most gallant style, firing the adjoining house, which burned out the rebels there. Under the great column of smoke that issued from this building, many of the enemy escaped from the church, and crossed the river on the ice; but they met the Volunteers who were waiting for them in the wood and were slaughtered. The flames soon communicated to the church. There was but one choice left — to bolt out and be shot, or be burned alive. There was no escape, and they died as they fought, regardless of life. Chenier, the only chief who stood by them to the last, was killed in the churchyard.
⁶

When the battle finally ended more than 70
Patriotes
, including Chénier, lay dead.

But the soldiers were not finished. Together the regulars and volunteers burned down every house in Saint-Eustache that they believed had provided refuge to the rebels. At nightfall they began to loot and pillage the remainder. Even the most battle-hardened soldiers were appalled by some of the cruelty they witnessed, most of which was committed by the volunteers. The volunteers, mostly English, had joined out of loyalty and occasionally fanaticism, and were determined to destroy the French rebels. The regulars were career soldiers who were simply doing their duty. Another group of volunteers arrived the day after Saint-Eustache fell and they amused themselves by looting the neighbouring farms, employing their usual tactic of taking everything they could carry and then making “the men, women and children undress, leaving them virtually naked at the doors of their burning houses.”
⁷

By that time Colborne had taken the village of Saint-Benoît. He had met no resistance but burned the village to the ground anyway. The village of Saint-Hermas was burned later that same day. Throughout the countryside, houses were searched and
Patriote
leaders captured. The rebellion in Lower Canada seemed to be over.