The
whirr of machinery in the four hundred and more factories of Hamilton has given
place, in a measure, a part of this week to the tramp of armed men, for the
city has been turned over to the boys in red and khaki, and the colonel
commanding the Royal Thirteenth Regiment has been literally the commandant of
this military post. Fifty years ago the Thirteenth was organized into a
battalion, the three volunteer companies of the old Rifle Battalion being the nucleus.
History tells us that the war with Russia caused a revival of military spirit
in Canada, and that in the year 1855, parliament passed an act to regulate the
militia by which the enrollment of volunteers as active militia was authorized.
The law provided that “the active militia shall consist of volunteer troops of
cavalry, field batteries and foot companies of artillery and companies of
infantry armed as riflemen, but not exceeding in the whole sixteen troops of
cavalry, seven field batteries of artillery, five foot companies of riflemen,
not to exceed five thousand men.” This act came into force on July 1, 1855, and
was to continue in operation “for three years, and from thence until the end of
the next ensuing session of parliament of the province and no longer, provided
that if, at the time when this act would otherwise expire, there should happen
to be a war between Her Majesty and the United States of America, then this act
shall continue in force until the end of the session of the provincial parliament
next after the proclamation of peace between Her Majesty and the United
States.” Prior to 1855, there was in vogue the annual muster and inspection of
county militia, when the whole male population of Canada between the ages of 18
and 45 years had to go through the farce of drilling one or two days in the
year, and when the men who held commissions in the militia pranced around on
farm horses, the officers being arrayed in all the panoply of glorious war. The
new act knocked out this annual muster, much to the disgust of the colonels and
captains.
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Hamilton was one of the first towns in Canada
to avail itself of the new act, and before the end of the year 1855, two rifle
companies and a field battery were organized, and in the early part of 1856, a
Highland company was added, which uniformed at the expense of Lieutenant James
A. Skinner, who afterward was commissioned as captain, and later as
lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth. It will be of interest in this brief
sketch to give the active force in Hamilton, in 1857, which was under the
command of Major Booker.
Field Battery – Alfred Booker, major; W. H.
Glassco, captain; J. Harris, first lieutenant; J. P. Gibbs, first lieutenant;
W. J. Copp, second lieutenant; H. J. Ridley, surgeon.
First Rifle Company – Thomas Gray, captain;
Thomas Bain; lieutenant; George James, ensign.
Second Rifle Company – W. R. Macdonald,
captain; T. Samuel, lieutenant.
Highlanders – J. F. McCuaig, captain; J.
Munro, lieutenant; James A. Skinner, ensign.
Cavalry – G. M. Ryckman, captain, Harcourt B.
Bull, lieutenant; H. J. Lary, cornet; W. Applegarth, cornet; H. S. Strathy,
cornet and adjutant; A. Alloway, veterinary surgeon.
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Evidently the government did not suspect that
there was any real danger of Canada being invaded by their Yankee cousins, for
only 5,000 troops, of all branches of the service, were provided for in the act
of 1855. Indeed, the old stagers in Hamilton in those days never dreamt of war
till the recruiting officers paraded the streets in 1855 drumming up recruits
for the One Hundredth regiment toward the close of the Russian war. Few of the
Hamilton boys who then enlisted ever got to the front to take a shot at the
Russian bear, for peace was declared before they could get into active service.
One or two of those boys came back home and settled down to the pursuits of
peaceful life. The act of 1855 was a starter toward military glory. In the
earlier days in Canada many of the settlers were soldiers who had served in the
British army in this country, and after discharge made their home here with
their families. Sixty and seventy years ago, this was no uncommon occurrence,
and today if you trace back the family histories one is sure to find that the
fathers or grandfathers served in the British army. The volunteer army in
Canada has been a good training school for the young fellows, teaching them
discipline and manly bearing. One can always detect in a moment a man in the
street who has had military training for he walks with head erect; and let a
band strike up in the streets and the same man will catch step with the tap of
the drum. It was this early volunteer force in Canada that furnished the
greater part of the young men who crossed over into the United States in the
early sixties and became part of the 60,000 Canadians who served in the
northern army in the civil war. Hamilton furnished three colonels to the
northern army, and a score of captains, lieutenants, sergeants and corporals,
many of them having served a military apprenticeship in the companies of
Canadian volunteers.
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In 1859, another
militia act provided for the organization of battalions of infantry and rifles
where practical. On December 13, 1862, a general order was published
authorizing the formation of a battalion of infantry in Hamilton, designated as
the Thirteenth. The old rifle companies and the Highlanders were incorporated
in the new regiment, the companies being commanded by captains James Edwin
O’Reilly, Stephen T. Cattley and Captain Skinner. Four new companies were
organized with Captains John Brown, George Herve Mingaye, Donald McInness and
Thomas Bell as their commanders. On the regimental organized being perfected,
the Hon. Isaac Buchanan , then head of one of the leading mercantile house in
Canada, was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel, and Captains Skinner and
O’Reilly were prompted to be majors. The recruiting officers found no
difficulty in filling the ranks of the companies to the maximum strength, and
two new companies were added, under command of Captain John M. McKeown and
Captain Robert Law, bringing the battalion up to the required standard of nine
companies. A large drill hall was then the one thing needful, and to build one
$4,000 was raised by public subscription. It was completed on the 4th
of June 1863, and opened by battalion parade. On the 1st of
September 1863, the battalion was presented with a stand of colors by Mrs.
Buchanan, the wife of the colonel commanding. The colors were received in the
name of the battalion by Major Skinner, and Ensigns Watson and Buchanan were
detailed as color-bearers. The colors were consecrated by Rev. J. Gamble
Geddes, the rector of Christ church.
In December, 1864, Colonel
Buchanan tendered his resignation as commander of the regiment, and a month
later he was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Booker, who had been
commander of the Hamilton Field battery.. At the close of the civil war in the
United States, there were thousands of restless men who had served in both the
federal and confederate armies who could not settle down to a workaday life, after
the stirring times of camp life for
three years. Rumors prevailed of formidable preparations by a so-called Fenian
army for an invasion of Canada. Public meetings were held in the border towns
of the United States and fiery speeches made by Irish orators calling upon
Irishmen and their sons to strike a blow for Irish freedom from what they
called British tyranny. At this late date it is rather amusing to think that
here in Canada, the home of thousands of prosperous Irishmen, the leaders were
foolish enough to believe that all they had to do was cross the river into
Canada, and they would be received with open arms by their countrymen. In
April, 1865, the government authorized the formation of three administrative
battalions for frontier service. Colonel Booker was appointed to the command of
the second of these battalions with headquarters at Niagara, and he appointed
Captain Henry Erskine Irving to be adjutant. A company of volunteers from the
Thirteenth was enlisted, officered by Captain Cattley, Lieut. Watson and Ensign
Jameison and sent to Prescott, where it remained in garrison till November.
Another company was recruited by Captain Irving, with Ensigns Grant and Hebden
as his subalterns, and was stationed at Windsor. On the 7th of
March, 1866, the government issued a call for 10,000 volunteers and the entire
Thirteenth battalion was included in this force, but permitted to remain at its
headquarters performing daily drills and mounting guard at the drill shed,
artillery gun shed, and the Mountain View hotel, ready at any moment to be
forwarded to the frontier.
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The Fenians were becoming
quite active in many of the northern states, and especially in Buffalo were
they quite numerous. On the evening of the31st of May, it was rumored that
O’Neill and a force of 800 men was crossing the Niagara river at Fort Erie, and
on the same evening orders had been issued at Hamilton and Toronto to assemble
the organized battalions in both cities and be prepared to proceed to the
frontier. The Queen’s Own, from Toronto, and the Forty-seventh regiment and a
battery of the Royal Artillery crossed the lake from Toronto by steamboat to
Port Dalhousie, and the Thirteenth were sent by rail to Dunnvilee, by way of
Paris, arriving at Dunnville in the afternoon. There the Thirteenth were joined
by other companies, and that evening went on to Port Colbourne. On the morning
of the second of June, the Thirteenth and the Queen’s Own found the Fenian army
encamped within three miles of Ridgeway and the first shot of the war was fired
by the Queen’s Own. Here the boys of the Thirteenth received their first
baptism of blood. None were killed, but one officer and six men were wounded.
Lieut. Percy Gore Routh, and Privates Edwin Hilder, S. Dallas, J. G. Powell,
James Stuart, Richard Pentecost, George McKenzie and John Donnelly were carried
from the field wounded. Privates James S. Greenhill and Joseph Simpson were
taken prisoner by the Fenians. Privates James Cahill, W. B. Nicolls, Crossman,
Henderson, Mason, Urquhart and Irvine were prostrated by sunstroke in the heat
of battle, and were transferred to the hospital at Port Colbourne. Later,
Privates Cahill, Laker and Morrison died of disease contracted during that
memorable campaign. The Thirteenth remained quartered at Port Colbourne till
the 20th of June.
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Our old friend, John
McArthur, a veteran of Ridgeway, who answered the last roll-call a few months
ago, used to tell a good story about Billy MacDonald and Dick Henry, when they
were pumping lead into the Fenian ranks on that memorable June morning. The
Fenians were doing a little shooting, too, and it was becoming rather warm. Dick
Henry sought the shelter of a lonely tree standing nearby. Now, that tree was
not of a large circumference, neither was Dick, so the tree and Dick suited
each other. Billy Macdonald was but little more than a boy then, having just
graduated from a bugler to be a corporal wit a musket in the rear rank. Seeing
the protection that Dick was getting from that solitary tree, Billy hiked
toward it and tried to close in close to Dick. Now, at home, Dick was noted for
his attendance at Sunday school and was a good boy generally, but Billy’s
butting-in was too much for him, and the language he uttered was even more
forcible than that attributed to our good mayor on a recent occasion, when he
said, “It was a damnable, sir!” However, as Billy and Dick returned from the
war without having to be carried home in an ambulance, the inference is fair
that that lonely tree at Ridgeway saved both their lives.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since the memorable year of
1866, the Thirteenth has continued an organization of which Hamilton is justly
proud, and as the old boys meet now to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary and
recall the days that are past, they will miss from their ranks scores of the
brave boys who marched forth on that June morning to offer their lives in
defense of home and country’s flag.
“We’re tenting
tonight on the old camp ground,
Give us a song to cheer,
Our weary hearts – a song of home
And friends we love so dear.
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