Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the CanadasLizars, Robina
History
Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the Canadas
Lizars, Robina
Canada -- History -- Rebellion, 1837-1838
A simultaneous movement was made on him by a party of British soldiers,
and some of the 1st Regiment of American Infantry under Captain Gwynn
of the American army. The men were conveyed in two steamboats, the
_Experiment_ and the _Telegraph_, and in a gunboat under Lieutenant
Leary, R.N., the _Bullfrog_. They found two of the bandits fast asleep
in the cave, but on account of the roughness of the surrounding country
the attack was not well concerted, and the rest of the band, including
Johnston, escaped. A quantity of arms and ammunition was found in the
cave, but a thorough search by the soldiers, eighty in number and
cutlasses in hand, revealed no trace of them.
At another time, General MacNab with some fifty United States soldiers,
cruising about in search of this will-o’-the-wisp, found the home but
its occupant gone. It proved to be a spacious cavern, into which they
penetrated about thirty feet, part natural cavity, part excavated by
labour, fit for dwelling-place for a large body of men, and in the
several rooms which it contained there were signs of recent occupation.
Mr. James, an artillery officer of Ogdensburg, had met with the loss
of a brass six-pounder, pressed into the patriot service during the
excitement of the battle of the Windmill. At the end of that affair,
so disastrous to the sympathisers, Bill Johnston suddenly disappeared
from the streets of Ogdensburg. Not long after this Mr. James’ wife
was doing her marketing as usual, being one of the few ladies who were
not intimidated by the scare at the waterfront. While chatting with
friends whom she met in the course of her morning’s walk, one said, “If
you knew where your husband is you would not be so full of laughter.”
Word had been brought into town that Bill Johnston was in hiding in
the woods near by, and two parties, hurriedly got together, had gone
off in search. One party was composed of Charles T. Burwell and James,
on horseback, the other of United States soldiers who were to meet the
first at a given rendezvous. On arriving at the place the two horsemen
found young Johnston sitting by the shore waiting for his father. After
some resistance young Johnston was taken, his boat seized and the oars
hidden. The capture of the father was not so easy. When he caught sight
of the three he rushed to where he expected to find the boat, warning
the townsmen to keep off. Had he thought of it in time it would have
been like him to exclaim, “A boat! a boat! my kingdom for a boat!” He
had a pistol in each hand, but demurred to use them, as his pursuers
were “fellow-Americans.” After considerable parley, when he realized
that the second party, momentarily expected by boat, would put him
beyond hope, he surrendered. But he stipulated that his son should
receive his arms, he himself to retain _only_ four small pistols and
his bowie knife; he then quietly fell in with James and Burwell for the
return to Ogdensburg. A very short walk brought them to the other party
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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