Narrative of the Fenian invasion of CanadaSomerville, Alexander
History
Narrative of the Fenian invasion of Canada
Somerville, Alexander
Canada -- History -- Fenian Invasions, 1866-1870
The reports telegraphed on the 6th, 7th and 8th were but repetitions
of the foregoing, with additions to the effect that Spears had
crossed near St. Albans; and Heffernan at a point farther west. Then
came detailed accounts of the marching of Volunteers and regulars
from Montreal and elsewhere in the east to confront the invaders in
the counties of Missisquoi and Huntingdon. A Montreal correspondent
wrote of the volunteers thus:
“Frelighsburg, 11th June.—I learned on Sunday afternoon that troops
were to be sent to St. Johns by special train; and managed to
procure permission to come out with them. This was so far towards
the front, and I might either by a team, or another train with
troops for the front reach the Missisquoi frontier. The troops sent
forward were, a part of the force recently garrisoning Cornwall—a
portion of the 25th Regt, under Col. Fane, and the Argenteuil
Rangers under Lieut.-Col. the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott. The 25th men,
Montrealers know. The Argenteuil Rangers—the Gentiles (corruption
of Ar-genteuil) as they are called by their fellow soldiers of
the line. They are a splendid body of men, fine, strapping,
yeomanry—lacking something of the nattiness of dress, and precision
of drill, of their companions in arms; but seeming in every way,
fit for hard fighting when called upon. Some of them were strapping
fellows from 6 to 6½ feet high.
“Altogether, the two corps filled eighteen cars, which were drawn
by two or three engines. Regulars and Volunteers vied with each
other in alacrity to reach the front, and eagerness to meet the
robbers. This campaigning, however, falls with great severity on
those farmers from Argenteuil—many of them having left without
having put in all their crops, and fearing now lest they may reach
home too late to put them in, so as to secure a good crop this
season. The barracks at St. Johns were full of troops—the Artillery
under Col. Pipon, the provisional battalion of Montreal Volunteers
under Capt. Bond, detachments of the R. C. Rifles, and other corps
under Lieut.-Col. Hibbert, and the Chasseurs under Lieut.-Col.
Coursol being all here, and a part of the troops already under
canvass. The 25th and Rangers were compelled therefore to encamp
upon ground somewhat damp after the heavy recent rains, and their
officers could procure no straw for them at the late hour of their
arrival. They had, however, a very fine night, and did not suffer
such discomforts as some of the Volunteers on the Huntingdon
frontier in the midst of rain, &c. I found our Montreal boys
indignant that they had not had a chance at the front.”
To follow the operations on the Missisquoi frontier and elsewhere in
Lower Canada would lead to a narrative for which the present sheets
cannot be prolonged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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