Troublous Times in Canada: A History of the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870 — John Shaqi
Troublous Times in Canada: A History of the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870MacDonald, John A. (John Alexander)
History
Troublous Times in Canada: A History of the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870
MacDonald, John A. (John Alexander)
Canada -- History -- Fenian Invasions, 1866-1870; Fenians
On the evening of the 2nd of June the whole of the Volunteer Force
not already called out or enumerated in the above-mentioned lists, was
placed on active service, and on Sunday, the 3rd of June, the Province
had more than 20,000 men under arms, besides the numerous companies
of Home Guards. The entire force turned out not only willingly, but
eagerly, although at a season of the year when their business interests
suffered greatly by their absence. It was enough for every militia man
to know that the country needed his services, and personal interests
were cheerfully sacrificed. Instances of devotion to Queen and country
were general. Business matters were but a secondary consideration.
Merchants and their clerks left their shops, students their colleges,
professional men their offices, while factories were shut down and
farmers left their ploughs in the furrows to take up their rifles
to assist in the national defence. Those who were obliged by age or
infirmities to stay at home were not idle, but nobly did their part in
raising funds to assist the families of those bread-winners who had gone
to serve on the frontier posts. All over the country large sums were
raised for this purpose, and the patriotic Relief Committees were
exceptionally busy attending to the proper distribution of food and
supplies, both among the volunteers and the needy families who were
depending upon them.
In the order calling out the troops for active service the
Governor-General placed the whole force under the command of Lieut.-Gen.
Sir John Michel, and added:
In former times the Commander-in-Chief has had occasion to call for
the active services of the volunteer force to maintain international
obligations, and as a precaution against threatened action. These
threats have now ripened into actual fact. The soil of Canada has been
invaded, not in the practice of legitimate warfare, but by a lawless and
piratical band in defiance of all moral right, and in utter disregard
of all the obligations which civilization enforces on mankind. Upon
the people of Canada this state of things imposes the duty of defending
their altars, their homes and their property from desecration, pillage
and spoilation. The Commander-in-Chief relies on the courage and loyalty
of the volunteer force and looks with confidence for the blessings of
Providence on their performance of the sacred duty which circumstances
have cast upon them.
MAJOR-GEN. NAPIER'S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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