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
An officer who fell on the firing line during the final stage of the
battle was taken prisoner by the Fenians. When asked by the officer in
command of the enemy what troops confronted them, and being told they
were Canadian volunteers, he would hardly believe it. Their Adjutant
said that during his experience in the Civil War he had never seen
troops extending in such order and steadiness as our men did that
morning. He was under the impression that they were British regulars.
PUBLIC FUNERALS FOR THE DEAD.
On Tuesday afternoon, June 5th, the bodies of Ensign McEachren, Corporal
Defries and Privates Smith, Alderson and Tempest were interred in St,
James' Cemetery, Toronto, with full military honors. It was a public
funeral, and one of the most solemn and imposing _corteges_ that ever
passed through the streets of Toronto. The bodies of the five dead
heroes were placed upon a catafalque which had been specially prepared
to convey the remains to their last resting places, and at 3.50 p.m. the
procession started from the Drill Shed to the Cemetery, preceded by the
Band of the 47th Regiment, playing the Dead March. The Lloydtown Rifle
Company acted as the firing party, and the _cortege_ included all the
military units in the city, besides fraternal societies, the Mayor and
Corporation. Major-Gen. Napier and staff, and citizens on foot and
in carriages. All along the line of march the shops were closed and
buildings draped in mourning. An immense concourse of people lined the
streets, and a general feeling of mournfulness and sadness pervaded the
community as the procession moved slowly on to the solemn strains of the
band and the tolling of all the bells in the city. After the service at
the Cemetery had been concluded, the usual volleys were fired over the
remains by the Lloydtown Rifles, and all that was mortal of those five
heroes who had sacrificed their lives on the field of battle for their
country were laid away to eternal rest.
The body of Malcolm McKenzie was sent to his old home at Woodstock for
burial, and that of Private J. H. Mewburn to Stamford. Both of these
dead soldiers were buried the same day, with full military honors, and
were laid to rest with the deepest reverence by their comrades and the
people of the communities in which they had lived and been honored.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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