War on the River

Timeline

1. 12 July 1812 Hull invades. U.S. General William Hull crosses the river and occupies the unfinished Baby house at Sandwich. Sources: City of Windsor · City of Windsor
2. 16 August 1812 Detroit taken. British forces under Isaac Brock and Indigenous allies under Tecumseh capture Detroit. Sources: City of Windsor · Canadian Encyclopedia
3. 5 October 1813 The Thames. Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of the Thames, near Moraviantown. Oshawana of Bkejwanong fought beside him. Sources: Canadian War Museum · Art Canada Institute
4. 4 December 1838 The Battle of Windsor. A Patriot raid from Michigan is routed in the Baby orchard, the last of the 1838 raids. Sources: Veterans Affairs Canada · City of Windsor

Navy Yard, plaques and the island

Amherstburg and River Canard place roots from the second deep dive. Matthew Elliott remains on hold because the Ontario Heritage Trust removed his provincial plaque in 2022 and will not replace it. That card needs a separate OK on framing.

Amherstburg Navy Yard National Historic Site

British naval yard on Lakes Erie and Huron, 1796 to 1813 Designated 1928

A National Historic Site for the British naval yard that served the upper lakes until 1813. Parks Canada and the Canadian Register record the designation. The photograph is King's Navy Yard Park on the Amherstburg waterfront today, not a period dockyard view.

Sources: Canadian Register of Historic Places, Amherstburg Navy Yard · Parks Canada Directory of Federal Heritage Designations

Belle Vue National Historic Site

525 Dalhousie Street, Amherstburg; built 1816 to 1819 Designated 1959

A Palladian-style brick house built for Robert Reynolds and designated a National Historic Site in 1959. The photograph is the house itself, still standing, with boarded windows as it appeared when photographed for Commons. This is an Amherstburg place root, not a French Shore 1701 to 1796 story, so it sits here with the other Amherstburg wartime and shoreline sites.

Sources: Parks Canada: Belle Vue NHS · Canadian Register of Historic Places

The Philo Parsons incident

Lake Erie, 1864; Amherstburg plaque American Civil War on the lakes

A Confederate plot seized the steamer Philo Parsons on Lake Erie in 1864, with a shoreline tie that Amherstburg marks by plaque. The drawing is the ship, not the plaque (a plaque photograph was not taken tonight).

Sources: Town of Amherstburg historic plaques · Ontario plaques directory (events)

Lt.-Col. William Caldwell

British officer and Indian Department official near Amherstburg War of 1812

A British officer and Indian Department official based near Amherstburg, with a Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry and a Veterans Affairs memorial plaque. The Nations context should be read with the DCB, not as a simple hero card. A modern U.S. general of a similar name was rejected as a photo match.

Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography · Veterans Affairs Canada

River Canard Bridge skirmishes

War of 1812 fighting at River Canard OHT plaque, with a 2025 bridge-plaque note

War of 1812 fighting at River Canard, marked by an Ontario Heritage Trust plaque. A newer River Canard Bridge plaque has also been noted by the Trust. The photograph is the community today, with the River Canard sign, not the 1812 battlefield itself.

Sources: Ontario Heritage Trust background paper · Ontario Heritage Trust news release

Bois Blanc Island blockhouses

War of 1812-era blockhouses on Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) Island Military end of the island

Period blockhouses on Bois Blanc Island, later better known for the Bob-Lo amusement park. This card keeps the military blockhouse angle; the amusement-park story is already in other Lost Windsor and river research and is not retold here. The photograph is a surviving blockhouse.

Sources: Town of Amherstburg historic plaques · Windsor Public Library, Bob-Lo Island

People to know

John Richardson

Born 4 October 1796 at Niagara; youth on the Detroit River; author of Wacousta War on the River

Born at Fort George or nearby Queenston, not in Windsor. He spent his youth on the Detroit River, including his adolescent years in Amherstburg, and time with his Askin grandparents after they moved to Sandwich in 1802. In 1812, at 16, he joined the 41st Foot as a volunteer and was present at the capture of Detroit. He was taken prisoner at Moraviantown in 1813. He later wrote Wacousta (1832) and The War of 1812 (1842). He died in New York on 12 May 1852. The portrait is also on Windsor War Chest. Tie: raised on the Detroit River, including Sandwich and Amherstburg; 1812 service at Detroit. He was not Windsor-born.

Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography · War Chest chronology

John Prince

Settled Sandwich 1833; Essex politician and militia officer Patriot crises 1838

English-born lawyer who settled at Sandwich in 1833. He sat for Essex and helped capture the Patriot schooner Anne on 9 January 1838, and served at Fighting Island and Pelee Island. Windsor War Chest already tells this story in its chronology; this card brings him onto Rose City Roots with a cross-link. Tie: settled Sandwich; Essex militia and politics.

Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography · Windsor War Chest chronology

Arthur Rankin

Born Montreal, 1816; died Windsor, 13 March 1893; Essex MLA and 1838 militia officer City Hall / War on the River

He qualified as a surveyor in 1837 and began practice in the Windsor area. During the Patriot attack on Windsor in December 1838 he helped lead the counter-attack and captured the Patriot standard. He later sat for Essex in the legislature (1854 to 1857, and again 1863 to 1867, with interruptions) and was a long-time rival of John Prince. He was a contentious public figure: a railway-charter inquiry in 1857 damaged him, and in 1861 a brief United States commission led to a Foreign Enlistment Act arrest in Toronto; he was not convicted. He died in Windsor. The SWODA label that has him born in 1824 is wrong; the Dictionary of Canadian Biography gives 1816 in Montreal. Tie: practised, fought, campaigned and died here.

Sources: Dictionary of Canadian Biography · Frederick Neal, 1909, page 70 (SWODA, public domain)

Frederick A. Tilston, VC

Essex Scottish Regiment; Victoria Cross, Hochwald, 1 March 1945 Cross-link to War Chest

Born in Toronto on 11 June 1906. He earned the Victoria Cross with the Essex Scottish. Windsor's Tilston Armoury carries his name. The full story and investiture photograph live on Windsor War Chest; Rose City Roots points readers there rather than duplicating the chapter. Tie: Essex Scottish / Windsor armoury name.

Sources: War Chest: Tilston · National Defence VC page · Veterans Affairs Canada

Hull's Landing, 1812

Pictures

Sources: City of Windsor, Tecumseh Brock Monument · Veterans Affairs Canada, Tecumseh and Brock Monument

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