Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-06-29
''UIeVeIand. and the Past, and Present
InYaSIOnS of CanndR." !"

of the 22j inst. an editorial article unde
the above caption, in which you say
General L. V. Bierce, lawyer Of Akron
Portage county, was the planner of th
disastrous attempt to capture Windsor.
This statement falsi fies the history of tho
transaction entirely; and had you been a
well posted in the acts of that re ebellior
insurreetion, or iHpasioR, whichever 20
please to call it, as person should be VIII
writes history, think you would not hav
made the statement
In the first place did not plan the dis
astrOus attempt to capture Windsor"
was planned by the War Branch or Depart
ment. of what you call the " Central Direc
| torv," of which Hon. A. D. Smith, late Chic
Justice of Wisconsin, was President. l wa
but a 81 bordinate to carry out their orders
and did it, to their entire Satisfaction, as
have official papers to show. I accomplish
ed all, and more than was expected with
| the means at nv control-and, instead o
being " disastrous affair, it was glori
Gus triumph, and brought the British Gov.
ernment to terms.
To understand this fully, it is necessary
to go back one year previous to the affair a
Windsor, and then look at the results OF
that battle. In this way, only, can the
public judge whether it was disastrous
or not
The state of affairs in Canada, previou:
to " the Patriot Var" was that the Tories
and % OraHgemen were the pets CT the Bri-
tish Government, and Z" the Liberals" or
those favoring q free Government, were op-
posed and kept down by the ruling power.
T IL l. l.. !. II
paper in Toronto, began Ia agitate reform
or resistance, and 1897 he had so far sue
eeeded in arousing the public feeling, that
he found himself, within three miles of To-
rontO, at the head of a considerable army.
determined on their rights or a fight.
Instead of granting their rights, Sir Fran
els Bond Head, Governor of Canada, offered
them the gage of battle-the patriots ac-
cepted thought, and were defeated-Mc-
Kenzie escaped but Lount and Matthews,
next to him in command, were captured,
tried for high treason, and executed. Nc
Renzie fled to the United States, was out
lawed, and his property cnnfscated. Doc
tor Nelson, Wolf and Nelson, Gen. Mcleod,
(now of Cleveland) Doctor Charles Dun
comb, Doctor Mckenzie and others, for
their participation in "the rebellion in
1887, were outlawed, their property confis-
Gated, q reward of $4,000 sterling offered
for either of them, and they were COM
PEELED to take refuge in the United States.
Van Rensselaer,, at the head of a body of
troops on Navy Island above Niagara Falls.
was defeated the steamboat Caroline. cap
tured in the United States harbor at Sehlo-
per, was sent over the falls; and every
thing, at the end of 1887, was dark, gloomy
and death-like to the hopes of the Patriots
So far the war had been carried on in the
Upper Province, mostly east of Buffalo and
Fort Erie. In the Lower Province Sir John
Colborn, at the head of the British army,
had overrun those parts " "infested by reb-
els" burnt their buildings, killed their cat
tie and destroyed their property generally.
In the Uiater of 1887 there were I,j00 peo-
people, in Lower Canada, consisting of
men, women and children, wandering in
the woods to avoid the brutal soldiers who
had burnt their houses and destroyed their
property. The war being confined to the
part of Canada east of Fort Erie, enabled
the British to concentrate their forces
there, and it became matter of policy, by
an attack far to the west, to compel them TO
extend their line of defence, or base Of op-
erations-llOt " to capture Windsor" for that
was of no strategic benefit to either party
but TO distract the enenly, and lrcGkeH, By &c
tending, has line.
l was not the planner," but was order
ed to execute the plan, as laid down by the
War Department. Keeping in mind the
condition of Canada, at the time, but let us
now see if the attempt was disastrous"
In the battle Of Windsor, December 4th,
1888, lost Is men killed, and of my oilic-
ers, taken prison ers, were afterwards hung;
and all privates-some ten or dozen-who
were captured were sent to Van Dieman's
IL i
wounded, 90 men.
lost no property, but we took the Brit
ish Government steam boat Thames and
burnt her, in retaliation for the Caroline.
We also took and burnt their barracks in
Windsor, " and made utter desOlation /"
of their camp.
Windsor was ours, but it was no use to
us, and we were unable to hold it; but. to
drive US out, the British had to Withdraw
troops from the east and extend their line
of defence five hundred miles further west.
The British Government, having expend-
ed fl7,OO0,000 sterling, in fighting the
Patriots, and finding them "breaking out"
in some other spot, stopped her
war measures, and, by her conduct, asked
for peace. The Queen issued general AM
nesty to all who had been engaged in the
rebellion-brOught the prisoners home from
Il 9
restored all the property that had been con-
fscated-rsmOved all disabilities from those
for whom, "Gead or aliUe," rewards had been
law to pay the Patriots.
as they was called then, for ell the property
that Sir John COlburn burnt the year be-
fore when they were called "Rebels." A
was erected, in Toronto, to the
memory Of ''the PGtriotS," LOnnts, and Mat
thews, who were executed, in 1887, as trai-
tors, William Lyon Mckenzie, the Mel
ons, and other refugees were invited home,
and became the fsvorites of the government;
the first three became again members of the
Canadian Parliament. These were the re-
suits of that " disastrous attempt TO capture
WindsoT." From that time there was no
more fighting, for there was nothing TO fight
for. The British Government granted more
than the patriots had asked. So angry were
the Tories and OrGngemeH at these conces
- - 49, saHvASySrh sIass Svyr DSI a.
the Parliament House, and themselves be-
came rebels.
Yod may think this sketch is not worth
the paper. 1t may not be; but as you give
my name, I trust you will allow me to cor
rect your inadVertent error. The time for
giving q complete documentary history of
that rebellion has not yet arrived. When
it does arrive I shall be neither afraid nor
of the part took in what you call
a the iLl-fGtea movemeHt against the British
rule in Canada" and " the disastrous attempt
to cGVtltre Windsor" L. V. BIERcE.
Akron, June "a, 1866.