Toronto Reference Library, T-16944 and T-16948.
The following month, matters started to heat up once again once the official declaration of the ending of the armistice took effect on September 4, 1812.
THE BATTLE OF MATILDA,
SEPTEMBER 16, 1812
On September 16, a flotilla of thirty-three heavily laden bateaux and boats were in the process of sailing for Kingston with a cargo of supplies and passengers, composed principally of the dependents of men from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who had been previously dispatched to Kingston. They had almost reached Prescott when an attempt was made by the Americans to capture the vessels. Led by a strong detachment of troops,*[4] the Americans landed on the small mid-river Toussaint Island,(near present-day Cardinal) after dark on the 15th and took the resident Toussaint family prisoner. They then set up their ambush positions on land, while the boats remained hidden, ready to strike once the trap had been sprung.
The Battle of Matilda (September 16, 1812).
At dawn the following morning, the British flotilla was approaching the position but received a timely warning from Mr. Toussaint, who had escaped to his canoe and, while under fire from the Americans, paddled downriver to deliver his warning.
In response, the flotilla immediately changed course and headed toward the small island of Presqu’ile, to the north of Toussaint Island, only to come under a heavy fire from the Americans. Interestingly, a passenger aboard the British boats, Patrick Finan (the son of the Royal Newfoundland’s regimental quartermaster), documented this event, showing that even in the midst of combat and the face of death, humour can sometimes be found:
We had proceeded up the river … when within a short distance of a narrow passage between an island and the mainland through which we must pass, one of the Captains of the regiment, who was in the foremost batteau, imagined he saw something like a Durham boat … this being a rather suspicious circumstance, he ordered the men to cease from rowing….While waiting for the other bateaux to come up, a Canadian was observed in a canoe … paddling with all his might and crying to us that there were Americans on the island. This confirmed the suspicions; and the boats were ordered to the shore … but when about twenty yards from the edge of the water, the boats grounded and could be brought no nearer….
The balls were flying about us, perforating the sides of the boats, dropping into the water in every direction and threatening immediate destruction to all on board, great confusion prevailed; and as soon as it was observed that the boats could not advance to the shore, our only alternative was to leap into the water and make the best of our way to it…. As our boat was at the upper end of the division, I had a full view of the whole detachment;
… men, women, and children … some up to their knees in water, some driving it before them like ships in full sail; others dashing in and making it fly about them on all sides; women screaming, children bawling, officers commanding; but all endeavouring to get out of the reach of the shot as fast as possible….
There was … a lady, wife of an officer in Kingston … and as she had been in a delicate state of health for some time [translation: approaching the end of her pregnancy] she was unwilling, notwithstanding the imminent danger that surrounded her, to venture into the water if she could possibly avoid it. While hesitating, an officer in the next boat, observing her situation, came to her and requested her to get on his back, in order that he might carry her to the land, which she gladly consented to.
They were both particularly stout, bulky people; and they had not proceeded far until the officer, owing to his heavy burden, sank so deep in the soft mud, that he actually stuck fast, and could not move a step father….[5]
Unable to extricate himself, the officer was forced to apologetically notify his passenger that he had no option but to ask her to step down, which she reluctantly did. Patrick Finian continued:
If the reader can fancy to himself a great fat fellow, in a long red coat and cocked hat, up to his knees in water and leading by the hand, very cordially, but in a great hurry, as fat a lady with flowing garments … sometimes moving on pretty well, at others rather puzzled to get their feet extricated from the mud, and all the while in terrible dread of being shot….[6]
Fortunately the duo, and the remainder of the passengers, all reached land safely. However, during the confusion of this impromptu landing, the American gunboat joined the engagement, firing roundshot and grape toward the troops and civilians alike as they scrambled off the beach and sought cover amongst the island’s trees.
After some ineffectual exchanges of fire between the two islands, the Americans attempted to outflank the British position by sending over the gunboats loaded with a detachment of twenty men led by Lieutenant Goss. In response, Lieutenant Duncan Clark (1st Dundas Militia) led a similar detachment across the island and
immediately fired on them with such effect that they retreated back to Tusaut’s island, a distance of about 100 yards, where they landed and took shelter in the woods, with the loss of one of their boats … which was taken possession of after drifting down the river by a party of the militia….[7]
Neither side could effectively outmanoeuvre or attack the other, and thus the two groups remained in stalemate on the two islands, exchanging shots as targets of opportunity occurred. At the same time, increasing numbers of detachments from the alerted Canadian Militia on the north bank of the river were arriving, increasing the British firing lines:
Captain Ault and Lieutenant Dorin were soon on the field of action with the remainder of the Company, as well as Captain Shaw with the men of the neighbourhood and in a short time, the people of Matilda and many from Williamsburg assembled on Presq’uile Island with Colonel MacDonell commanding the Dundas Militia at the time.
Such was the anxiety of the people to meet their old enemy, the Rebels of “76” that aged … veterans who had served under Sir William and Sir Johnson were foremost in the fight….[8]
This force was further enhanced by the arrival of two companies of the 1st Grenville Militia (Captains Hugh Munroe and Philip Dulmage) as well as a 9-pounder cannon under Lieutenant Richard Fraser (2nd Grenville), “whose well directed shots, together with the fire of musketry kept up by the Dundas Militia, compelled the Americans to retire from their position on Tusait’s Island and make a precipitate retreat to their own side of the St. Lawrence….”[9]
Faced with the prospect of fighting around newly arrived 300 militia infantry, plus artillery, as well as the original detachments from the boats, the Americans quickly broke off the engagement and used their gunboat and surviving Durham boat to ferry their troops back to their own side of the river. No clear account or record of the casualties from this engagement is known to exist, but it appears to have been less than half a dozen killed and wounded for either side.
The final event during the month took place on September 21, when party of around ninety-five U.S. troops, drawn from the First U.S. Rifle Regiment (led by Captain Benjamin Forsyth) and supported by a detachment of around thirty-four volunteer militia (under Captain Samuel McNitt), made a sortie on Gananoque, just to the east of Kingston. Sailing up from Sackets Harbor, the American’s were detected by militia cavalry pickets as they landed around two miles (3.2 kilometres) from the village. Upon their arrival, the Americans