MX'" ' "iJ ' • . "^ih = i
SOLDIERING IN CANADA

SOLDIERINGIN CANADA
Recollections and Experiences
By Lt.-Col. George T. Denison
Late Commanding The Governor-General's Body Guard
Author »/"" Modern CavaJry," "A History of Cavalry," etc.

SECOND EDITION

TORONTO ' GEORGE N. MORANG AND
COMPANY (Limited) • • M D CCCC I

Entered according to Act of Pariiament of Canada, in the year nineteen
hundred, by George N. Morang & Company, Limited, in the Office
of the Minister of Agriculture,

PREFACE

Some years ago, my friend, Mr. James Bain, Libra
rian of the Toronto Public Library, urged me very
strongly to -write my reminiscences. We had been
discussing some point in Canadian political history in
reference to which I happened to have some inside
information. I replied, that I could not publish remin
iscences of that kind ,as the time had not arrived when
it could be done, and I thought no more about it.
In June, 1898, however, I was retired from the com
mand of the Governor-General's Body Guard on
account of reaching the time limit, and my active
connection with the Canadian militia, in which I had
served since my youth, was ended. Then Mr. Bain's
suggestion recurred to my mind, and I decided to
write the recollections of my military career, as a con
tribution to the records of the defensive force of Canada.
In a review of an autobiography, which I read in a
literary paper some years since, the critic said that
reminiscences should be written just in the style in
which a man would tell his recollections to an old
friend while smoking a pipe in front of a fire. I quite
agree with that view, and — although I do not smoke —
I have tried to write the following pages in the spirit

vi SOLDIERING IN CANADA
described by the reviewer. I have written freely and
candidly, and have put down the facts as they were,
leaving them to give the information as to the inside
working of the Canadian Military System in the period
of transition through which it has been passing during
the last forty-five years.
George T. Denison
Heydon Villa, Toronto, luty, igoo

CONTENTS

introductory chapter
PAGE
The Canadian Militia ... j
chapter I
The War of 1812-13-14 - - . - 13

CH.A.PTER II
The Rebellion of 1837.

CHAPTER III
Volunteering, 1839 to 1855 ...... 29
CHAPTER IV
Organization of the Active Force .... 35
CHAPTER V
The Active Force Injured by Parliament - 47

viii SOLDIERINa JN CANADA

CHAPTER VI page
Recollections of Confederate Officers - 5°

CHAPTER VII
The Fenian Raid, 1866 - - - 83
CHAPTER VIII
Outpost Duty on Niagara River "9
CHAPTER IX
Return Home — Recollections of Sir Henry Havelock-
Allan 137
CHAPTER X
Publication of "Modern Cavalry" 153
CHAPTER XI
My Resignation from the Militia - - 170
CHAPTER XII
Niagara Camp, 1872 . . . jg,
CHAPTER XIII
The " History of Cavalry " . . to„

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIV PAGE
Visit to St. Petersburg ....... 202

CHAPTER XV
A Reception at the Winter Palace ..... 216
CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII
Publication of "History of Cavalry" 239
CHAPTER XVIII
Visit to Europe in 1883 246
CHAPTER XIX
Soudan Expedition and the Canadian Voyageurs 255
CHAPTER XX
The Outbreak of the North-West Rebellion, 1885 261
CHAPTER XXI
The North Shore Trip ..... 269
CHAPTER XXII
Winnipeg to Humboldt ....... 280

SOLDIERING IN CANADA

CHAPTER XXIII PAGE
The Battle of Batoche . .... 292

CHAPTER XXIV
Stories of the Camp ... ¦ 3°^
CHAPTER XXV
Return to Winnipeg 320
CHAPTER XXVI
General Middleton - - 330
CHAPTER XXVII
The Jubilee of 1887 - - 342
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Jubilee of 1897 .... - 3^2

illustrations

PAGF

Portrait of the Author Froniisfiece
Map of the Niagara Peninsula - 97
Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, K.P. - 131
Sir Henry Havelock, bart., V.C. 141
Lieut.-Col. Arthur Williams. M.P. - 249
Humboldt, 1885 , 283
Wahisca and His Family 311
Officers of the Governor-General's Body Guard, Hum
boldt, 1885 - - 321

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
The Canadian Militia
Mainstay of Imperial interests in North America — Founded by
U.E. Loyalists — Lady Tennyson' s remark — Militia Act of
1793 — Governor Simcoe — Amendments in the Law of 1808
— Flank Companies organized — Scanty equipment — War of
1813, Calling out of Militia — General Brock's testimony
— Wide-spread ignorance of the Campaign — Victorious
result of the War — Rebellion of 1837 — Sir Francis Head
— Crimean War — The Act of 1855 — Organization of the
Active Force — The Trent affair — Fenian raids — Red
River expedition — Canadian Militia the Army of Canada.
The Canadian militia have a history of which they
may well be proud. For over loo years they have been
the mainstay of Imperial interests in North America,
and in the face of tremendous odds have aided greatly
in preserving half a continent to the British Empire.
In spite of adverse circumstances and unfavourable
conditions, in no part of the Queen's dominions have
the people shown a stronger spirit of unselfish and
patient loyalty.
The foundation of the Canadian militia was practi
cally laid by the gallant band of Loyalists who, in the
American Revolution of 1776, in spite of unfair legisla
tion, and careless and supercilious indifference on the
part of the Mother country, submitted to it all, and

2 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
obeying the scriptural injunction " Fear God, honour
the King," took up arms for the unity of the race
and the ties of kindred, and fought for their Sovereign
during a long and cruel war. These gallant men were
among the wealthiest, the most cultured and most law-
abiding of the colonists. While fighting England's
quarrel they received but little consideration from
either side,, their interests and rights being generally
ignored. When British regulars were captured during the
Revolutionary struggle, they were treated by the
rebels as prisoners of war, their lives were safe and
they were sometimes paroled or exchanged. On the
other hand, if the Loyalists, who were only fighting for
their King and Constitution, fell into the hands of the
enemy, they were often tried and executed as rebels to
the rebel government, and for years this was done with
out reprisal or retaliation.
At the close of the war the treaty of peace made no
effective provision for guarding their lives or property,
and they were driven into the wilds of Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and Upper Canada. Deprived of all
their possessions and driven from their homes, they
commenced to build up anew a British dominion in
the northern half of this continent. Upper Canada
was an almost unbroken wilderness, but then
" 'Twas British •wilderness.
Where they might sing
God save the King,
And live protected by his laws
And loyally uphold his cause."

INTRODUCTORY 3
These men, who had fought for a United Empire,
and were inspired by these sentiments, composed the
first Canadian militia, and in the earliest militia laws
passed by themselves, we can easily trace the remark
able spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice, which has given
them a name and a fame worthy to place them on an
equality with, if not above, the founders of any nation
in history.
Lady Tennyson, wife of the Poet Laureate, speaking
to me about them a year or two before her death, said :
"You Canadians should be proud of the founders of
your country. The United Empire Loyalists were a
grand type of loyal, law-abiding. God-fearing men. No
country ever had such founders, no country in the
world. No, not since the days of Abraham ! " I was
much struck with the warm appreciation of the Imperial
spirit which the dear old lady displayed.
Upper Canada was established as a province in 1792.
Colonel John Graves Simcoe, who had served all
through the Revolutionary War, in command of a
corps of Loyalists, was appointed the first Lieutenant-
Governor, and many of his old soldiers had settled in
the province.
The first militia law was passed in 1793. The four
districts of Upper Canada were divided into twelve
counties, and the militia of each county were com
manded by an officer called the Lieutenant. The men
were divided into regiments and companies, they were
obliged to assemble once a year,, and were inspected
by the captains of companies at least twice a year.
Every male inhabitant from sixteen to fifty years of age

4 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
was considered a militiaman, and was obliged to enlist
on reaching the proper age, under a penalty of four
dollars for neglecting to do so. Officers and men not
attending the assembling of the militia, for which no
pay was provided, were fined eight and two dollars
respectively. Officers and men not promptly joining
their regiments in case of an attack or insurrection,
were liable to fines of fifty pounds for officers and
twenty pounds for petty officers and men.
The following year the Act was amended, and in
time of war the age limit was extended to sixty years.
The militia were also obliged to serve on board ships or
vessels, or to act as cavalry, and to extend their service
beyond the province, on condition that the same men
would not be bound to serve more than six months
successively. The exemptions from military drill in
time of peace were not numerous, and in time of
active service in war there appear to have been no
exemptions. The whole militia was estimated at
about 9,000. Dr. Canniff, in his "History of the
Settlement of Upper Canada," says: "There is no
doubt that the military spirit of Simcoe (the Gover
nor) was pleasing to the old soldier farmers, and in
them he found willing and zealous abettors of his
military schemes."
In 1 801 there was still further legislation, and again
in 1808, when there was passed a Militia Act to amend
and consolidate the previous acts. This was in antici
pation of the war with the United States, which broke
out in 1 81 2. The rules for enrolling and training, and
the fines for neglect of duty, remained the same, and

INTRODUCTORY 5
the captain or officer commanding each company was
compelled, under a penalty of five pounds, to furnish
the colonel or commanding officer of the battalion, fair
written rolls of his company, and the colonel or
officer commanding was obliged, under a penalty of
ten pounds, to forward returns to the Lieutenant-
Governor within fourteen days after June 4th of
each year, which, as the King's birthday, was fixed
for the annual muster.
The captains were obliged to call out their companies
not less than twice, nor more than four times in each
year, to inspect their arms and instruct them in their
duties — and all had to turn out, or were liable to be
fined. Each man was compelled to provide himself,
within six months after his enrollment, with a good and
sufficient musket, fusil, rifle or gun, with at least six
rounds of powder and ball, and had to come provided
with the same every time he was called out. The
penalty for neglect to come so provided, rendered
him liable to a fine of five shillings in time of peace,
and forty shillings in time of war.
This was a very severe measure, when it is remem
bered that a boy reaching sixteen years of age had to
appear and enroll himself, bringing a weapon and
ammunition, that he received no remuneration, and
that in those days the people were exceedingly poor
and money very scarce. So to this clause there was a
very necessary exception. If the captain, on careful
enquiry, was satisfied that it was an impossibility for
the militiaman to provide himself with these articles, he
could certify the same in writing, in which case the man

6 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
would not be liable to be fined. From another clause
it appears that the Government issued arms to those
unable to procure them, for there is a provision for their
care and protection.
All fines for non-enrollment and non-attendance at
parade were paid to the, commanding officer of the
regiment, who used the money to provide for the
regiments, drums, fifes, colours, banners, regimental
books, etc., and to pay other incidental expenses.
If there was any surplus, it was to be used for
prizes for the best shots at a target or mark upon
the days of training.
It will be seen that this law was based upon the
broad principle that every man of fighting age had to
be enrolled, and had to muster for training at least three
days per annum, but not more than five; that he had to
provide his own weapon and ammunition, and that he
had to do all this as a duty to the State, without any
pay or remuneration whatever. It was fair, however,
for as every man had to perform the duty, it saved all
trouble to have no collection of taxes, or keeping of
accounts for that purpose. Still this Act, passed by the
people themselves, who themselves bore the burden, is
a striking testimony to the loyal and patriotic spirit
which animated all classes, and stands on our statute
book as a monument to the national spirit of our
fathers. In February, 1812, 'before the war broke out, the
legislature authorized the formation of two flank
companies from each regiment. These men were
those who were willing, out of the general body of

INTRODUCTORY 7
the militia of each regimental district, to volunteer
for service and to drill six days each month. For
this great sacrifice of nearly one-fourth of their time,
no provision was made for paying the men. General
Brock, however, asked that the Imperial authorities
should issue rations to the number actually present
for exercise. He explained, in urging this upon Sir
George Prevost, the Commander-in-Chief, that he
expected the companies would be composed of the
best description of inhabitants who, in most cases,
would have to go a great distance to attend parade,
and unless this provision was allowed, would be liable
to heavy expense, or be subjected to considerable priva
tions. He also asked that as much clothing as could be
spared from the King's stores might be forwarded to
him, to clothe such companies as were the most likely
to be called upon duty.
On May i6th, 1812, General Brock, writing to Sir
George Prevost, says : " The flank companies, in the
districts in which they have been established, were
instantly completed with volunteers, and, indeed, an
almost unanimous disposition to serve is daily mani
fested. I shall proceed to extend this system now I
have ascertained that the people are so well disposed —
but my means are very limited."
This willingness to volunteer was striking in view of
the fact that there was no pay, and that the men had to
clothe and arm themselves. They were directed to pro
vide themselves with a jacket or short coat of some
dark coloured cloth, and a round hat.
War was declared on June i8th, 1812, and it was

8 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
known in Upper Canada on June 24th. On July 3rd
General Brock writes again to Prevost : '' My first
object has been the calling out of the flank companies
of militia, which has produced a force on this line of
about 800 men. They turned out very cheerfully, but
already show a spirit of impatience." This was not to
be wondered at, for they were furnished with scarcely
any articles of use or comfort. They were without
blankets, or kettles or tents. Just before the battle
of Queenston Heights, three months later, their pay
was in arrears, they had no camp utensils of any
description, their clothing hung about them in tatters,
many were barefooted, and they suffered dreadfullj'
from cold and rain, yet their patience and cheerful
ness excited General Brock's warmest admiration and
praise. These were the men who captured Detroit and its
much superior garrison, and who shortly after, at
Queenston Heights, bitterly avenged the death of
their beloved leader in the brilliant and decisive
victory won upon that field. In all the victories of
this war, the Canadian militia did excellent service.
The struggle took place simultaneously with the later
campaigns of the Peninsular War, and communication
at that time was very difficult and infrequent between
Canada and England. The whole attention of the
British people was concentrated on the mighty contest
going on in Europe. The invasion of Russia by Napol
eon, and the retreat from Moscow, took place during the
first year of the war. Salamanca was fought the same
year. The campaigns of Dresden, Lutzen, Bautzen,

INTRODUCTORY 9
Liepsig and Vittoria during the second year, and the
campaign in 1814 in front of Paris, and the actions
of Orthes and Toulouse during the last year. These
important events filled the public eye and prevented the
campaigns in Canada from being noticed, or receiving
their proper place in the history of the wars of the
Empire. Few, even of the well-educated people in England,
have ever heard the name of Brock, and if his name is
mentioned, the question is generally asked, — " Who was
General Brock ? " I have often tried the experiment of
mentioning his name to English people, and unless they
had been in Canada, have always been saluted with the
question as lo who Brock was.
In the annals of the British Empire there are no
more brilliant feats than those performed by the Cana
dian militia, aided by a few British regulars, in the
actions of Queenston Heights, Stoney Creek, Beaver
Dams, Chrysler's Farm, Ogdensburg, Lundy's Lane
and Chateauguay. In this latter fight 300 Canadian
voltigeurs, under Colonel DeSalaberry, reinforced by
600 militia, under Colonel George Macdonell, defeated
and drove out of the country an army of about 6,000,
under General Hampton, 4,000 of whom were United
States regulars. Colonel Macdonell's march from King
ston to the battlefield of Chateauguay, 170 miles by
water in bateaux, and twenty miles by land in sixty
hours of actual travel, will rank with any of the great
marches in history. He arrived just before the action
with his battalion of 600, without one man absent.
The result of the three years fighting was that twelve

10 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
distinct invasions by superior forces of the enemy were
defeated and driven out of the country, making it a
victorious war for us.
From 1815, for twenty -two years Canada enjoyed the
blessings of peace, until in 1837 the intrigues of some dis
satisfied strangers brought about an insurrection. The
rebels gathered a few miles north of Toronto, the capital
of Upper Canada, and threatened its capture. There was
not one British soldier in the province, and the Lieu
tenant Governor, Sir Francis Bond Head, appealed to
the people. The militia, still organized under the old
law, responded loyally to the call, and without uniforms
or military equipment of any kind, armed with shot
guns, fowling pieces and rifles owned by themselves,
they gathered together and came pouring into Toronto
in such numbers that the Governor had to issue a proc
lamation asking them to remain at their homes, as they
could not be fed.
The rebels were scattered at the skirmish of Gallows
Hill, about three miles north of Toronto. Then a force
of militia marched to the village of Scotland, west of
Dundas, and dispersed a gathering in that neighbour
hood. Some 3,000 Loyalists were then massed on the
Niagara frontier, and took part in the seige of Navy
Island, which they soon forced the enemy to evacuate.
During the following year, at Prescott and other points,
filibustering expeditions were defeated and driven back,
the militia turning out with the most cheerful alacrity
at the first alarm of invasion.
As soon as the danger was over, the men returned to
their homes and their usual avocations, feeling that they

INTRODUCTORY 11
had only done their duty to their sovereign and their
country. Shortly after, in the Oregon boundary diffi
culty, when vehement threats of war were being made
by our neighbours, the Canadian militia once more
began organizing and preparing to defend their homes.
The affair was arranged peacefully, and military matters
fell into abeyance until the Crimean War, when the
British troops being called away, the nucleus of the
present active militia force was organized under the Act
of 1855. This force consisted of about 7,000 men, who
were drilled ten days per annum, for which they were
paid, and they were properly armed and equipped.
The force was soon raised, although the men had to
provide their uniforms at their own expense. In 1861
the Trent affair, and the imminent danger of war, aroused
once more the martial spirit of the people, and in every
town and village men met together for drill and organi
zation. The country was turned into a recruiting and
training depot. The Government recognized these
efforts to a certain extent, and authorized the organ
ization of a number of new corps, which raised the
strength of the active force to some 35,000 men. It
has since been maintained at about this strength. The
Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870 proved the necessity for
this force, and caused it, for a time, to receive a certain
amount of encouragement and fair treatment from the
Government. In 1870 the Red River Expedition, and in 1885 the
North-West Rebellion, again gave the militia the oppor
tunity of being of great service to the country, but the
force has always had great difficulties to contend with.

12 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
some regiments being only drilled every second year,
and some every third year.
I purpose to give in the following pages my personal
reminiscences and experiences in this force, which I
entered before the Act of 1855, and which I left on
June 14th, 1898, when I was placed on the Reserve List
under the regulations fixing a time limit for command.
At the risk of appearing egotistical, I will discuss
everything from my personal point of view, because I
think I can in that way give a clearer idea of the
practical inner working of the system than in any
other. I do this because the conditions governing
the Canadian militia, which has been the only Cana
dian army, have been peculiar, and have differed from
the conditions governing the military forces of most
countries. Great changes have been made since my
earliest recollections, when the old system established
in 1808 was still in use. Still greater changes are likely
to be made in the immediate future, and it may be of
some interest to record the particulars of a militia
system which, in many respects, has passed or is
passing away.

CHAPTER 1
The War of i 8 12-14
Recollections of my grandfather — Extraordinary affection of
Canadians for Brock — Sis boldness— Capture of Detroit —
Death at Queenston Heights — Tablet to his memory —
Loyalty of Canadian Women — Great Odds — Brock the
National Hero of Canada — Other leaders — Prevost and
Proctor left tarnished reputations — Unpleasant adventure
of an arbitrary Colonel — Narrow escape of my grand
father — Flotilla of bateaux saved — Vessels burned — Battle
of Lundy's Lane — Monument unveiled in 1895 — Result of
the War.
My earliest recollections of the Canadian militia are
of the numerous conversations upon the subject that I
was accustomed to overhear as a child at my grand
father's, as well as at my own home. My maternal
grandfather, Major Dewson, served in the Waterloo
campaign, and afterwards in the rebellion of 1837-8.
My paternal grandfather was an ensign in the York
Flank companies during the war of 1812, and com
manded his troop of cavalry in the Rebellion of 1837.
My father and his brother had also served in the
rebellion. Almost all the old friends of the family had
been engaged in one or other of these campaigns, and
when they met, events were often recalled, anecdotes

14 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
retold, and the conduct of the campaigns freely criticized
and discussed.
At this time, say fifty years ago, the first telegraph
lines were being put up, there were no railways, steam
vessels had only recently been getting into use for cross
ing the Atlantic, and news came from abroad slowly
and irregularly— consequently conversation was much
more confined to matters of local interest than it is to
day when we read every morning in our papers the
news of what has occurred all over the world the day
before. The clearest impression left on my mind from the
discussions to which I delighted to listen, was the re
markable respect and esteem felt by all the old veterans
of the War of 1812 for their favorite leader. General
Brock. They seemed to revere his memory and were
most enthusiastic in their praises of his firmness, ability
and fearless courage. Although he was killed in the
first battle, they attributed to him the success of the
war and the freedom of Canada.
What especially endeared him to the memory of
these old loyalists was the fearless and defiant way in
which he maintained his confidence in the face of enor
mous odds, and what was worst of all, internal intrigue
and treachery. The action that particularly pleased
them was his bold move in proroguing the House
of Assembly, and declaring martial law, in order
to arrest and banish the traitors who were spreading
doubt and hesitation among the people. This bold
and defiant step, in the face of an invading army in
the country, and others threatening at other points,

THE WAR OF 1812-U 15
gave confidence to the militia, who, on his appeal
to them to follow him in defence of the Province,
responded at once with the utmost enthusiasm.
Brock set off the next day, August 6th, for Sand
wich, where 2,500 of the enemy under General
Hull, had invaded the Province. He took with him
200 of the York (or Toronto) militia, and went to
Amherstburg, where, with a force of 330 regulars,
400 militia and 600 Indians under Chief Tecumseh,
in all 1,330 men, he marched upon Detroit, where
the enemy had recrossed the river and had taken
their stand, and succeeded in capturing General
Hull with his whole force and a large quantity of
arms and supplies, of which he was in great need.
This surrender took place on August i6th, 1812.
The capture of Detroit was electrical in its effect,
it inspired the loyal, confirmed the loyalty of
the wavering and completely cowed the disloyal,
many of whom received short notice to leave the
country. General Brock's death at Queenston Heights on Octo
ber 13th, 1 8 12, while gallantly leading his men, ap
pealed vividly to the sympathy and affection of his
followers and the inhabitants generally. My grand
mother, Esther Borden Lippincott, was the only child
of Captain Richard Lippincott of the New Jersey vol
unteers. Captain Lippincott had fought during the
American Revolution as a United Empire Loyalist, and
his daughter was inspired with that patriotic semi-
religious type of loyalty which distinguished all that
class. " Fear God, Honour the King " was the doctrine

16 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of their faith, for their simple piety was as marked as
their loyalty.
In 1812 my grandmother was twenty -one years of
age, but had been married several years, and had two
young children. She was living in a lonely clearance
in the forest a few miles from Toronto, and in the then
unsettled condition of the country was unable to get
servants. My grandfather was on the frontier with the
York volunteers, and had been able, with much diffi
culty, to get a boy of eleven years of age to do the
work and aid and assist his wife. It was a lonely life
for a young well educated girl, with her infants, and
alarming at times, for on one occasion in the winter the
wolves gathered around the house and looked into the
windows, so that she had to sit up all night to replenish
the open fire to frighten them from breaking in through
the glass.
It was in this place, under these circumstances, that
my grandmother, to testify her respect and esteem for
General Brock, worked in needlework a tablet in
memory of him. To the Memory
OJ
MAJOR-GENERAL BROCK
¦who gloriously fell
(as he was bravely defending his country')
at the Battle of Queenston, the
iph day of October in the year
of our Lord,
1812.
' ' Push on brave York Volunteers. "
This little piece of needle-work, framed, is in the

THE WAR OF 1813-14 17
possession of my uncle, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert B.
Denison, an interesting memento of the loyal spirit of
our Canadian women in those early days, for there must
have been thousands of women all over Canada left
under similar conditions while the men were fighting for
their homes.
My grandfather was often employed on special ser
vice and had to ride a good deal through the country.
I have heard him say that he has ridden all day long
during the summer without seeing one able-bodied
man, the women, children, and very old men alone
being seen working in the fields. The men were all with
the army. With a people animated with this spirit we
can understand how a population of 70,000 in Upper
Canada, with the assistance of a small British force,
were able to preserve their freedom against the assaults
of a nation of 8,000,000, which, during the war, called
out under arms no less than 576,622 men.
While Brock's name stands out above all as the great
national hero of Canada, there were some other British
officers who gained the admiration and esteem of the
Canadians. Sir John Harvey, the hero of Stoney
Creek ; Fitzgibbon, the victor of Beaver Dams ; Drum
mond, who conquered at Lundy's Lane, and Morrison,
who commanded at Chrysler's Farm, all live in the
memories and affections of our people. So, also, with
De Salaberry and Colonel George Macdonell.
Two Imperial officers left behind them tarnished
names, which no attempts, on the part of their apolo
gists, have had the slightest effect in vindicating. One
was Sir George Prevost, the Commander-in-Chief, who

18 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
seems to have been a muddler and blunderer of the
worst kind. He was an embarrassment to Brock from
the beginning. He arranged an armistice after the cap
ture of Detroit, which was a great injury to our in
terests and an immense advantage to the enemy. He
endeavoured to fetter Col. George Macdonell, at Ogdens
burg, and when the latter exceeded his instructions
and captured that place with its cannon and stores, and
destroyed its supplies, paralyzing thereby an invasion
by the enemy, he reported the brilliant success as hav
ing been the result of his orders, when really it was in
spite of them. At Sackett's Harbour he retreated after
his men had practically won the day, turning a victory
into a defeat. The same thing exactly occurred at
Plattsburg where, with some 16,000 of Wellington's
veterans, fresh from the Peninsular War, he suffered the
most shameful defeat that our arms met with. He had
there the largest and finest and best equipped army
that has ever been concentrated in Canada, and he once
more ordered a retreat when the men had virtually won
a victory. He was ordered home to be tried by court-
martial for this, but died before the trial came off.
General Proctor was another officer who left an un
satisfactory reputation in Canada on account of his
conduct at Moraviantown, where the celebrated Indian
chief Tecumseh was killed.
The officers of the war, who were the old men when I
was a child, all agreed in these estimates of the various
generals. They could never praise Brock enough, and
their eyes would flash with anger when speaking of
either Prevost or Proctor. Tecumseh was always

THE WAR OF 1813-14 19
spoken of in terms of the highest admiration by
these men who had known him and had served with
him. Some Imperial officers did not have the tact or
ability to handle properly the militia men who, during
the war, were constantly under their command, and
considerable ill-feeling was caused by the harshness
of some of them. I remember well one anecdote.
At the York garrison, at one time during the war,
a number of militia and regulars were quartered
together under an army colonel who made himself
very obnoxious to the militiamen. One evening he
was driving down to Government House to a dinner in
full uniform, in a sleigh, during a thaw, when there were
many deep puddles in the road, which, at that time, ran
for a part of the way through the woods ; when the
colonel, with his servant driving him, arrived opposite
the worst puddle, one man stepped out from the woods
and seized the horse's bridle, another cut the horse loose
from the sleigh, while three others seized the sleigh by
the side and overturned it on top of the colonel and his
servant in the mud hole. The horse received a slash
with a whip or stick which sent it galloping off in one
direction, while the five militiamen ran off in another.
They were never discovered, and the martinet lost his
dinner and had a ruined uniform to remind him of the
mistake of being too disagreeable.
As a rule the two services worked well together,
although there was naturally a little rivalry, as there
will be even between regiments.
My grandfather often spoke of his once being sent

20 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
with a large sum of money, about $40,000, from York
around to the army headquarters in the Niagara
frontier. He was approaching St. David's when a
dragoon came galloping towards him at full speed.
When he came near he said : " Are you the officer
from York with a large sum of money ? " Not know
ing his object, my grandfather at first denied it, when
the man said : " St. David's is captured, the enemy are
coming this way and I have been sent to warn him to
go back to York." Two more dragoons came in sight,
chased by a party of the enemy's cavalry. My grand
father turned and galloped away, and was chased several
miles, escaping with great difficulty.
On another occasion he was sent to Kingston to
bring up to York a flotilla of bateaux, or open boats^
filled with supplies for the army. The enemy's fleet, for
the time, had control of the lake, and it was necessary to
creep up along the shore to avoid capture. One morn
ing, at daybreak, the enemy's war vessels were seen in
the distance approaching; the boats were hurried to
where a small stream entered the lake. A bridge
crossed the stream at the mouth. This was soon cut
away, and the bateaux all worked up the stream out of
sight, and so they escaped. I remembered hearing this
story several times. A few years ago Dr. William
Chewett, grandson of Colonel Chewett, who commanded
the York militia regiment in which my grandfather
served, sent me some reports of court-martials in which
he was mentioned, and his evidence in one of them
gave the account of his having been engaged on this
expedition.

THE WAR OF 1813-14 21
When York was captured in April, 1813, my grand
father was sent with a party of men to burn the ships
on the stocks, and to set fire to a frigate which lay in
the harbour. He succeeded in destroying the two ships
on the stocks, but when he came to the frigate, the
officer of the Royal Navy in command raised some
technical objection, and the discussion was so heated
and prolonged that the vessel and all on board were
captured, and so my grandfather was a prisoner for
about six months. The naval officer was not exchang
ed, as his conduct was severely censured by the authori
ties. The war ended with the year 18 14, the last and most
deadly battle being fought at Lundy's Lane on July
25th of that year, where our troops won a victory which
practically put a stop to further invasions of our terri
tory. The Canadian Parliament, in the year 1895,
erected a fine monument at Lundy's Lane in honour
of this victory, and the Government did me the honour
to depute me, on their behalf, to unveil it, — which I did
on the anniversary of the battle that year.
When the treaty of peace was signed we had suc
ceeded in holding every foot of our soil. The recol
lections of the glorious victories won by our fathers in
these campaigns will continually be handed down by
tradition, and in case of future trouble be an inspiration
and encouragement to our people.

CHAPTER II
The Rebellion of 1837
Organization of Troop of Cavalry — Nucleus of the Governor-Gen
eral's Body Guardr— Extract from U. E. Loyalist paper-
Active Service, 1837— Rebellion of 1837— Sir Francis
Head's defenceless position — Loyal conduct of the people —
Incident on the morning of Gallows Hill — Spirit of the
Canadian Women — My Grandfather at the Old Fort — Ar
rival of Thomas Denison — Militia gather in West Gwillim-
bury — Major Dewson's March to Toronto — Expedition to
Ingersoll and Village of Scotland — Siege of Navy Island
— Burning of the "Caroline" — Colonel Prince's stern
action in the West.
In 1822 my grandfather raised the troop of West
York cavalry, which was the nursery for the active
militia force of Toronto and the nucleus of the present
regiment, " The Governor-General's Body Guard." The
officers and men had to provide their own uniforms, and,
not being provided with arms by the Government, were
obliged for years to parade and drill without them, be
ing, from time to time, promised swords and pistols.
In the"U. E. Loyalist " paper of April 26th, 1828,
appears the following paragraph :
" Wednesday, April 23rd, King's Birthday parade."
"The appearance of Captain Denison's Militia Cav
alry in full dress, and well mounted, reflected the
highest credit on the officers and men of the troop."

THE REBELLION OF 1837 23
The troop went on in this way for years, uniformed at
their own cost, and drilling in field movements without
arms, until the rebellion of 1837 broke out. The corps
was then embodied on full pay in the service of the
British Government, was supplied with arms and ac
coutrements, and kept on active duty for six months,
being relieved in June, 1838.
The Rebellion of 1837 was a remarkable instance of
an insurrection being put down practically without a
regular soldier, and it is a striking proof of the loyal
and patriotic military instinct of the people. This
affair occurred two years before I was born, and conse
quently when I was able to remember the conversations
in my father's house the events were comparatively re
cent and fresh in the memories of everyone.
The regular soldiers had all been sent by Sir Francis
Bond-Head, the Governor, to Lower Canada, but, on
account of the mutterings of the coming storm, he had
caused to be brought up to Toronto some 4,000 stand of
arms with equipment and ammunition, and had stored
them in the City Hall. Without one soldier, therefore,
with no organization, no staff, or even enrollment, in the
dead of night, the Governor was awakened and told
that a rebellion had broken out, and that a large force
of rebels was within four miles of the city, which was
then a small place of about 12,000 population. He at
once sent orders to ring all the alarm bells and church
bells to arouse the inhabitants, and the people gathered
in front of the City Hall. They were rapidly formed
up, sworn into service, and supplied with muskets,
belts and ammunition. They were divided off into

24 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
companies, men picked out then and there as officers,
and in that way a force was raised, which, two or three
days after, marched out and defeated and dispersed the
rebels at Gallows Hill.
My father, a youth of twenty-one, at the outbreak of
the rebellion, had for some time been a member of a
voluntary organization of young men, formed by
Colonel James Fitzgibbon, the hero of Beaver Dams,
for the purpose of being trained as a company of rifle
men or light infantry. They were principally young
law students and gentlemen of that class, my uncle,
Wm. J. Coates, who had married my father's sister, So
phia, being one of them. These young men, at the first
alarm, took their rifles and went down to offer their ser
vices. When they were leaving Mr. Coates' house to
gether, the morning of the skirmish at Gallows Hill, my
aunt Sophia said to my father " Now, George, you give
it to those rebels and if William (her husband) does not
keep up to the mark, put your bayonet into him."
This was a curious evidence of the spirit of the
Canadian women of the time. Her young brother
was of U. E. Loyalist stock, and it never struck her
that he would not do his duty to his Sovereign to the
last. On that day my paternal grandfather, George T.
Denison, of Bellevue, was placed in command of the
Old Fort at the west end of Toronto. During the day
a body of armed men were seen coming from the west
and moving in the direction of the Fort. As they were
all in plain clothes, and there were no uniforms on
either side, there was considerable excitement as to

THE REBELLION OF 1837 25
whether there was to be an attack or not. The ram
parts were manned and all preparations made, and the
approaching body anxiously watched. Suddenly my
grandfather said, " That man in front looks like my
brother Tom." And so it was. Thomas Denison, who
had been an officer in the militia, and had served
through the war, fighting at Queenston and other
actions, was living some ten miles west of Toronto, and
hearing of the outbreak had sent around to his neigh
bours and raised a good sized force of farmers, armed
with their own rifles, shot-guns, etc., and had marched
in to aid the cause of his Sovereign.
My maternal grandfather, the late Major Dewson,
who had served in the Waterloo campaign in the 3 Sth
Regiment of foot under the Duke of Richmond, and
who had only sold out of the army about a year before,
had settled on a farm near Bond-Head, about forty
miles north of Toronto. The news of the Rebellion
spread through the country, and the farmers, without
waiting for orders or appeals for help, immediately sent
word in every direction for all the' able-bodied men
with any arms they could get, to gather at the village of
Bradford, where, in a day or two, over six hundred loyal
men mustered to uphold the constitution. They elected
Major Dewson, my grandfather, to command them, and
as soon as they were organized and had arranged for
food, etc., they commenced the march down Yonge Street
to Toronto. They had arrived within some miles of
Gallows Hill, when they met a number of the fugitive
rebels flying from that place. They captured some
prisoners and, tying them together with plough lines.

^6 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
they brought them on towards Toronto and surrendered
them to Sir Francis Head, the Governor, who gave
the misguided men a stern lecture and released them,
and told them to go to their homes and be loyal in the
future. My father and my uncle, R. L. Denison, were with
the force that went out to the villages of Scotland and
Ingersoll and dispersed a body of rebels who had risen
in that neighbourhood, under the lead of Dr. Duncombe.
As the enemy fled on the approach of the loyal troops
there was no fighting.
The next point of attack was at Navy Island in the
Niagara River. The steamer Caroline was being used
to transport stores and supplies of arms, etc., from
Schlosser on the United States side, to the rebels who
had taken possession of the Island and had commenced
entrenching themselves. Some three thousand loyalists,
in civilian clothes, were rapidly concentrated at and
about Chippewa to besiege the enemy. My father was
lieutenant in the company that was stationed in a
house opposite the enemy's central battery. To pro
tect the house from the enemy's cannonade they piled
rails, from the rail fences, on end against the front of the
house until there was a thick barricade of rails sufficient
to stop the six pound shots whicli were fired constantly
at the house. One man of the company was killed by
a cannon shot going through his thighs. One day
shortly after the troops arrived at Chippewa, my father
George Wells, of Davenport House, near Toronto, and
another, whose name I have forgotten, went down to the
Pavilion Hotel which then stood on the high ground

THE REBELLION OF 1837 27
near the convent, between it and where the water reser
voir for the late Clifton House now is. They went to
the top of the hotel where there was a flat look-out.
They had a very powerful telescope and they used it
with great interest in examining the rear of Navy
Island, which was partly commanded from their posi
tion. They saw the steamer Caroline going across from
Fort Schlosser, on the United States side of the river
to the Island, and saw distinctly the field pieces which
she was carrying over to the rebels. From the Cana
dian shore, where Sir Allan McNab with the loyal
forces was camped. Navy Island, with its dense woods,
completely hid all that was going on behind it, between
it and the opposite shore.
This information was immediately conveyed to the
commanding officer, Sir Allan McNab, who was also in
formed that the Caroline was moored behind the Island.
The result was that an expedition was ordered that
night to cut her out. This was successfully accom
plished by a party under the command of Captain
Drew, R.N., a retired officer, assisted by Lieutenants
McCormick, John Elmsley and others. The vessel had
gone back to Fort Schlosser and was moored at the
wharf there, where she was seized, set fire to and sent
down the rapids and over the Niagara Falls. This
affair very nearly brought on a war between the United
States and England.
A short time after this Navy Island was evacuated
by the rebels, and the rebellion was practically finished.
A few raids by sympathizers from the United States
caused some annoyance for the next year until Colonel

28 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Prince defeated a body of filibusters at Windsor, On
tario. He summed up the result in his despatch in
these words :
" Of the brigands and pirates, twenty-one were killed,
besides four who were brought in just at the close, and
immediately after the engagement, all of whom I or
dered to be shot upon the spot, and which was done
accordingly." This prompt and vigorous action prevented all fur
ther trouble, and the Rebellion of 1837-8 was at an end.
Colonel Prince was known afterwards as " Shot accord
ingly " Prince. His action aroused intense indignation
in the States, and some criticism in England, but he cer
tainly had the support of the great body of the
Canadian people.

CHAPTER III
Volunteering, 1839-1855
Earliest Recollections — Denison's cavalry — My father and uncle
purchase equipment —Militia subjected to ridicule — Seclud
ed drillings — Escorts for Lord Elgin — Troop entertained
at Government House — Three additional troops authorized
— Crimean War breaks out — Militia Act of 1855 — Authori
zation of an active force — First step towards a Canadian
army.
My own earliest recollections of the Canadian militia
were connected with the Governor - General's Body
Guard, then known as the Queen's Light Dragoons,
and afterwards as the First Toronto Independent Troop
of Cavalry. This corps had been organized by my
grandfather in 1822, and kept up by him till 1837,
when from December of that year till June, 1838, it
was on active service under the pay and orders of the
Imperial Government. He was appointed Lieutenant-
Colonel of the West York militia that summer, and my
uncle, Richard L. Denison, gazetted Captain of the
troop, my father, Lieutenant, and Edwin Fisher, Cornet.
The troop was again on active service from October
31st, 1838, till April 30th, 1839, when they were sent to
their homes and all their arms and equipments taken
into store.
My uncle. Captain Richard L. Denison, and my

30 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
father, knowing the hopelessness of obtaining arms or
clothing from the Government, immediately purchased
uniforms, swords, belts, pouches, etc., sufficient to supply
the troop, and lent them to the men. This, I believe,
was a unique experience in the Upper Canadian militia,
the result being that when the Act of 1855 was passed,
the Denison cavalry, as they were commonly called,
were the only corps organized, uniformed, equipped,
armed and drilled when they were gazetted into the
active militia class "A," under that Act. After the
rebellion the troop assembled from time to time for
training on an entirely voluntary basis, and this occas
ional drilling had been going on for some years when I
was first able to remember what was being done. At
this time, from 1846 until the Crimean War, about 1854,
there was always a force of British regular infantry
stationed at the New Fort, Toronto, and as a child, I
can remember hearing the bugle calls without under
standing what they were. The 71st Highlanders were
here during my recollection, also the Rifle Brigade and
the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
The presence of a British regiment in good condition,
and splendidly maintained and drilled, rendered it im
possible for a militia corps self-supported to compete
either in numbers, equipment or drill, and, naturally,
comparisons were drawn much to the disadvantage of
the latter. The men used to be laughed at and ridi
culed to such an extent, that it was found much more
pleasant to keep out of sight as much as possible, and
carefully avoid attracting any attention. At this time
Bloor Street, Toronto, was not opened westwards

VOLUNTEERING. 1839-1855 31
through the woods and the upper part of Spadina
Avenue was cleared, so that a glade or clearance,
about two or three acres in extent, was situated
there surrounded by woods. It was at that time,
about 1848 or 1849, a very secluded spot, and it was
there, on a summer's evening, I first saw a number of
men of the corps with which I was to be connected
nearly all my life, being drilled by my father. The
men had gathered by by-paths to avoid notice.
It must have been the strong impressions of my
childhood created by these secluded drillings and the
evident desire to avoid the public eye, that had an
influence upon me all my life. I have always retained
the desire to avoid parading in public more than I could
help, although, in after years, forced to yield somewhat
for recruiting purposes. I avoided church parades as
much as possible, and it was with great hesitation that I
consented, at the request ofthe Mayor, to march through
the streets on our return from the North-West Rebel
lion by the route prepared and decorated for the recep
tion of the Toronto force, and I only consented on learn
ing that great trouble had been taken and expense
incurred in decorating the streets and in preparing a re
ception which would be viewed by almost all the
population. My next recollection of the corps, which at this time
practically represented the militia, for there was no
other corps of either cavalry, artillery, infantry or
rifles at that time organized, armed, uniformed, equip
ped or drilled, was in connection with the escort of
Lord Elgin to the opening of the Parliament in May,

32 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
1850. The feeling against the Governor-General ran
very high and the Tory party were the malcontents.
Threats were made of rioting, etc., when my father
offered to escort His Excellency to the Parliament
House and back to Elmsley Villa, which was then
used as Government House. Lord Elgin asked
Colonel Macdonell, the Deputy-Adjutant General,
about the corps. Macdonell replied: "Nothing could
be better ; this will be a constitutional escort fur
nished by the people, not by the Government, and
being a loyal corps of tories, will not excite hostility,
and all trouble will be averted."
The result proved the correctness of Colonel Mac
donell's prediction. There was no difficulty, and
although the crowds were somewhat sullen, all passed
off well. On arriving at Elmsley Villa on the return,
the Governor-General, knowing it was a purely volun
tary service and a somewhat unpopular one at the time,
asked my father to dismount his men and bring them
in and present them to him. My father introduced
each trooper by name, and the Governor- General shook
hands with each and thanked him personally for his
service. They were then taken into the dining-room,
some twenty-five men and three officers, and given a
first-class lunch, the two A.D.C's. and Colonel Mac
donell sitting down with them.
When they were leaving Government House, the
Adjutant- General Macdonell insisted on the corps
being taken down to the old Wellington Hotel,
corner of Front and Church Streets, where he treated
the men to champagne. The men dispersed to their

VOLUNTEERING. 1839-1855 33
homes, not full colonels, but full troopers. I remember
my father mentioning at the time that nineteen of the
horses ridden in that escort belonged to my grandfather
and his sons.
The corps escorted Lord Elgin after that when he
went to open or prorogue Parliament, and on each
occasion they were given a lunch on their return to
Government House.
Shortly after this my father was granted permission
to raise three more troops so as to form a regiment.
The Button family, who had been in the cavalry in the
war of 1812, and who had come to Toronto in 1837 to
offer their services, with a number of men, and who had
been attached to my grandfather's troop at that time,
were naturally applied to to raise one troop, Lieutenant-
Colonel William Button being the captain of it. The
late Lieutenant- Colonel Norman Torquill McLeod
raised another, and the late Lieutenant-Colonel John
Stoughton Dennis agreed to raise the fourth, and was
gazetted, but never took any effective steps to raise the
troop. This was all authorized by general order of
March 12th, 1853, and in September, 1854, I was
gazetted cornet in the old troop.
The Crimean War necessitated the taking away of
the Imperial regiments from most parts of Canada, and
then for the first time the Canadian Parliament con
sidered the question of having an organized force pro
perly armed and equipped, and prepared to assist in the
defence of the country. The Militia Act of 1855
retained the old militia system as the foundation,
every man from eighteen to sixty being held to be a

31 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
militiaman in the sedentary or reserve militia. The
military districts had over them a colonel com
mandant with two staff officers. The regimental dis
tricts had lieutenant- colonels, majors, captains and
subaltern officers appointed, whose only duty appeared
to be to make enrollment of all the men of proper age
in the territorial limits of their corps, and to ballot if
men should be required for the active force. They
were also supposed to command the regiments in
case of a levee en masse in time of war. These were
all unpaid.
The great change was the authorization of an active
force of some 7,000, to be drilled ten days in each year
for which pay was given. This force was to be properly
equipped with the best modern arms. It was primarily
to be composed of volunteers, but if a difficulty was
found in obtaining volunteers, there was power given to
ballot. This principle has been in force ever since, and
as sufficient volunteers have always been obtained, the
power to ballot has been a dead letter.

CHAPTER IV
Organization of the Active Force
My troop Gazetted into active force— -Appointed Lieutenant — First
annual drill — Arms issued — Garrison artillery organized
— Appointed to command troop temporarily — Enforce un
popular order — Orlando Dunn appointed Sergeant-Major
— His excellent service — Escort Governor-General — Inci
dent with Sergeant Smith — Sergeant-Major Moorhouse —
Am Gazetted Captain — The " Double Shuffle " — Escort on
closing the House — Amusing incident — Monthly meetings
— Get snubbed for my youth.
In December, 1855, my troop was brought into the
active force, class A, Robert B. Denison, my uncle,
being Captain, and Peter McGill McCutcheon, Lieuten
ant. Captain McLeod commanded the second troop.
Captain J. Stoughton Dennis accepted the Lieutenancy,
and Edward Foster was Cornet. Captain Dennis left
soon after to take command of the Toronto Field
Battery, which my father was also organizing. This
gave me my Lieutenancy in March, 1856. I
turned out for the first time in uniform on May 24th
that year, when the Toronto active force marched
through the streets and were inspected by Sir
Edmund Head, the Governor-General, from the steps
of the aide-de-camp's residence, which then stood
on the south side of King street, a few feet west

36 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of Simcoe. During the winter we had been having
evening drills, dismounted.
On June 9th, 1856, we commenced our first annual
drill under the new law, and swords and belts, and
revolvers in holsters to be worn on the waist were
all issued to us. We mustered in a field behind the
Bathurst street barracks on the south-east corner of
Queen and Bathurst Streets.
In November, 1856, Captain Robert Denison, who
commanded the first troop of the squadron, left it to
raise a company of garrison artillery. I was the senior
subaltern, and this left me next for promotion to
the captaincy. I had arrived at the mature age of
seventeen years and two months, and was considered
too young to be placed in command. For two months
the Adjutant-General, Baron de Rottenburg, and my
father were trying to get someone to accept the
captaincy, from which my youth apparently debarred
me. John A. Donaldson, of Weston, now Lieu
tenant-Colonel John A. Donaldson, was offered it,
and declined it. Thomas Shortiss, Esquire, also
declined it, for the prejudice against the militia
was still very strong, and no one cared to under
take a difficult, expensive and unpopular duty, from
which there was no possible advantage or return.
Early in January, 1857, I heard a rumour that the
captaincy was to be offered to Lieutenant Charles
W. Robinson, now Major-General Robinson. He was
first-lieutenant of the Battery, was about my rank and
not more than three years my senior in age — in fact I
had been at Upper Canada College with him. As soon

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE FORCE Z".
as I heard of this rumour, I went down at once to the
Adjutant-General's office, for Toronto was then the seat
of Government, saw Baron de Rottenburg, and asked
him if it was fair to put a young man of twenty over my
head, because I was only seventeen and four months.
I said my age was a fault I would constantly be
growing out of. He was very kind to me indeed ;
said he could hardly gazette me as captain, but that
he would gazette me to the command temporarily as
lieutenant, and if I was able to recruit the troop up to
full strength (for more than half had followed Captain
R. B. Denison into the garrison artillery), and proved
that I was able to command it, he would then give me
my captaincy.
Shortly before Captain R. B. Denison was gazetted
into the artillery, an order was made that all the
revolvers which had been issued to the men in the
previous spring should be taken into store and held
together in one place for inspection. This was a most
unpopular order, and the men all threatened to leave.
As Captain Denison was just about going into another
corps, he did not carry out the instruction, so that
when I was placed in command, my first act was to
enforce the order, at the risk of losing what men were
left. I immediately took in the revolvers, going to each
man's house and demanding them. One or two
demurred, but I told them I would go straight to
a magistrate and summon them if they refused. They
nearly all wanted to give up everything at the same
time, and wanted to leave the corps at once. I said

38 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
" No, you must give me six months' notice in writing
first." Not one man sent in his notice.
I soon filled up the troop to its full strength of fifty-
five non-commissioned officers and men, Orlando Dunn,
whom I appointed sergeant-major, giving me invaluable
assistance. He rose, from time to time, until he retired
as Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897, after
forty and odd years of most excellent service. We
served together in the Fenian Raid and North-West
Rebellion, and all my life I have found him a loyal,
zealous and efficient officer, a good comrade and friend
and an honest, true gentleman.
My first appearance as commanding officer of my
troop was on February 26th, 1857. It was the first
time that the whole duties fell upon the militia. My
father's diary under that date has the following entry :
" A lovely day ; roads hard in the morning, but it
began to thaw from the sun. The Parliament opened
this afternoon, when the active militia turned out in
force. My artillery fired the salute, the cavalry fur
nished the escort. The foot artillery lined the steps of
Parliament House, and the Toronto Volunteer Rifles
gave the guard of honour — All by the militia!'
I was, of course, but a boy of little more than seven
teen and naturally anxious as to how I would get along
with some forty-five men who turned out that day, all
of whom were older than I was. I was a little in awe
of the senior sergeant, Charles Smith, who had been
eleven years in the regular cavalry, but felt I must
necessarily let him understand at once that I was in
command. We had taken the Governor-General to

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE FORCE 39
the Parliament House, and marched the escort away
to keep them moving about, as it was cold. Sergeant
Smith, so that a number of the men could hear him,
said to me : " Lieutenant, you had better form up" sug
gesting how I should do it. I said to him, so that I
could be heard by most of the men, " Sergeant Smith,
I am in command of this corps ; when I wish your ad
vice I will ask you for it. Until I do ask you for it, you
will please keep it to yourself."
This was the best thing that could have happened to
me. Coming after my firmness about the return of the
revolvers, it let the men see that I could not be trifled
with. The first few years I felt the necessity of being
very strict. I always drilled my men myself, and
worked so hard at it that I knew the drill book
almost by heart. When at the time of the Trent
affair, in 1862, the militia department sent me Serge
ant-Major Moorhouse, of the i6th Lancers, as drill-
instructor, I told him, when he reported to me, that
I would not require him to do any drilling. I said I
would lose hold if I ever let my men believe that I
thought any one knew how to drill them better than
I could. Sergeant-Major Moorhouse acted as a troop
leader during the annual drill. He was much liked
by both officers and men and at the close we presented
him with a handsome testimonial.
To return to this first escort. When we took the
Governor-General Sir Edmund Head back to Govern
ment House, his A.D.C. called me over to the door
after His Excellency had alighted from his carriage,
and the Governor-General thanked me for the escort.

40 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
and told me to express his thanks and appreciation to
the officers and men. Sir Edmund was commonly
reported to be the most stern and gruff Governor-
General we ever had, and he was somewhat dreaded
by his ministers ; but he was evidently amused at my
youth, for he could not help laughing at me as he was
talking to me.
I dined that night at the State dinner at Government
House, and as it was my first big dinner I was very
much impressed with the display, which was on an
extensive scale. I always found Sir Edmund Head
most kind and amiable to me and I retain a very
affectionate memory of him.
I do not know how long Baron de Rottenburg
intended to leave me in command as a lieutenant,
but in the beginning of April I learned that Charles
Clarke, of Yorkville, and some friends were busy organ
izing a troop of cavalry, and had secured the names of
a number of men willing to enlist. I heard he was soon
going to be gazetted captain with his lieutenant and
cornet. I went to Baron de Rottenburg and said I
had already been two years in the force, had put in
one drill, had recruited my troop to the full strength,
and had escorted the Governor-General to the opening
of Parliament, and I asked him if it was quite fair to
keep me back because I was young and put other men
over my head who had done nothing. His reply was :
" It would not be fair ; you have done well and you will
be gazetted in the next Gazette," and in the order which
was dated April 23rd, 1857, and which contained the
gazetting of the Yorkville cavalry, there was an item

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE FORCE 41
stating that the commissions of myself and my two
officers should date from April 22nd. This put me
ahead of a number of officers, but as under ordinary
circumstances I would have been gazetted in the
previous November no injustice was done.
On May 24th, 1857, there was a Queen's birthday
parade and I commanded for the first time as captain,
and to commemorate the event I gave a dinner to the
officers and men of my troop at the American Hotel,
then one of the leading hotels, situated just where the
Board of Trade building now stands, corner of Yonge
and Front streets. It was my first appearance as chair
man at a public dinner.
The annual drill for that year took place in June, and
in the same month in the following year. In August of
1858, what is known in Canadian political history as the
" Double Shuffle " took place, in which John A. Mac
donald's Government was defeated, the Brown-Dorion
Government sworn in, and it in turn defeated two days
after. Sir Edmund Head refused a dissolution, and Mr.
John A. Macdonald's Government returned to office.
They were all sworn into different portfolios, and resign
ing those were then appointed to their original depart
ments. This was done under a law which provided
that if a member of the Government resigned his office
to take another department, and was gazetted to the
second within a month, he should not be required to go
back to his constituents for re-election. This has always
been called the " Double Shuffle." It enabled the Conserv
ative Government to pass the estimates and wind up all
the business of the session without the presence of the

42 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
ablest members of the Opposition who had taken office
and had consequently vacated their seats in the House.
There was somewhat of a trick in the whole affair,
and the Opposition party in the city and country were
furiously exasperated and vented it particularly upon
Sir Edmund Head, who, by refusing a dissolution,
enabled it to be done. But Sir Edmund was not to
blame, because he had distinctly warned the Hon.
George Brown that he would not grant him a dis
solution before Mr. Brown had accepted the duty of
organizing a Government. Feeling ran so high that
the Government feared there would be rioting when
the Governor -General came down to prorogue the
House. Dent, in his " History of Canada since the
Union," says : " In some parts of Upper Canada the
tone of the public mind was for some days almost
revolutionary." Again he says : " The moral sense of
the community was shocked. . . . The constitution
had been trifled with. The assembly condoned the
proceedings, but the condonation found only a feeble
echo beyond the walls of Parliament. . . . There
has never been any difference of opinion as to the
moral turpitude of the 'Double Shuffle.'"
This clever scheme was completed on August 7th,
1858, and the House was prorogued nine days later
on August i6th. I received special instructions to
provide as large an escort as I could get together,
and was told that trouble was expected. Consequently
I went about all night myself, with my Sergt.-Major,
now Lieut.-Col. Dunn, and saw the men personally, and
urged them to allow nothing to prevent them beino-

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE FORCE 43
present. Nearly all my men turned out next day. I
talked to them before we went down to Government
House, telling them there might be some trouble, and
cautioning them to gather all around the carriage in
case of any violence, but to pay no attention to mere
noise or insolent expressions or groans. We got His Ex
cellency to the Parliament Buildings without difficulty
and with very few expressions of disapproval. There was
a large crowd massed in front of the buildings and along
the fence which bordered the south side of the carriage
drive, and a row of people as close as they could sit
were perched along the top of it, so as to enable them
to look over the heads of those standing massed along
the fence.
When we started on our return, the crowd began to
hiss and hoot and groan, and we moved through them,
paying no attention to it. The men all thought very
highly of the Governor-General, as did all the militia,
for he had always taken a great interest in the force,
and it can easily be imagined that it was very galling to
them to see a crowd insulting him. I had sternly cau
tioned the men beforehand to pay no attention to noise,
but one young fellow named Cameron, from Etobicoke,
was riding on the left flank of the three men forming
the section immediately behind the carriage. He lost
his temper, and when he saw one man, who was sitting
on the fence, hooting and making most offensive ges
tures to the Governor-General, just as the latter got
opposite to him he determined to stop him. He took
his sword so as to use the flat of it, and reaching as well
as he could over the heads of the people between him

44 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
and the fence, he made a vicious blow at the man. He
struck so viciously and leaned over so far, that he threw
his horse right over on his side, and he fell himself
among the people on the road. He did not reach the
man he struck at, but came so close to him that the
man jerked back, lost his balance, grabbed the men on
each side of him, pulled them over, and before any one
knew what had happened, the whole row went over
backwards into the field behind. Cameron was up and
on his horse as quick as a flash. The Governor-General
never knew what sent the men over backwards, but it
stopped the hooting as we trotted off to Government
House. Shortly after the active force was organized, in
order to encourage recruiting, general orders authorized
the companies to have monthly meetings after the style
of secret society lodge meetings, where all, both
officers and men, were to meet together and discuss
matters connected with the management of the corps.
As already stated I fully appreciated the necessity for
my personally holding a very tight rein. I considered
such an arrangement as most unsoldierlike and contrary
to all rules of discipline, so I decided I would have no
such republican system in my corps. When my men
heard of all the other corps having these meetings, they
sent several of the sergeants to me to ask me when
I was going to organize monthly meetings. I said
"Never, I do not approve of them, and I think that
they are unmilitary and unsoldierlike," and I went so
far as to say that if I heard of any men meeting to dis
cuss the actions of the corps, I would take in their arms

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIVE FORCE 45
and grant them their discharges at once. I told them
that kind of thing might do for the infantry, but
would never do for cavalry, and that any man that
wanted monthly meetings to discuss business should go
into the infantry. I heard nothing more of a desire for
meetings. In the winter of 1858, early in the year, it was pro
posed that all the corps in the city should unite in hav
ing a public ball. Officers and men all to be present
together. A meeting of the officers was held and there
was considerable discussion, when the captain of one
of the rifle companies, a man of thirty-five or forty
years of age, with a very fine, handsome black beard,
but with a bald head, got up to propose that a sergeant
from each corps should be placed on the committee to
represent the men. This seemed to be approved of by
them all, but I got up and said I represented my officers
and men, and I did not see what necessity there was
for having non-commissioned officers on the committee.
The captain who had proposed it was very much
annoyed at me and attacked me on the ground of my
youth. I was then eighteen. He said that children
should be seen and not heard, that he did not come
there to be talked to by beardless boys, that I should
wait till I was a man, till my beard began to grow and
then give my opinion. I at once rose and said that I
was not there in my personal capacity at all. I repre
sented a corps which outranked his, that I had a com
mission giving me the same rank that he had, and that
I spoke in my official capacity, and had as much right
to be heard as any other captain, and as to his personal

46 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
remarks about my want of beard, I could only reply
that my hair grew on the top of my head. This turned
the laugh on him, and I do not remember any further
difficulties on account of my age, for of course every
few months put me in a better position.
Before leaving this question of age, I may say that I
was a major at twenty-two and a lieutenant-colonel at
twenty-seven so that I am under the impression that I
was the youngest cornet, lieutenant, captain, major
and lieutenant-colonel we have ever had in the Can
adian Cavalry.

CHAPTER V
The Active Force Injured by Parliament
The Act of 1859 — Cruel blow to the Militia — Attempt to abolish
the Cavalry — Efforts to prevent this — Bad effect of this
Act — Visit of the Prince of Wales — Heavy expenses —
Civil War in the States — Pamphlet on the Defences — News
paper attacks — My vindication — Second Pamphlet, Novem
ber, 1861 — Argument fully justified — Trent affair — Raids
— Inspection of my Corps in 1865 - Sky-blue Sheepskin —
Difficulty about Saddles — Red tape difficulty — Active Force
review of 1863.
In the session of 1859, only three years after the force
had been fairly established, the Crimean War being
over, the Government prepared a new militia law. It
was drafted and approved of by the Ministry, but before
it was introduced into the House either the Adjutant
General or one of the Ministers permitted my father to
see a copy privately. This draft provided for doing
away with the cavalry arm entirely. This was the first
of many instances where the ignorance of our ruling
authorities has caused our branch of the service to re
ceive but scant justice or consideration. My father told
me what was proposed, and I at once prepared a letter
for the Colonist, then the Government paper. It was
my first article, putting together arguments I had come
across in my reading of military books. The day after

48 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the bill was introduced I took my letter to Mr. Samuel
Thompson, the editor, and asked him to publish it. It
appeared the next day in The Colonist with an editorial
strongly endorsing it. My father at once called to see
Sir Edmund Head, to get him to use his influence to
save the cavalry, and enough pressure was brought to
bear to secure a modification of the law and to save our
branch of the service.
The law of 1859 was a very severe blow to the
militia. The strength of the troops was reduced from
fifty men to thirty, and the pay from ten days to six
days. The drill had to be put in in six consecutive
days in June, and the men were not paid till December.
If the bill had been drawn up for the purpose of des
troying the force, it could not have been much more
effective for that purpose. I look back now on the years
1859, '60, and '61, with much dissatisfaction, as a most
annoying and irritating experience. At this time the
men all had to buy their own uniforms and provide their
own saddles, and the officers received no pay or allow
ance whatever.
In i860 the approaching visit of the Prince of Wales
created quite a stir in the active force, and caused the
expenditure of a great deal of money by the officers
and men of the corps. We had no saddles or bridles
furnished us, and each man had to provide his own. So
they all had ordinary hunting saddles, and the ordinary
light riding bridles. To give an appearance of uni
formity we had headstalls or front pieces made with a
broad white band across the front and two pieces of
leather crossed with bosses, and they had loops by

INJURED BY PARLIAMENT 49
which they could be put in front of any ordinary bridle.
This at a little distance gave an appearance of uni
formity. To cover the saddles we had sheep-skin
covers made, dyed a dark blue and edged with a scol
loped border of white cloth. These being fastened over
the saddle with a surcingle, gave them also a uniform
appearance. My troop escorted the Prince of Wales everywhere
during his visit to Toronto. On his first entry the
crowd was so large and the anxiety to see him so in
tense that we had the greatest difficulty in forcing our
way through the streets to Government House.
The Prince saw the difficulty we had, and specially re
marked on it to my father in thanking him for the ser
vices of the militia on the occasion. The visit of the
Prince of Wales created a marked impression, and no
thing else was thought of all the summer of i860. It
cost me and my officers very heavily, so much was
thrown upon us in order to make a creditable appear
ance. In 1 86 1 the war between the Northern and Southern
States broke out and was naturally watched with great
interest by Canadians. I thought it very likely that we
might be drawn into it, and therefore published a
pamphlet in the spring of that year, under the title,
"Canada — Is She Prepared for War? or A Few
Remarks on the State of Her Defences." I published
this anonymously under the name, " A Native Cana
dian." This produced a violent attack from the Toronto
Globe on the pamphlet, on its author, and on the Active

50 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Force generally. The article appeared on March 30th,
1 86 1, and contained the following sentences.
"At various periods in the history of Canada hef
youth have been visited with a military fever. In this
year of grace, 1 861, the ravages of the disease appear
to be confined to one isolated individual, and he is suf
fering badly, so badly that he has broken out into
print. While this martial ardour only exhibited itself on
gala days, and in drawing pay for drill, he was in no
worse condition than one or two of his relations who
bear commissions in the active force, but now, as his
disease is making headway, he had better be looked
after lest he do injury to others. The fever is infectious,
and has ere now cost the Province thousands of dollars
to abate. If the gentleman's friends will take care of
him we will take care of his pamphlet," and it went on
to attack the whole force in a somewhat scurrilous
style. My reply to this appeared in the Globe of April 4th,
drawing attention to the fact, among other points, that
the officers drew no pay whatever, while they spent
large sums of money in performing a useful public
duty. Within nine months the Trent affair occurred. The
whole country was alarmed and everyone drilling.
New corps were being organized every day, and the
Force was increased in a few weeks from 7,000 to about
30,000. All the newspapers, including the Globe, were
urgently appealing to the people to arm and organize.
In the height of the excitement, I was unkind enough
to walk up to the editorial rooms of the Globe, to the

INJURED BY PARLIAMENT 51
writer who had attacked me in the spring, and said that
I was sorry to see that he had got the military fever so
badly, and as I was quite convalescent, I had come in to
offer my services in taking care of him. He laughed,
said I had him fairly, and told me he would never have
attacked the pamphlet if he had not thought it had
been written by another man.
About a month before this, in November, 1861, I had
written a second pamphlet entitled " The National De
fences," and had it published in my own name. I gave
a number of reasons why Canada should support a
strong defensive force and used the following argu
ments :
" Canada, as a colony of Great Britain, will always be
liable to be engaged in the wars of Great Britain.
" On account of the war in the neighbouring Republic
there are many reasons why Canada should be in a
better defensive condition than she has hitherto been. I
will here briefly enumerate a few of them.
I. " When two nations or powers are at war, it is
always desirable that neutral nations bordering on the
territory of the belligerents, should have a powerful
armed force to support and enforce the neutrality.
2. " When war continues for any length of time be
tween two nations, neutrals on the borders are often
unable to avoid engaging on one side or the other.
3. " When peace is proclaimed between the Southern
and Northern States, a large body of armed and drilled
men will be thrown out of employment, and may in
some instances be induced to make filibustering expe
ditions into our territory for the sake of plunder."

52 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
It is a curious fact that before five years had elapsed
I was completely vindicated in making these predic
tions. Before a month had passed Commodore Wilkes
of the United States war vessel, the San Jacinto, had
taken Messrs. Mason and Slidell, the Commissioners of
the Confederate Government to London and Paris, off
the British Mail Steamer Trent on the high seas, and
we were on the very brink of war. In 1864 a strong
force of our militia had to be placed on our frontier
in the eastern townships, and on the Niagara and De
troit rivers to support and enforce our neutrality.
Eighteen months later Canada had to turn out some
30,000 of our active force to guard her frontier from fili
bustering raids of Fenians, who at one time threatened
our borders with a force about equal to our active
militia. In this latter affair fighting took place in more
than one quarter, and a number of our young men were
killed and wounded. After the Trent affair we were
put on a better footing, and our numbers increased to
about the old standard.
On October 23rd, 1865, Colonel Patrick L. Macdougall,
then Adjutant-General commanding the militia, came up
to Toronto to inspect my troop. We were then allowed
fifty-six non-commissioned officers and men, three
officers and a surgeon. Sixty in all. Every man was
on parade and they were all well drilled. I was then
wishing to obtain permission to raise a second troop.
The Adjutant-General had said to me: "First show
that the troop is full." I saw to this, and no man was
absent. I was also very anxious to be furnished with saddles

INJURED BY PARLIAMENT 53
for the sheepskins we had got in 1 860 were worn out
and abandoned. One of my men, a tall soldierly well
set up fellow, wishing to attract attention, got a large sky
blue sheepskin to put over his own saddle. It was the
loudest, most conspicuous thing one could imagine. I
think it could have been seen half a mile away. It
attracted attention from everything else. He asked me
if I would allow him to use it. I said " Yes," for he
had a very fine horse and rode well and was a good
swordsman. When Colonel Macdougall was watching the corps
going through a number of field movements, etc., he
kept saying to my father who was Commandant of the
district, " They are very handy," " They are working
wonderfully well," etc., but every little while he would
chafe about the sky blue sheepskin, saying it spoilt the
look of the corps, and asking my father why I allowed
it. When he spoke to us at the end of the inspection
he asked me about it. I told him my difficulty. I said
I had been repeatedly applying for proper military
saddles but could never get them. That the men had
to provide their own, and they could not have them in
uniforni pattern, and that I did not like to check a
yorng man who had spent a lot of money to have a
superior outfit. I knew nothing would go further to get
us an outfit of saddlery, and I deliberately allowed it to
be worn as an object lesson.
About a month later I received from the department
thirty-five sets of Hussar saddles complete. As an
illustration of the way the cavalry were treated and the
difficulties we had to encounter, I will quote from a

54 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
letter I wrote on November 23rd, 1865, to the Deputy
A.djutant-General on hearing of them being sent.
" It seerns that I am only to have thirty-five sets ot
saddlery for my men. This will be very embarrassing
to me indeed. I will explain how it will affect me, and
I hope you will do what you can for me in order to get
me fifty-five sets.
"In 1855 v/e were allowed fifty men under the Act
and my troop was filled up by me to the full number,
and was the only troop in the Province that paraded the
full number at inspection. I had no sooner filled my
troop up than the law of 1859 struck off twenty of my
men. This was very discouraging, however, I kept up
my troop at the prescribed number thirty, until the last
militia law was passed allowing me to have fifty-five
men. I saw the Adjutant-General in Quebec last
August, and he told me if my troop was full and was
inspected by him, and if, from what he heard, he
thought I would be able to keep up another troop, he
would allow me to organize a second troop. I therefore
completed my troop to the full complement of
fifty-five men, renewed their clothing to a great extent,
put in eight days drill for this year and turned out for
inspection by the Adjutant-General with fifty-five
men uniformed. The Adjutant-General seemed satis
fied with the inspection, and told the men he would
let them have saddlery and uniforms, he hoped before
the close of navigation.
" Now receiving only thirty-five sets, if these are all I
am to receive, embarrasses me in this way. First, I
cannot tell to which of the fifty-five men to whom he

INJURED BY PARLIAMENT 55
promised saddlery, I am to give the thirty-five sets.
Secondly, even if I do decide upon thirty-five men to
give them to, the others will be dissatisfied and will not
like turning out with common saddles along with men
with proper saddles. Third, it would look very bad
indeed to see a troop on parade with one-half the men
in military saddles and the other half in civilian
saddles." And, after explaining other difficulties, I
asked if I could not get the extra twenty sets.
I received a reply from headquarters saying that : —
" The Adjutant-General is unable at present to comply
with his application as there are only a limited number
of sets at the disposal of the Department, and those
troops which are reported efficient throughout the
Province must each receive their just proportion which
Major Denison's troop has already had."
It will be seen that I turned out fifty-five men on
parade, the other troops in the Province from thirty to
thirty-five. They got saddles for all their men, while I
got only enough for three-fifths of mine, and I was told
that was a just proportion. This I had some difficulty
in seeing.
The following letter is another illustration of the dif
ficulties at that time thrown in the way of officers who
received no pay, and men who received very little for
the services they were giving to the country, these
difficulties being created by officials who made their
living out of the positions they held. This letter is
dated August 17th, 1865, and was sent to the
Adj utant-Gen eral.
" I have the honour to draw your attention to the

56 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
following statement, hoping that you will be pleased to
make such arrangements as will relieve me from the
difficulties I complain of.
I. " I beg to state that by General Order No. I of
December 27th, 1855, the troop under my command was
gazetted at Toronto with its headquarters at Toronto.
2. "That by General Order, No. 2, November 17th,
1862, the city of Toronto was set apart as Military
District, No. 10.
3. " That shortly thereafter the Brigade Major of the
1 0th District received an unofficial letter stating that
the troop was noted as in the 5 th District of which
letter I was made aware in an unofficial manner some
months after.
4. " That I applied to the Commandant as to whether
I was to act upon the unofficial letter or upon the
general order placing the troop at Toronto, and that
the Commandant informed me that he had spoken to
His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, and that I
was to consider my troop in the loth District until
transferred by order of His Excellency.
5. "That I accordingly informed the Brigade Major of
the loth District of my intention to drill in June last, that
he was present every day during the drill and inspected
the arms, both swords and pistols, and was perfectly
satisfied with the arms and drill.
6. " That on the completion of the drill I gave him
the pay lists, signed, for him to certify, when he returned
them with the enclosed copy of letter, and refused to
certify to them, he saying that he was not the Brigade
Major for my District.

INJURED BY PARLIAMENT 57
7. " That the men of my troop have been kept out of
their pay for several weeks on account of this misunder
standing, and one which I and the troop under my com
mand could not avoid, as we have only acted under the
general orders and the orders of the commandant."
Shortly after, this matter was put right and my men
received their pay.
The first large review of the active force at Toronto
took place on October Sth, 1863. The city council
gave a grant of $1,000 to help to pay the expenses of
the outside corps. A strong force turned out. There
were two brigades. The first, commanded by Colonel
Peacocke of the i6th Foot, consisted of his regiment, of
a battery of Royal Artillery, and three battalions of
active militia. The second brigade was commanded by
my father and consisted of five troops of cavalry, the
militia field battery, the naval brigade, and four
battalions of militia infantry. Major-General Lindsay
came up from Montreal to take the command. The
review was quite a success.

CHAPTER VI
Recollections of Confederate Officers
Southern refugees in Canada — General Jubal A. Early — Colonel
Jacob Thompson — Northern spies — Lieutenant S. B. Davis
— His adventures — His trial — Sentenced to death — Saved
by Abraham Lincoln — General Early's campaign, I864 —
His obstinate loyalty to his cause — General G. T. Beaure
gard — General Early goes to church — Jefferson Davis'
arrival in Toronto — Goes to Niagara — Visit Jefferson Davis
at Beauvoir, 1883 — Estimate of Joseph E. Johnston —
Early's opinion — Mrs. Jefferson Davis — Anecdotes of
Washington — General Scott — Mrs. Davis' dinner party —
Visit to General B. E. Lee at Lexington — Lee's stately
manner — jHis account of Mechanicsville — General Lee's
intended visit to Toronto — His illness and death — Narrow
escape of Captain Boyd.
During the years 1862-3-4-5, the war in the United
States was going on, and I watched it with great inter
est, trying to learn as many lessons as possible from the
practical working of new conditions, caused by rifled
fire-arms, revolvers, telegraphs, railways, etc. In the
last year of the war there were a number of escaped
prisoners, and after the war a number of refugees who
visited Canada, including Jefferson Davis, Generals
Breckenridge, Jubal A. Early, McCausland, Richard
Taylor, John B. Hood, Heth.W. S. Preston, and many
other officers of lower rank, with whom I was in the habit

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 59
of frequently discussing military matters, thereby gather
ing a great amount of knowledge of the practical
working of the military art under modern conditions.
General Jubal A. Early, who was one of the ablest of
the Southern leaders, lived in Toronto and at Drum-
mondville for a couple of years. We became very close
friends and he was often at my house. We used to
discuss military problems for hours together and I found
it a great education to have the shrewd practical
experience of a very able general brought to bear on all
modern theories.
Colonel Jacob Thompson, who had been secretary of
the interior in Buchanan's Government, was for some
time the Confederate commissioner in Canada, and lived
for many months at the Queen's Hotel, Toronto. At the
same time, there were a number of spies of the Federal
Government sent there to watch him and all who spoke
to him. I heard that at one time some twenty to thirty,
both men and women, lived in the hotel. I became
very friendly with Colonel Thompson, and he used to
visit at my house. I was a strong friend of the Southern
refugees who were exiled in our country, and I treated
them with the hospitality due to unfortunate strangers
driven from their homes.
Colonel Thompson had the greatest difficulty in keep
ing up any communication with his Government in
Richmond. Any persons seen communicating with him
about the hotel, and then observed leaving by train,
were shadowed by the United States secret service men,
and on crossing the border were arrested, tried as spies,
and several were executed. Captain Beale and Captain

60 SOLDIERTNC! IN CANADA
Kennedy were both captured in this way and tried and
hanged. On January 4th, 1865, an officer from Richmond,
Virginia, arrived safely in Toronto with papers neces
sary for the defence of the raiders who were on trial here
for the St. Albans and Lake Erie raids. He thought
when he reached Toronto that he was quite safe, and
registered his own name and address in the Queen's
Hotel register, " Lieutenant S. B. Davis, C. S. Army,
Richmond, Virginia." He asked at once for Colonel
Thompson's room, and was shown up. He announced
his mission and handed out his despatches. Colonel
Thompson's first words were : " Did any one see you
coming in here ? " He could not say. " Did you put
your name in the register?" "Yes." "How?" He told
him. " That is very unfortunate," said Colonel Thomp
son. He got Mr. Davis into the room assigned him, and
told him not to move out of it till his secretary, Mr.
Cleary, went for him. He then sent Mr. Cleary to see
me, and to ask me if I would let Lieutenant Davis stay
in hiding at my house till he left to go back to Rich
mond. I assented, and after it was dark he slipped out,
Mr. Cleary following him, and when it was certain that
they were not followed, they came out to my house.
Lieutenant Davis stayed with me for four or five days,
until Colonel Thompson was ready to send him back.
He kept in the house and only went out for exercise
after dark.
The best plan for him to carry back despatches was
carefully considered. The Federal officers had learned
nearly every trick of searching prisoners. Boots and

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 61
collars were cut open, and folds of cloth in the clothing
everywhere examined. Buttons were taken to pieces
and carefully scanned under magnifying glasses, for
they had sometimes fastened up in buttons reduced
photographs of writing, which were afterwards read
under powerful glasses. An idea struck me which I
explained to Colonel Thompson. It was to write the
despatches on thin white eilk in pencil, and sew them
in the back of the coat or vest, and in the sleeve near
the elbow. The silk could not be felt, nor would it
rustle, and we found that an ordinary wetting would not
wash out the pencil writing. This plan was decided on,
and the despatches neatly written in pencil on five
pieces of very thin silk.
Colonel Thompson wished to see Lieutenant Davis
before he started, and the difficulty was to arrange this
so as not to attract the attention of the spies in the
hotel. It was planned that Colonel Thompson and Mr.
Cleary were to go to their rooms at the usual time,
pretend to go to bed, put out their lights, and then,
an hour or so after, slip out of the side door and
walk up some distance till they found a cab, and
then drive out to my place. They arrived about
I a.m., and from then till about 4 a.m. my wife
was engaged, under Colonel Thompson's supervision,
sewing in the despatches in Mr. Davis' coat and vest.
I had got a friend to obtain a passport in his own name
from the United States consul, and Mr. Davis, who was
a fair haired man, had his hair dyed a deep black. He
was about twenty years of age, a gallant officer who had
been shot through the body and nearly killed at the

62 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
brilliant Southern charge upon the Federal position at
Gettysburg. He had a scar on his cheek caused by
another wound, but not a very conspicuous one. He
had been aide-de-camp to General Winder, who com
manded the celebrated prison at Andersonville in the
last year of the war, and was well known to the Northern
prisoners confined in that prison.
Everything was prepared at 4 a.m., and Colonel
Thompson and Mr. Cleary left. About 5 a.m. Davis and
I walked through the fields to my father's, and I drove
him from there in a sleigh to Mimico, and left him in
the dark about one hundred yards from the station, so
that no one should see us together. He got off safely,
escaped all the spies on the frontier and in the trains,
and was rapidly approaching the border of his own
country when, as ill luck would have it, he met a
number of liberated prisoners who were coming north
to their homes from Andersonville. No fewer than
10,000 had been liberated, and every station was
swarming with them. He was recognized by the scar,
in spite of his dyed hair, arrested, carefully searched,
his clothes and boots cut open, his buttons examined,
and nothing found but his passport. He was locked
up in a room, and at once took out the despatches and
burned them.
He was tried as a spy. In the course of his trial, the
Judge Advocate said that he (the spy) was brave till
captured, but now he asked pity and tried to work on
the feelings of the court. The newspapers of the next
day contained young Davis' speech, made, be it remem
bered, by a lad of barely twenty years of age, who had

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 63
never made a speech before in his life. It is such a
gallant, manly statement, that I will give some extracts.
" Gentlemen, — You cannot make me out a spy when
I am convicted simply of carrying despatches. I can
prove they were despatches by the prisoners with whom
I was confined at Newark, and by British subjects in
Canada. " They know they contained nothing injurious to the
United States Government. There was, so far as I
know, nothing in either of the despatches I took, or
that I was carrying back that could in the least interfere
with the United States or give benefit to the
Confederate Government. What I have to say may
have little weight upon the decision of this court. I
hope and believe you are impartial and just men serving
your country as best you may, so I have done, and if it
should be my fate to die upon the gallows or by the
musketry of an enemy, I can look to God with a clear
conscience and look every man in the face that ever
breathed, and know that I died innocent of the charge
alleged against me. Yes, gentlemen, you may shoot or
hang and launch me into eternity before the bar of God
now or whenever it may seem fit ; but gentlemen, that
moment the muskets fire or the trap door falls, an
innocent man is launched into eternity.
" Gentlemen, I do not ask pity. My heart fears
nothing on this earth, I am no coward ; I, like the rest
of you, have faced bullets before to-day. Some of you
have marks of them, I can show them too. I ask not
for pity, I ask but for justice. If in justice you or any
other court of God's globe can make me out a spy,

64 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
hang me gentlemen, I am not afraid to die. Young as
I am, scarcely verged into manhood, I would like to
live ; but gentlemen I am no coward, and I deem one
who would stand here before his fellowmen, before
soldiers who have faced the foe and felt bullets and ask
pity does not deserve the name of man.
" I fear not death and I can go to the judgment bar of
God now, to-morrow, or whenever it may please the
chief magistrate of this country to say go."
The trial was over, he was found guilty and sentenced
to be hanged. His manly conduct before the court and
his youth created a great sympathy in his favour and his
life was saved by Abraham Lincoln in spite of all the
efforts of Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War,'who seemed
determined he should be executed. Abraham Lincoln's
telegram which stopped Lieutenant Davis' execution
was very ambiguous in its wording, and it was believed
he did it purposely to save Davis' life, and yet be
able to show Stanton that there was a misunderstand
ing. It read as follows : — Executive Mansion, February 13th, 1865.
Major-General Hooker : —
Is it not Lieutenant S. B. Davis convicted as a rebel spy, whose
sentence has been commuted ; if not let it not be done. Is there
not another person connected Vf'ith. him also in trouble. A. Lincoln.
Attempts were made while he was under sentence of
death to get him to give information of the substance of
his despatches. This in the face of death he refused to do.
A newspaper in Virginia many years after gave an

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 65
account of the affair under the heading, "Was this
another Andre case." The article began with these
words :
"Lieutenant S. B. Davis of the Confederate service
probably came the nearest of any officer on either side,
to playing the r61e of the Andre of the rebellion."
And the ending was :
"To the end he kept the secret of his mission to the
Ohio." Talking of this matter with Mr. Jefferson Davis at
Beauvoir in 1882, he spoke very highly to me of
Lieutenant Davis (who was not related to him) saying
that he was a gallant true officer.
I have described this incident fully as an interesting
example of the danger and difficulty of secret service.
I had the satisfaction some years after of meeting
Lieutenant Davis in Alexandria, Virginia, and spending
an evening at his house, where I made the acquaintance
of his wife and children. When I last heard of him a
few years ago, he was Captain of a passenger steamer
plying between Washington and Fortress Monroe.
While on this subject of the Civil war I will mention
a few recollections of the senior officers on the Southern
side. Of them all I knew General Early most intimately.
He was a very able General of great experience. He
commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run
where he did good service, and in all the campaigns in
Virginia he proved himself a brilliant and energetic
officer. When General Lee moved from Fredericksburg
to Chancellorsville in May, 1863 to meet General
Hooker's advance on his left flank he chose General

66 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Early to endeavour to hold General Sedgwick in check.
This he had to attempt with a very inferior force. His
work was so well done that when in 1864, General
Lee detached a force to the Shenandoah Valley to
fulfil the role played there by General Stonewall
Jackson in 1862, he chose General Early to command
it He performed this duty boldly and skilfully and
was able to drive in the Northern troops upon Wash
ington so completely as to come within sight of the
dome of the Capitol and within range of the artillery
upon the fortifications. This was a bold exploit for a
General who had less than 10,000 muskets in his com
mand. During the whole summer and winter of 1864
Early kept a Northern army three times greater than his
own in check.
He was very extreme in his views. When General
Lee surrendered he tried to join Joseph E. Johnston,
who also surrendered before he reached him. He then
started for the other side of the Mississippi to join the
army of General Kirby Smith, and as it also surrendered
before his arrival, he rode on to Mexico and left the
country, rather than submit to the rule of his enemies.
He was a thorough specimen of the unreconstructed
Virginian rebel, of whom the song says : —
" I'm a real old rebel that's just what I am.
And I won't be reconstructed and I don't care a d — n."
I corresponded with him at intervals as long as he
lived. I last saw him in March, 1882, at New Orleans,
where he introduced me to General Georo-e T.
Beauregard, and while in New Orleans I saw them both

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 67
several times. I was not impressed with General Beau
regard. He was a pleasant, agreeable, courteous
gentleman of French extraction, but not a man of
anything like the military capacity of Early.
The Hon. Jas. M. Mason, formerly U. S. Senator and
Confederate States representative in England, who with
Mr. Slidell, had been taken off the British steamer
Trent, lived in Toronto for a considerable time and
afterwards at the town of Niagara. He was another
with whom I became very intimate. He and Early and
Major Helm, who had be^n Confederate agent at
Havana, were often at my house.
When General Early escaped by way of Mexico and
came around to Canada he happened to arrive in
Montreal the same day that General Sherman of the
U. S. army arrived. The General commanding the
forces in Canada, Sir John Michel, naturally called upon
General Sherman and held a review of the troops in his
honour. General Early was entirely ignored. This first
experience evidently irritated him, and when he came
to Toronto and it became known he was in the city, a
number of prominent citizens called on him and offered
him hospitalities. He refused all invitations and my
house was the only Canadian house he ever went to.
One morning I went to see General Early, and after
we had been chatting a few minutes he looked over
some papers on the table, picked out one and pointing
out an item said: "Read that." It was a Southern
newswaper and the item was an anecdote of General
Early, told on the authority of one of his staff officers.
The story was told that in the Valley of the

68 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Shenandoah during the winter of 1864-5 while Early
was there in command, he electrified his staff one
Sunday morning by announcing his intention of going
to church. Several of his staff went with him. The
clergyman happened to preach a sermon that day on
the resurrection and drew a very vivid picture of the
scene and of all the departed rising by millions in their
white shrouds. " What would be your feelings my dear
brethren on that day ? What would be your feelings at
seeing all the dear ones who have gone before rising
on that dread occasion ? What would be your feelings
at seeing those of our brethren, those gallant ones who
have given up their lives for our beloved country, rising
in their thousands and marching in solemn procession ?
What would you think my brethren ? " General Early
turned to his staff officer and said : " I would conscript
every d — d one of them."
I read the paragraph, looked very seriously at the
General and said : " Is that story true. General ? " He
laughed and said : " I am afraid it is Colonel, but what
right had that fellow to go and tell it to the papers, that
is enough to destroy a man's reputation for piety. The
preacher kept on asking how I would feel, I wanted
men that last winter very badly, and it was a very
natural thought."
When Jefferson Davis was released from Fortress
Monroe on bail in 1867, after two j-ears imprisonment,
he came at once to Montreal and. after a day or two, on
to Toronto. I heard a couple of hours before the
steamer arrived that Mr. Davis was coming on her. I
went around and started a number of friends to pass

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 69
the word through the city for as many as possible to
come down to the wharf and give him a reception. By
the time the vessel arrived a crowd of several thousand
people filled the landing place. I got on a pile of coal
with a number of friends to give the signal and start
the crowd to cheer. As Mr. Davis appeared on the
gangway with Messrs. Mason and Helm, I was so
astonished at the emaciation and weakness of Mr. Davis
who looked like a dying man, that I said to a friend
near me, " They have killed him," and then I called for
cheers which were most enthusiastically given, and
nothing could have been more cordial and kindly than
the welcome he got.
An hour or two after Mr. Mason called for me and
took me up to meet Mr. Davis, and introduced me
to him, and invited me to go over on the afternoon boat
with them to Niagara, where Mr. Davis was to spend
some time with Mr. Mason, who was then living
there. The party consisted of Mr. Davis, Mr. Mason,
General Early, Captain Winder, of Baltimore, and
myself. I remember as we were walking from the
wharf at Niagara, up to Mr. Mason's house, Mr. Davis
noticed a large United States flag on Fort Niagara just
across the river and pointing it out he said to Mr.
Mason, " Look there Mason, there is the gridiron we
have been fried on."
Mr. Davis was serenaded by the people of Niagara,
headed by the town band. He was much touched by
the spontaneous mark of respect paid to him and spoke
his thanks in the following words :

70 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
"Gentlemen, I thank you sincerely for the honour
you have this evening shown to me ; it shows that true
British manhood to which misfortune is always attrac
tive. May peace and prosperity be forever the blessing
of Canada, for she has been the asylum for many of my
friends, as she is now an asylum to myself. I hope that
Canada may forever remain a part of the British
Empire, and may God bless you all, and the British flag
never cease to wave over you."
On his return to Toronto Mr. Davis remained several
days, being loudly cheered by the people on the streets
whenever he appeared.
Mr. Davis visited Montreal again in June, 1881, and
went home by way of Toronto in order to spend a day
with me. On leaving he cordially invited me to go
down to Beauvoir the following winter and pay him a
visit, and in March, 1882, my wife and I went to New
Orleans and on to Beauvoir, a beautiful place on the
Gulf of Mexico. Here we spent a week, and on the
broad veranda, looking through the orange and
magnolia trees upon the sea, we sat by the hour
discussing the events of the war, and the inside history
of it from the Southern side.
Mr. Davis told me that he had no desire to be
President of the Confederacy and wished to avoid it,
as he was more anxious to take a command in the field.
He was a thoroughly trained West Point graduate, and
had won a great reputation by his handling of his men
at the battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican war. He
told me that he thought he had it arranged that Howell
Cobb was to be President, but when the convention

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 71
met at Montgomery he in his absence was chosen
unanimously. He told me he would much rather have
been in command of an army. I made the remark that
perhaps the Southern people wanted a man who would
fight it out obstinately to the very last. " Well, Colonel,"
he replied with a smile, " if that was what they wanted,
that was what they got."
One day when discussing various Southern generals,
I mentioned Joseph E. Johnston, and said : " Mr. Davis,
perhaps you can give me some explanation of a matter
that has always been very puzzling to me. I have
noticed that General Joseph E. Johnston has always had
a high reputation among the people generally, and in
the press as an able, clever, commanding general.
This reputation he has held with the masses of the
people through the war and since. I have studied all
his campaigns very carefully, and I cannot find any
justification for ranking him above mediocrity, and it
has always been a great puzzl& to me. Can you give
any reason for it ? "
Mr. Davis replied : " Your estimate of his capacity is
quite accurate. He was thought to have done fairly
well at Bull Run, and this was at the outset, and had
great influence on the public mind, but the real cause of
his reputation was the fact that he surrounded himself
with newspaper men and writers, and he explained to
them all his movements on highly scientific principles
which read well in print, and when he was retreating and
falling back and losing territory and morale, he had
explanations so complete and scientific that the public
never properly understood. You are quite right, his

72 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
campaigns do not show any great military ability. He
is much overrated."
I once asked bluff old General Early his estimate of
General Joseph E. Johnston. His reply was character
istic, " Lord, God ! Colonel, the man would not fight
He would not fight You can't call a man a soldier or
a General who will not fight, who retreats always. He
was no general."
Mr. Davis had a very high opinion of General
Albert Sydney Johnston. He was under the impression
that if he had lived he would have achieved the greatest
reputation of all. This feeling I found universal among
those who had known Albert Sydney Johnston, still the
point was never proved, as Johnston was killed in his
first action.
Mrs. Jefferson Davis is an exceedingly clever and
accomplished lady, and I enjoyed immensely talking
over incidents of the war and listening to her
anecdotes of the various prominent men, which she
told in a most humorous and witty manner. I have
heard that when she was a young woman, when her
husband was the Secretary of State for War in the
Cabinet at Washington, her wit and brilliancy and lively
remarks made her unpopular with some. She was Mr.
Davis' second wife, and the prominent position she held
as a Cabinet Minister's wife was rather trying to her,
being then quite young. She evidently did not like
General Winfield Scott. She told me he was a very
tall, large man. I believe he stood about six feet four
inches. He had not long before been commanding the
United States' army in the Mexican war. He had

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 73
served in the war of 1812-14 in Canada and had been
captured at the Battle of Queenston Heights. He was
a man of sixty-seven or sixty-eight years of age when
Mr. Davis was made Secretary of State for War. Mrs.
Davis told me he was very pompous, egotistical and
overbearing and somewhat rude in his manners. As
wife of the Secretary of War she was necessarily thrown
in contact with him and sometimes had to entertain him
at dinner. She had noticed that at table if any dish
dissatisfied him he would mutter " tut ! tut ! " and show
unmistakably his displeasure without the slightest
regard for the feelings of his hostess.
She told me that when she first invited him to dine,
she was in great trepidation knowing what an epicure
he was. So, thinking if the soup was right it would
please him, she went to his house the morning of her
dinner and saw the General's cook who had a great
reputation in Washington as a chef, and telling him
that the General was coming to dine with her and
would not be at home to dinner, said she would give
him five dollars if he would only come and prepare the
soup of a special kind which the General particularly
liked. This was done.
When the hour of dinner arrived the Commander-in-
Chief took the hostess in to dinner and sat on her right
The soup was passed around. General Scott took his
spoon, tasted it, put the spoon down with an air of
disgust, said " tut ! tut ! tut ! tut ! " and let everyone near
see that he was dissatisfied. Mrs. Davis turned to him
sweetly and said, " Is there anything wrong with the
soup, General ? " " It is not good," he replied. " It is

74 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
useless for anyone to attempt to make that soup. I
only know of one cook who can make it." Mrs. Davis
said most amiably, "I am so sorry, General, that the soup
is not good. I was so anxious to have your favourite
soup, and so anxious that it should be just right, that I
went and asked your own cook, as a great favour to me,
and to make things pleasant for you, to come and make
the soup for the dinner. I am very sorry indeed that
my efforts have been a failure."
General Scott made no more complaints, but relations
between him and Mrs. Davis were strained, and evidently
from the mischievous way she told me the story, it must
have been a well-known joke on the General in Wash
ington society.
In her memoirs of her husband, Mrs. Davis recalls a
remark, made about the year 1845, by General Gaines,
who was asked what he thought of General Scott's plan
of retaining the French words of command in his "System
of Tactics." He responded in his hesitating way : " I
a  think sir, that  the English language is  a
 sufficiently copious  to express  a  all
the ideas that  a  General Scott will ever have."
I was also fortunate enough to meet another of the
great leaders of the war — General Robert E. Lee. Of all
the men who have lived during my time, there were
three whom, of all others, I should have liked to have
met and spoken to. General Lee was one, the others
Bismarck and Garibaldi ; the latter two I never saw,
but if I had I doubt if my opinion of them would have
risen immensely as was my experience in meeting
General Lee.

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 76
In 1868 I took the liberty of sending him a copy of
my work on " Modern Cavalry " published that year.
As it referred largely to campaigns in which he was
engaged I thought he might be interested in it. I
received a polite note thanking me for it, and saying
he would read it, and that he had no doubt he would
receive valuable information from it. I naturally con
cluded he was having a little quiet fun out of me for
sending him, the greatest soldier of the age, my views
as to how cavalry should be organized, armed and
employed in war, and more particularly as I knew he
had been a colonel of cavalry.
Two years after, in March, 1870, I was in Virginia and
spent a day with General Fitzhugh Lee at Alexandria. I
had been introduced to him by General Early, and had
had some correspondence with him. I was going on to
Richmond and General Fitzhugh Lee said I should go to
Lexington to see General Robert E. Lee. He said he
would write to his uncle, which he did, and it was arranged
for me to go. I went down and spent part oftwo days
with the great soldier. I had met Major Jed. Hotchkiss,
topographical engineer to Stonewall Jackson and Early,
as well as to General Lee, and told him I was going to see
the General. I also mentioned the General's letter to
me and my impression that he had been giving me
a little gibe in saying that he expected to gain some
information from my book.
Major Hotchkiss at once said: "Colonel, you are
absolutely wrong. You have no idea of the General's
character if you think that When you have seen him
you will know better. He is a singularly modest man,

76 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
and what he said was in perfect good faith and fully
meant." General Lee impressed all who approached him. I
have seen some men whom the world esteems great
men, but no man ever impressed me as he did. In
stature he was about five feet ten inches, but from his
splendid figure and magnificent carriage, as well as from
the massive appearance of his head, he seemed much
taller. He looked the very personification of high and
pure intelligence. No one could fail to be at once
impressed, nay awed, by the calm majesty of his intellect,
while there was an almost childlike simplicity and kind
ness of manner that won upon you at once. You could
not conceive of him having any ordinary human weak
ness. He was one of those men that made the ancients
believe in demi-gods.
General John B. Gordon who served under him and in
close association, who was with him at Appomatox,
spoke of him in these words at a memorial meeting at
Richmond in 1 870 : —
" Of no man whom it has ever been my fortune to
meet can it be so truthfully said, that, grand as might be
your conception of the man before, he arose in incom
parable majesty on more familiar acquaintance. This
can be affirmed of few men who have ever lived or died,
and of no other man whom it has been my fortune to
approach. Like Niagara, the more you gazed the
more its grandeur grew upon you, the more its majesty
expanded, and filled your spirit with a full satisfaction,
that left a perfect delight without the slightest feelin"'
of oppression. Grandly majestic and dignified in all

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 77
his deportment he was as genial as the sunlight of May,
and not a ray of that cordial social intercourse but
brought warmth to the heart, as it did light to the
understanding." General Lee's manner was of the old fashioned stately
type of a hundred years ago. He always spoke of his
wife as "Mistress" Lee, not Mrs. As an illustration of
his courtesy and deference to his invalid wife, as well as
of thoughtful kindness and consideration to me, a
stranger, I may mention that, before leaving Richmond,
I had bought a photograph of the General, and when
chatting with the family in the evening I brought
out the photograph, and asked the General if he
would kindly give me his autograph upon it. He
said in a humorous way, "That is a matter that will
have to be left to Mistress Lee" (who was sitting in
her invalid chair near us knitting), " for she must
always approve of my photographs before I sign
them." He took the photograph and showed it to her.
She examined it carefully and said, "That is a very
good one, but I think, Robert, that those you had taken
last are better." "Very well then," said the General,
"Will you not give Colonel Denison one of them?"
"Certainly," she replied, and the General wheeled her
in her chair out of the room. They returned in a
few minutes when to my surprise he gave me one
of the later ones with the words, " Lieut.-Colonel
Denison with the compliments of R. E. Lee," written on
it, saying "That is for you;" then he handed me another
like it, similarly inscribed, for my wife. He also gave
me another, with his autograph, taken when he was a

78 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
young man, saying. "Perhaps Mrs. Denison would like
to see what I looked like when I was young " and finally
he gave me the one I had brought with his autograph on
it, saying in a joking way. "Mistress Lee permitted me
to sign that also." 1 shall never forget the kindly way
in which the whole thing was done. He saw that I was
shy about asking for his autograph and would prize
it, so he let me have four.
After I came home my wife gave one to a lady friend,
who was anxious to have one. I gave one to an old
friend. Viscount Dillon, of Dytchley, the head of the Lee
family in England. And many years after General Lee's
death, hearing Lord Wolseley speaking in warm terms
of General Lee, and wishing that he had an autograph of
his I sent one to him, so that I have only retained the
one especially given to me.
General Lee gave me a very interesting account of his
reasons for bringing on the battle of Mechanicsville on
June 26th, 1862. He told me of Stonewall Jackson's
secret visit to him near Richmond, and of their
concerted plan for Jackson's troops to fall upon the
right flank and rear of the Federal lines, while he
with a large part of his army attacked them at
Mechanicsville. This combined attack was to take
place on June 26th.
Having arranged between them this plan. General
Jackson left with the same secrecy and rejoined his troops.
On the morning of the 26th General Lee's main army was
massed on his extreme left, ready to attack Mechanics
ville. Huger and Magruder were ordered to hold their
positions south of the Chickahominy in the lines before

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 79
Richmond. General Lee told me that he waited in that
position all the earlier part of the da}', expecting that
every moment Jackson would open upon the enemy in
their rear. As the hours passed on he became anxious,
particularly as the position and numbers of his troops
could be seen by the Federals from their lines. He said
that his great fear was that McClellan seeing the mass of
his (Lee's) troops on the extreme left and that compara
tively few men were between him and Richmond, might
take the initiative, and by vigorous attack probably break
through the thinly-manned lines of Huger and Mag-
ruder, who were guarding the direct road to the Confed
erate Capitol.
General Lee, therefore, decided that it was absolutely
necessary to commence an attack on McClellan 's right
at Mechanicsville, in order to occupy his attention and
make him uneasy as to his communications, so as to
prevent him taking the initiative. " I did not think it
safe to wait another night," said the General, " and "
(raising his left hand open and moving it forward) " I
knew by pressing vigorously on his right it would keep
him occupied, and prevent him making an attack on my
own right where I was but ill-prepared to meet it. I
therefore ordered the attack and kept it up till nightfall,
driving the Federals back from Mechanicsville to Beaver
Dams. The next morning I had to renew the attack for
the same reasons that induced me to begin it, and as soon
as Jackson's troops came up in the rear, it relieved the
pressure upon my men, and that afternoon we won the
battle of Gaines Mill." I asked him how it was that
General Jackson did not arrive in time. He replied that it

80 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
was not his fault and spoke in the highest terms of him.
Hesaid that Jackson thought that other men could press
on and annihilate space as he could himself, which was
more than could be expected. Trains getting off the
track and difficulties caused by the roads had also
delayed him as well as time lost while he was coming
to Richmond and returning.
I shall never forget the grand old soldier explaining
his position, and his views about the matter, gesticulat
ing quietly with his right hand and his left while he
illustrated the movements of the two wings of his army.
I could easily see how thoroughly he was master of the
situation, calculating everything, divining almost by
inspiration the thoughts of his opponent
The General took me to morning service with him on
Sunday. There were historic names in that little church.
Besides the great hero himself, in the next pew sat his
oldest son, General Custis Lee, a gallant soldier and true
gentleman, while a near pew belonged to the celebrated
Commodore Maury, the author. I was much struck with
the appearance of the clergyman, a fine manly-looking
old gentleman with grey hair and beard, about fifty-five
or sixty years of age. Having returned to the house
after service I was walking across the hall where General
Lee and the minister happened to be standing talking
together. As I was passing the General said, "Allow
me. Colonel, to introduce you to our minister. General
Pendleton." I shook hands with him, and then knew
for the first time that the clergyman who had officiated
in the pulpit was the celebrated general, who had been
chief of artillery to Lee during a great portion of the

CONFEDERATE OFFICERS 8l
war, and whose name so often appeared in the reports
at the time.
I asked General Lee to come up to Canada and pay us
a visit in Toronto, and strongly urged him, saying that
he would be well received and that the change would do
him good. His reply was very gratifying to me. He
said, " I am sure I would be kindly received in Toronto.
I met Mr. Jefferson Davis when he came down to
Richmond to stand his trial. It was a few months after
his warm reception in Toronto. He told me he had
been hooted at in the stations throughout the Northern
States on his way up to Canada, that he had arrived in
Montreal without notice, but that when he reached
Toronto he was received with the greatest enthusiasm,
and for the first time since his capture two years before,
he drew a full breath, and felt that he was once more
breathing free air. He said he instantly felt better,
and told me earnestly that he believed it saved his life."
General Lee did not say positively that he would not
come, but spoke of difficulties. When I came home I
told Mrs. John Hillyard Cameron, of Toronto, of the
conversation and asked her as an old friend of General
Lee's in her childhood to write and urge him to come.
She did so and he agreed to come up in October. One
of his daughters came ahead of him as far as Detroit,
to visit some friends for a week or two. He was to
follow to Toronto, where she was to meet him. I was
looking forward to his coming when we heard of his
sudden illness, followed by his death, which occurred on
the very day we had hoped to see him in Toronto.
The late Captain Boyd of the Maryland troops, another

82 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Confederate friend of mine, gave me a very interesting
account of his escape from capture by the enemy.
During the advance of General Lee into Pennsylvania he
obtained leave of absence that he might go into the
enemy's lines to the town of Frederick, where his mother
lived. He went disguised in civilian's clothes, but had
not been there long when some Union woman in the
town recognized him and informed the Federal troops.
The officer commanding sent a party to his mother's
house to arrest him. They went to the next door first,
so he knew they were coming after him. He arranged
his plan and when they knocked at the door, he opened
it promptly and asked what they wanted. He was told
they had been sent to arrest a rebel officer, who they had
been informed, was concealed in the house. He told
them it was quite a mistake, that they were loyal people
and requested the officer to search the house carefully.
They went over the whole place, Captain Boyd assisting
them, and after convincing them there was no one
concealed, he gave them something to drink, and
requesting them not to believe any more stories reflect
ing on his loyalty, he politely bowed them out and then
immediately went to the rear of the house, mounted a
horse and rode off about ten minutes before the party
returned to arrest him, having in the meantime discovered
their error.

CHAPTER VII
The Fenian Raid, 1866
Fenian organization — Raid threatened — Manual of outpost
duties — 10,000 militia ordered out — Want of organization
— Title of Governor-General's Body Guard — Fenians cross
at Fort Erie — Queen's Own ordered out — General Napier
— Body Guard ordered out — Chippewa bridges — Rapid
march to join Peacocke — Advanced guard — Fenian pickets
— Want of equipment — Colonel Dennis arrives in camp —
Sent on to reconnoitre — On board the "Michigan" — Enter
Fort Erie — Dr. Donnelly and Father McMahon — Colonel
Wolseley rides in — Colonel Peacocke and the private —
Food arrives from Toronto — Capture of three Fenians —
Useless revolvers.
I have already mentioned that in the pamphlet I
published in November, 1861, I expressed the fear that
at the close of the civil war a large body of drilled men
would be thrown out of employment and might be
induced to make filibustering expeditions. At that
time the Fenian organization was not publicly known.
At the close of the war, however, the movement began
to attract a good deal of attention. We heard of men
drilling all over the States and of Fenian circles being
formed, while open threats were made of attacking
Canada. All during the autumn of 1865, and winter of
1865-6 they were very active, and went so far as to form

84 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
an Irish Republic in the United States. It was a
republic without a territory. A large mansion was rented
in New York, the Irish flag hoisted over it a President
elected with all the officers of state, bonds issued to raise
money, and I have heard that armed sentries in Irish
uniforms mounted guard in front of the offices.
In spite of all these known preparations, in the face of
all these threats, with the want of foresight in military
matters which generally characterizes political rulers,
while the Fenians went on preparing, we did nothing.
I was so convinced that we should have some campaign
ing in the spring, and so anxious that my corps should be
prepared to do outpost duty properly, that I thought it
advisable to prepare a manual of outpost duties for the
use ofthe men, giving in a compact form the recognized
principles which governed such work. I commenced it
about the middle of February and had it all written
before March ist, 1866, and in the printer's hands
during the first week of that month. It was published
and in the shops for sale on the 21st. I had an edition
of five hundred printed so that besides the sixty I wanted
for my own corps, there should be sufficient to supply the
wants of those who wished to purchase them. The whole
edition was soon exhausted. This work was favourably
reviewed in some of the English and in many of the
Canadian papers, and I received complimentary letters
from a number of distinguished officers, including
Generals Early and Breckenridge.
In March, 1866, the Government suddenly became
alarmed, and ordered out 10,000 men. Colonel Patrick
L. Macdougall, then Adjutant- General in command ofthe

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 85
militia, ordered out enough corps to fill this quota. The
next day the returns were sent in and it was found that
about 14,000 men were under arms. The surplus was
caused by the regiments turning out over strength,
through discharged men coming back to the colours on
the call to arms.
My corps was out for about three weeks drilling every
day, the men being billetted about the city in hotels for
their meals, their horses stabled at the show grounds
near the asylum. After about three weeks we were
relieved of further duty, and for a couple of months we
were allowed to drill two half days each week, for which
we received an allowance. During all this time no
preparation of any kind for campaigning was made, no
organizing done, no staff officers appointed, no stores
or equipments prepared and practically everything
neglected. The rifle companies all over the country
were scattered and had no connection with each other.
They were not told off into battalions, nor officers
carefully picked out to command the battalions; and
during all March, April and May in the face of
constant and alarming indications of danger, nothing
was done.
I had foreseen the danger and had for two or three
years been trying to get permission to increase my troop
to a squadron, but without success. That April a new
troop recently organized in Montreal under the name of
" The Royal Guides," received the title of " Governor-
General's Body Guard " and was given precedence over
all the corps of cavalry in the Dominion. I had in 1861
sent in a memorial asking for the same honour on the

8G SOLDIERING IN CANADA
ground of the long services and absolute seniority of my
troop, and it was pigeonholed. I was naturally indig
nant at the injustice, and went at once to Ottawa, saw Sir
John A. Macdonald, Sir A. T. Gait, Thomas D'Arcy
McGee, and other friends in the Cabinet, showed the
unfairness of the treatment, and the matter was settled
by my corps also getting the rank and title for Ontario.
"The Royal Guides" was one of those meteoric or comet
like corps, which flash across the firmament with great
brilliancy and then disappear. It vanished two or three
years after, and some time after my corps was gazetted
as the " Body Guard " for the Dominion.
This difficulty was hardly arranged before I became
still more anxious about the prospect of a Fenian attack,
and about May loth or 12th, I knew the raid was
coming. An old friend of mine, a Canadian, had gone
to the States some years before and was engaged on
various newspapers until it was either forgotten, or not
known that he was a Canadian. In May, 1866, he was
on the staff of one of the most important New York
dailies, and the editor of this paper was well informed of
the designs of the Fenians. He knew that a raid was
going to take place at Fort Erie at the end of May, and
he sent my friend as a correspondent to Toronto, to be
prepared to furnish him with the fullest news at the first
moment operations commenced. Naturally the corres
pondent, as an old friend, came to see me and was often
at my house. He soon saw that nothing was being
done and that we should be taken completely by surprise.
His loyalty as a Canadian overcame him and he divulged
the whole information to me in confidence that I would

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 87
*
not betray him, in order that I should convey the infor
mation to Sir John A. Macdonald and themilitaryauthori-
ties. I wrote to Sir John and I also wrote to Colonel
Macdougall, giving them the information, and I earnestly
requested that I might have Spenser carbines for my
men, and suggested that my corps should be sent over
to picket the frontier near Fort Erie.
Colonel Macdougall, Adjt.-General, wrote me under
date May 15th, 1866:—
" The Spenser rifles question generally has been
discussed. I have sent a report on the subject to the
Minister of Militia, but I think it improbable that the
Government will supply any of the volunteer force with
these arms. I have noted your offer to picket the
frontier, but I hope I shall have no occasion to remind
you of it"
About a fortnight after I received this letter my infor
mation was verified. The raid took place at the time
stated and my corps was sent to the very spot I had
said, only too late to be of any real service. Nothing
could show more clearly the utter want of appreciation
of the real situation than the tone of that letter from
Colonel Macdougall. Matters drifted on in this way until
about May 29th, when the telegraphic news showed
that bodies of men, apparently workmen, were moving
northward from Tennessee. I counted up how long it
would take for them to reach Buffalo, and calculated
the attack would take place Thursday night, the 31st
The next day there was still further news of men mov
ing northward from various points. Still the Govern
ment made no move. On Thursday morning there

88 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
could be no mistake for anyone who understood
military matters ; still nothing was done. I wondered
I received no orders to turn out my corps. I went to
bed Thursday evening feeling positive I should get but
a few hours sleep, and awoke about 6 a.m. without
having been disturbed. I was dressing, when my
brother, the late Lieut.-Colonel Fred C. Denison, then
about nineteen years of age, who was cornet of the
troop, came in and called up to me and said : " 1,500
Fenians have landed at Fort Erie. The Queen's Own
left for Port Colborne about an hour ago. You had
better get to town at once and see if there are no orders
for us to go."
I had foreseen almost everything accurately, but on
one point I had absolutely failed. The idea never
entered my head that the authorities would send
infantry without any cavalry whatever. I should
have known that infantry officers would probably
forget all about the cavalry, but I must confess I
never thought of such a thing. I do not blame my
self for not foreseeing this, for I was still a young man,
only twenty-six, and I had not then that confidence in
the average stupidity of officials which, through long
experience, I have since acquired. .1 went to town as
quickly as possible, still no orders for the cavalry.
although everyone else seemed to be ordered out. I
had made up my mind to go over as a volunteer on my
own account when, late in the afternoon, I received my
orders. The Queen's Own had been ordered out on the
evening of the 31st Lieut-Colonel Durie, Deputy

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 89
Adjutant-General received an order to send a provisional
battalion of four hundred men at once to Port
Colborne. The way in which this was done is another
proof of the absolute want of preparation on the part of
the Militia Department. Instead of having everything
thought out and arranged, and officers told off for
various duties with careful consideration of their
capabilities, nothing had been done. Colonel Mac
dougall simply ordered a provisional battalion to be
sent, that is to say a battalion of four hundred men
picked from different corps and thrown together for the
first time in the face of the enemy. Colonel Durie very
wisely ordered his old regiment, the Queen's Own en
bloc with its officers and staff and men accustomed to
each other.
Lieut.-Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, Brigade-Major of
the 5 th District, was a very good office man in time of
peace, the exact type of man to be dear to the
official heart, a good red tape courtier, but useless as
a soldier. He was an ambitious man, carefully anxious
not to let any opportunities pass him, and hearing of
the battalion being ordered out, he telegraphed straight
to Colonel Macdougall asking to be sent in command of
it Colonel Macdougall telegraphed to Lieut.-Colonel
Durie, Deputy Adjutant- General at Toronto, to send
Lieut-Colonel Dennis in command. He did not know
that the Queen's Own had been ordered out under their
own officer. Major Gillmor, who had been drilling them
during all the March service, and the two days a
week drill in April and May, and who had the confi
dence of the officers and men. The result was that the

90 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Queen's Own Rifles went off the next morning under
the command of a brigade-major from another district,
with whom they had never before been associated. An
other remarkable feature was that Dennis had never
been in the infantry in his life, and had only been about
two years in command of a volunteer field battery of
artillery. He was a surveyor by profession. His
appointment created an unpleasant feeling, which had
an indirect but evil influence on the campaign.
About mid-day of this Friday, June ist, a messenger
came to my office on Jordan street, where I was carrying
on the work of my profession as a barrister, and told
me that Major-General Napier, who then commanded
the Imperial forces of the Upper Canada district, wished
to see me at the brigade office. I went up at once, and
General Napier said he had heard that I knew the
country on the Niagara frontier pretty ^\•ell. I told
him that I did know it around the Falls and up the
river above Chippewa, as I had, for some years, spent
my summer holidays in that neighbourhood. He asked
me a great many questions, and apparently had very
little information as to the locality, and had no map,
except a large general map of the Province of Upper
Canada, which hung upon the wall of the office.
I knew Colonel Dennis and the Queen's Own had been
sent that morning to Port Colborne, and saw, from the
General's questions, that he intended to send Colonel
Peacocke with a force then gathered at Hamilton in the
same direction. I am afraid it was somewhat impudent
of me, but I was so anxious that I thought I would
speak freely, so I said to the General : « I hope you will

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 91
excuse me saying so, sir, but I think you are taking the
wrong line of operations." He looked at me very sharply,
waited a minute to get his breath, for I think my remark
had a tendency to take it away, and then said in a very
stern tone : " Might I ask you, Major Denison, what
justification you have for making such an extraordinary
remark." I snapped at the opening and said: "Certainly
sir," and I walked over to the map and pointed out that
the Fenians were at Fort Erie, the Queen's Own at Port
Colborne ; that if the Fenians moved rapidly to Chip
pewa, destroyed the two bridges over the Chippewa
creek, marched along the south side of the creek to
Port Robinson, destroyed the Montrose bridge on the
way, they would, at Port Robinson and Welland, have
the most vulnerable portion of the canal at their mercy ;
that the Chippewa creek would cover one flank and
Lake Erie the other, and they would have the Humber-
stone marsh also to help to protect them from an attack
from the Port Colborne direction. I also pointed out
that by holding Chippewa with its bridges, and the
Montrose bridge, and by operating from Chippewa our
line of operations would be upon the Fenian flank, and
would threaten their communications and check their
advance, while our communications would be covered.
I think he must have been somewhat impressed by
my remarks, or felt that he did not understand the
country sufficiently to answer them. He thanked
me very politely and expressed his regret that he had
no permission to order me out with my corps, and I
then left him. He immediately telegraphed to Colonel
Peacocke to go to St Catharines, and proceed from

92 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
there either to Port Colborne or Chippewa, as he saw fit
Colonel Peacocke had thought over the matter before
and knew something of the' country, and he pushed on
for Chippewa at once and took possession of the
bridges. To be fair to General Napier, I will finish about this
question of the Chippewa bridges. The next day my
uncle, Lieut.-Colonel Robert B. Denison, was sent in com
mand of a provisional battalion of thirteen companies of
volunteer militia to Clifton to guard the Suspension
bridge over the Niagara river, and prevent a crossing
there. He was at that point about four and one-half
miles from Chippewa, and knowing the importance of
the post and the bridges, he, on his own authority, sent
two or three companies to Chippewa to hold it Ina day
or two General Napier came over to look after matters,
and reached Clifton first He inspected Lieut-Colonel
Denison's command and was told that the remainder of
the battalion were at Chippewa guarding the bridges
over the Chippewa creek. He spoke very sharply to
my uncle and said : " Who ordered that ? " " No one,"
said my uncle. "I wanted to guard my flank and
preserve the bridges." The General grumbled some
what and went on to Fort Erie, crossing the Chippewa
creek on the train. When he came back to Clifton in
the evening, he sent for Colonel Denison and said: "You
were quite right ; those bridges at Chippewa must be
guarded at all hazards. What a country this is where
they call a river larger than the Thames at Richmond a
creek." The Chippewa creek, or Welland river, is about 300

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 93
to 400 feet wide, and navigable to large vessels drawing
ten feet, as far as Port Robinson, nine miles up from the
mouth. About two or three hours after I left the General I
received orders to turn out at once to leave for the
frontier early the next morning. My brother Fred, my
cornet, was a law student in my office, and between us
we did all the work in a prosperous and flourishing law
business which I had worked up since I had been called
to the bar about four and a-half years before. I had
been married in January, 1863, had two children, and
was doing well at my profession, making more than I
was spending, and the work increasing every year. I
handed over all my business to another lawyer, a friend
of mine, and putting a notice up telling my clients where
to go to enquire about their affairs, I locked the door,
and my brother and I started off to send out the
sergeants and corporals to bring in the men, who
lived within a radius of about a dozen miles of the city.
They were riding all night and coming into the rendez
vous at the Exhibition grounds at all hours, so that by
day-break we were ready to start. We were kept back
for the steamer to be loaded with stores, so that we did
not leave for Port Dalhousie until about 8 a.m. of June
2nd. When we reached Port Dalhousie I had to get a
train made up, and load the men and horses on it, and
then we went to Port Robinson in obedience to orders
we had received. There we detrained and fed the men
and horses, and then marched down to Chippewa.
Lieut-Colonel John Hillyard Cameron, who was a
volunteer on Colonel Peacocke's staff, was looking after

94 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
matters at Chippewa, and advised me to wait till the
cool of the evening and then join Colonel Peacocke at
New Germany, where he understood he had halted for
the night My horses required their shoes to be looked
over, so I waited to get that done, and in two hours thirty
horses had their shoes fastened on and attended to.
We then pushed on to New Germany, marching very
rapidly, as we heard Colonel Peacocke was thinking of
moving on.
When we reached New Germany the force under
Colonel Peacocke, about i ,700 strong, was just moving
off. I was ordered by the Colonel to push on to the front
and form the advance guard. We marched some two or
three hours, the pace of my corps being regulated by
the rate at which the infantry of the main body could
march. This was the regular rule for the guidance of
an advance guard, and I can remember how I began to
chafe almost at once at not being able to push on. I
felt that there was no reason why I should not go on
until I struck the enemy's pickets, for I knew I could
easily fall back if overmatched. This impressed me so
that afterwards, in my " Modern Cavalry," I laid down
fully my views of advanced guard work.
After marching about nine miles it began to get dusk,
just as our advanced files had arrived at a point on the
road where the woods (after skirting it on both sides for
nearly a mile at the distance of about 600 or 700 yards),
came close up on both sides, leaving only the road
allowance clear throueh.
The cavalry advanced files, on arriving within about
200 yards of where the woods came up to the road,

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 95
noticed a body of men standing in the opening. They
immediately halted and signalled back that men were in
sight. I galloped on to the front, and enquiring from
my men heard that a force was in front and continually
dropping into the woods on the right, and on looking
myself, saw that it was so. Colonel Peacocke soon after
also galloped up, and on learning the cause of the halt,
requested me to send two men on to reconnoitre more
closely. By this time nearly all had gone into the
woods on the right. I rode on with Cornet Denison
and three men, and detaching him with Sergeants
Williams and James to go down a side road to the
right, I rode on with Trooper Conron to where we
saw, in the dusk, a sentry standing where the others
had been. He also moved into the woods while we
were yet some distance from him. We rode on about
1 50 yards through the woods but by this time it was so
late that I could see absolutely nothing under the trees,
for it was, of course, much darker there than in the open
road. They did not fire upon us, consequently I could
form no opinion of their position or probable numbers.
I thereupon returned to Colonel Peacocke and reported
to him that I could see nothing, suggesting to him that
as their outposts should properly have fired upon us to
alarm their camp, their not having done so was a sign
their force was on the alert and the place being so suit
able it seemed to point to an ambuscade, and that I
thought the woods should be searched.
Colonel Peacocke seemed to have had a somewhat
similar opinion as, in my absence, he had sent for two
companies of the i6th to come up to search the bush

96 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the main force being some distance to the rear. While
we were speaking the two companies came up, and I
went on with Colonel Peacocke, who moved with them
to direct their movements. They opened out to the
right of the road to skirmishing distance and moved on
to the front It was so dark by this time that the men
could not, in the woods, see from one to the other, and
there being a good deal of tangled brush and logs, and
it being very marshy and wet the men could make no
headway. At this time, while I was sitting close beside
Colonel Peacocke, a voice in the dark said : " You can't
go down that way, sir." The man who spoke was near
to me, and looking carefully, I saw that he was a farmer
living about a quarter of a mile back who had given us
some information as we passed. Colonel Peacocke
asked him "Why not?" He answered, "The bridge
is broken." The Colonel questioned him closely and
he insisted that we could not get through. This infor
mation, together with the inability of the skirmishers to
make their way through the woods, decided Colonel
Peacocke to wait until daybreak.
He went back a few hundred yards and formed his
men up in two lines with skirmishers thrown out all
around. The cavalry and artillery remained on the
road in the centre and the whole force slept in their
ranks all night I have mentioned particularly these
circumstances to explain why Colonel Peacocke could
not push on and make a night attack upon a force of
whose position he was ignorant.
The small Fenian picket which we had seen fell back
at once before us through the woods and made their way

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 97
into Fort Erie, about three miles distant, reporting that
they had been driven in by a detachment of the British
cavalry. This statement was published in the Buffalo
papers, and reached the knowledge of the British
Consul in Buffalo who at once telegraphed the
information to General Napier in Toronto, with whom
he was keeping in constant communication. The
telegram reached the General about ten or eleven that
same night, and my father, who was Commandant of
the militia district, was with him at the time. General
Napier read it, passed it to my father and said: "That
is not true, for Peacocke has no cavalry with him." My
father said : " That may be my son's corps." The
General said, " Why that is impossible, he only left here
this morning." My father simply said: "My son George
is the devil to go when he gets started." The General
smiled incredulously. After I arrived in Fort Erie I
wrote home to my father telling him a little of what we
had been doing and when he replied to me he told me
of this conversation with the General and how pleased
he was that he was right.
I had taken my corps about forty miles across the
lake on a steamer to Port Dalhousie, disembarked there,
got a train made up and entrained the men and horses
and went to Port Robinson, some twenty miles,
detrained there, fed men and horses, marched nine miles
to Chippewa, then six to New Germany, then nine
miles to Bown's Farm where we struck the Fenian
pickets within twelve hours from the time we left the
wharf in Toronto.
While crossing the lake in the steamer in the morning

98 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I found a great quantity of commissariat stores going
over to Port Colborne, I took a barrel of hard tack
from the officer in charge and gave a receipt for it, and
distributed one large biscuit to each man, and told him
I would expect him to produce his biscuit for inspection
that night Some carried them in their holsters or
wallets, some in their rolled great coats, and some wags
bored holes in them, hung them around their necks and
wore them as medals. But when we bivouacked at
dark at Bown's farm that night these biscuits were all
the men had, and I believe the other corps did not have
anything. The want of organization or preparation in view of
the long threatenings seems almost incredible. I had
to take my corps on a campaign without the carbines I
had asked for, but with revolvers for which we had only
some four or five ten-j'ear-old paper cartridges for each.
We did not know whether they would go off or not
We had no haversacks, no water bottles, no nose bags.
Some of us had small tin cups fastened on our saddles.
We had no canteens or knives or forks, or cooking
utensils of any kind, or valises. We had no clothes
except those on our backs (I had an extra flannel shirt
and one pair of socks in the small wallets in front of
my saddle). We had no tents and no blankets.
The militia infantry were almost as badly off as we
were, and they slept that night in their ranks in the high
green crops, wet with dew, without blankets or great
coats, and no fires or lights were allowed. The com
manding officer was unprovided with a proper map.
He had been given, just as he was leaving Toronto, a

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 99
piece cut out of Dewey's post office map of Upper
Canada, which showed the Niagara peninsula on a scale
of about ten miles to the inch, which showed the post
offices and the way in which the mails were sent, but
without showing the roads or the natural features of the
country at all. Colonel Peacocke showed me this map
and I asked him if that was the only map he had. He
said it was. I knew he had put up in Chippewa at the
house of Mr. John C. Kirkpatrick, the Reeve, and I
asked him why he did not use his county map. He
said he did not know of it and had not seen it. This
county map was on the scale of one inch to the mile,
with all the roads, streams, villages, etc., carefully shown
and with every man's name on the farm he owned. It
would have been a good substitute for a military map.
The post office map helped to lead Colonel Peacocke
into taking the river road through Black Creek to New
Germany, a distance of nearly eleven miles. When I
arrived in Chippewa and heard I had to march to New
Germany I examined Mr. Kirkpatrick's map and took
the Sodom road which enabled me to reach the same
point in six miles.
The first time I saw Mr. Kirkpatrick after the raid, I
asked him why he did not lend his big map to Colonel
Peacocke. His reply was : " He had a military map
of his own and I did not like to offer him mine." This
mistake I think had a great influence on the campaign,
for it gave our column five miles unnecessary marching
on a very hot day, and the delay thereby caused
probably enabled the Fenians to escape.
During the day news had come in to Colonel Peacocke

100 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
ofthe defeat of the Queen's Own and 13th Battalion in
the morning under Lieut-Colonel Booker, at Ridgeway,
and in the evening wild rumours came in that the Wel
land Canal Field Battery, then armed simply as a rifle
company, and the Dunnville Naval company, had been
attacked by the Fenians at Fort Erie, and all but four
killed or wounded and that Captain King had been
shot and thrown into the river. We heard also that
2,000 re-inforcements had crossed to the assistance of
the Fenians. The news of the defeat of Colonel
Booker's column was true. Captain King lost his leg
and his party were defeated, most of them captured and
many wounded, although none were killed. Large
reinforcements had started to cross to the aid of the
Fenians but had been turned back by the United States
war vessel the Michigan. This news, it can be
imagined, was not very encouraging to our force of about
1,700 men, who were within four miles of Fort Erie. A
line of skirmishers were out all around our position,
small pickets beyond that, and our men lying in their
ranks all night were ready to get up into line in an
instant. About an hour before day. Colonel Peacocke asked
me to go to the front and see that the advance sentries
were on the alert, and to warn them to be very watch
ful. After doing this I was walking back to the bivouac,
the eastern sky beginning to show signs of coming day,
when I heard some one walking behind me, and a voice
said : " Is that you, George?" I stopped, and a man came
up whom I could not recognize. He was dressed in the
common clothes of a labouring man, and had a close

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 lOl
fitting old cloth cap pulled down over his head, a red
woollen scarf around his neck, a large pair of heavy
moustaches and a wild, hunted look about the eyes. He
shook hands with me and said : " Do you not know
me?" I knew there was something familiar, but I
could not place him. He repeated his question and
then I recognized his voice and knew it was Lieut-
Colonel Dennis. I shall never forget how it startled
me; I knew he had gone away in command of the
Queen's Own. I knew they had been defeated with
heavy loss, but we had only heard wild rumours, and
seeing the commanding officer coming into camp
disguised, with his whiskers shaved off and looking
altogether most wretched, the thought flashed through
my mind as to what had become of all my comrades
and friends who had been under his command. My
first remark was : " What has happened to the Queen's
Own ? What news have you ? " " Oh ? " he replied, " I
was not with the Queen's Own, I was with the Welland
Canal Field Battery and the Dunnville Naval company
down in Fort Erie. I heard the Fenians were coming
and I formed up to meet them. Suddenly a large force
of Fenians appeared on our flank on the hill and fired
upon us. The volunteers behaved badly ; they fired
one volley and then broke and ran. I ran down the
river and into a house and back into a stable and hid in
the hay in the loft for some hours. I was not discov
ered, and when I got an opportunity I disguised myself
as you see and came across through the woods till I
came upon the pickets of your force." I told him what
we had heard of the fate of his command. He seemed

102 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
very much distressed at the news, but could not give
me any information whatever as to what had happened
to his men. He was quite ignorant of the very gallant
and stubborn resistance they had made after he had left
them, or of the losses they had inflicted upon the enemy,
for the Fenians, it seems, lost just about as heavily in
that skirmish as they did at Ridgeway.
I found out afterwards, when writing my account of
the Fenian raid, that Lieut.-Colonel Dennis knew that
the Queen's Own resented his appointment. When
Lieut-Colonel Booker was moved with his battalion
and the York and Caledonia companies of volunteers,
from Dunnville to Port Colborne, being the senior
officer he assumed the command and Dennis dropped
into a subordinate position. This did not suit him, and
he took the first opportunity to suggest a new plan of
campaign, by which he was to take the tug Robb, with
the Welland Field Battery (v/hich I have already men
tioned had shortly before been deprived of their field
pieces and been armed with rifles), and the Naval
company from Dunnville, and go down to Fort Erie
and patrol the river and prevent the escape of the
Fenians. Captain Akers, of the Royal Engineers, who
had been sent by Colonel Peacocke to explain and
carry out the plan ordered by him, was led away by
Colonel Dennis and went with him to Fort Erie. This
left Colonel Booker to do his part of the work, which
had been ordered by Colonel Peacocke, without the
benefit of the advice and assistance of Captain Akers,
who alone thoroughly understood what was required.
This led to the failure of all Colonel Peacocke's plans,

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 lOS
to the defeat of Booker's column, and the defeat and
capture of most of Dennis' command. Akers escaped
in the opposite direction from Dennis and reached Port
Colborne safely.
Lieut.-Colonel Dennis was an excellent office man.
He was the pet of the department, the kind of man
officials would consider an excellent officer. Four years
afterwards, at the time of Riel's first rebellion in 1870,
Lieut.-Governor McDougall sent him into Fort Garry
with full powers, and he once more had an opportunity
of retrieving his reputation as a soldier. He refused to
take the advice of Dr. Schultz, Dr. Lynch, Mair and
other loyal leaders and attack Fort Garry the night that
he arrived, which was the soldierlike thing to do and
would probably have settled the whole matter. Instead
of that he issued a proclamation calling the loyal people
to muster together to support the Queen's authority.
When a large number had joined him at the Stone Fort
he suddenly lost heart, slipped off in the night for the
frontier, leaving an order behind him telling his followers
to disband and go to their homes. He escaped safely ;
Schultz, Lynch, Mair and a number of others were taken
prisoners and confined in Fort Garry for a considerable
time. One of them, Thomas Scott, was executed.
Dennis must, however, have been a good depart
mental officer, and there must be a great value in
courtierlike manners, for when he left the Department of
the Interior, about a dozen years later, he was rewarded
with the companionship of St Michael and St George,
although his only important services to the country were
those I have described.

104 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Just before daybreak on my return to the bivouac,
the wagons came up from the rear with some beef and
hard tack. The beef was given to us in small chunks.
We made fires of the rail fences, and sticking the small
pieces of meat on slivers of wood we cooked them over
the fire by toasting them. When they were cooked and
browned on the outside we had to take them in our
fingers and eat them, tearing them to pieces with our
teeth with the juice running over our hands. We went
to the brook near by to get a drink.
That was one of the most primitive attempts at a
breakfast I ever had. As soon as the men had eaten
this so-called meal I was ordered to push on towards
Fort Erie to reconnoitre, as a rumour had reached the
camp that the Fenians had gone back to Buffalo. As
my men were falling in, I went to Colonel Peacocke to
take his final orders. He had made his headquarters
in the yard of a farm house and had managed to get
a kettle of hot coffee, and he gave me a cup of it which,
in the cool dawn, I thoroughly appreciated. As I
mounted my horse to move out I turned jocularly to
the Colonel and said : " Colonel, I am going to take that
fort" I did not think I would so soon be in possession
of the place.
I moved at once down the road leading to the Lower
Ferry and enquired from all the farmers I met as to the
position and numbers of the Fenians. It was about 5
a.m. and not many people were about, but they all
agreed in stating that a large force of Fenians were in
the woods on our right, where we had heard they were
the night before. These stories were so confirmed by

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 105
everyone I saw, that, by the time I reached the river, I
felt that my retreat to Colonel Peacocke's column was
cut off. On coming in sight of the river we saw a scow
black with men crowded upon it, who had just been
emptying their rifles into the water. Wishing to obtain
accurate information before sending back to Colonel
Peacocke, I went to a gentleman who lived almost
opposite to where the scow was lying and was told by
him that the men on it were a reinforcement which had
been prevented from crossing and that it had been
taken possession of by the United States Revenue
Cutter, the Michigan, behind which it was moored.
He told me the main body of the Fenians were still on
our side. This mistake was caused by the fact that the
scow was captured up the river nearer Buffalo, and was
brought down the river close to the American side, and
then brought over to the middle of the stream and
fastened to the Michigan, which was anchored there.
As it came from the far side the conclusion was that it
was a reinforcement
Fearing that Colonel Peacocke might be under the
impression that the enemy had gone, I sent an orderly
to him at full speed with the substance of the informa
tion I had received, sending back at the same time a
small patrol to give notice of any force that might
attempt to close around our rear. I also detached a
number of scouts into the interior to the right and up
the river road towards Fort Erie to search the woods
and give notice of the approach of the enemy, v/hilst I
proceeded up the bank in search of a boat in order to
go on board the Michigan. On reaching the steamer

106 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I was informed by Captain Bryson, in command of her,
that the men he had captured were the main force that
had been in Canada, and that he did not believe there
were many left On reaching the shore I sent a
despatch to Colonel Peacocke stating these facts, and
saying that the first information I had sent him was
incorrect. This despatch was about fifteen minutes after
the first.
Recalling the scouts, we then moved on the gallop up
the river road towards Fort Erie, being warned by the
people we passed that a number of Fenians were still
there. On coming in sight of the village we saw men
dodging in every direction, but when we got up nearly
all were hidden or gone. Muskets, bayonets and belts
were scattered along the road, a few prisoners were taken
by us and the wounded were put in charge of a guard.
After placing guards over the prisoners and over the
arms which were lying on the dock, the men and horses
were billetted in the taverns, being pretty well used up
by about forty hours almost continuous exertion. We
reached Fort Erie about 6 a.m.
Shortly after I arrived Dr. Kempson, the reeve of the
village came to me and introduced himself, and later on
he brought a man up and introduced htm to me as Dr.
Donelly, a physician from Buffalo who had come over
to assist him in attending to the wounded ; for there
were a number about the place. As the reeve introduced
him to me he winked at me with his off eye, and I knew
at once that Donelly was the Fenian doctor. I knew it
would not be fair to arrest a surgeon and we could not
recognize the Fenians as having any rights, so I took

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 107
the cue and thanked Dr. Donelly very politely for his
humanity and kindness, and as soon as possible Dr.
Kempson put him in a skiff and sent him over to
Buffalo. He addressed a large public meeting in that
city a night or two after and gave a graphic and drama
tic account of how he had hoodwinked the British
authorities and escaped arrest
Father McMahon, the Fenian priest, also came to me
and asked permission to bury the dead and attend to
the wounded. I told him the officer commanding the
whole force would be in Fort Erie within two hours and
he would have to apply to him, and I took it for granted
that he would get over the river at once. He was
captured by the troops when they came in and sent to
Toronto with the other prisoners, tried and sent to the
Penitentiary for some years. After the affair was over I
told Sir John A. Macdonald what I had done in reference
to Donelly and Father McMahon, and that I hoped I
had not done wrong. His reply was: "You did exactly
right, I wish the other officers had only shown your
sense. Father McMahon will be a source of trouble and
annoyance as long as he is in prison." He was pardoned
long before his sentence was finished.
I was busy looking after some of the wounded, when
Colonel (now Lord) Wolseley came riding up the road
into the village. It was my first introduction to him.
He had been described to me so often by men who had
been under him in the training camp which he com
manded at La Prairie the previous year, that I recog
nized him at once. He asked me my name and corps
and I told him. I asked him if he was not Colonel

108 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Wolseley, and so we became acquainted with each
other. We were at Fort Erie for about three weeks. I
remember walking along the street in Fort Erie with
Colonel Peacocke, the evening after we got in, and I
asked him what had gone wrong, and how the Fenians
got away, etc. He told me exactly how his orders had
been disobeyed by Dennis and Akers, and all his plans
upset. I said at once : " Have you placed them under
arrest ? " He said, " No." I said : "You certainly should
do so. Such disobedience of orders and such stupidity
should be punished." His reply was, "Dennis is not a
soldier and did not know any better, and he is a volun
teer officer and it would look as if I was trying to make
a scape-goat of him to save myself" He did not know
that the upshot would be that all the blame would be
thrown upon himself. The papers almost all attacked
Peacocke and blamed him for the failure to capture the
Fenians, a failure solely caused by the direct disobe
dience of orders by Dennis and Akers.
I wrote an account of the raid and published a large
edition. Colonel Dennis, whom I had known from my
childhood, hearing I was engaged on it, asked me to call
at his office and see him, and we talked over his action
and his reasons for it at great length, and he urged me
very strongly to defend him, as we were old friends and
brother volunteer officers, and should stand by one
another. I said I must write an honest, true book or not
write one at all, and I refused to be unfair to Peacocke.
One of Dennis' intimate friends also used every effort
to get me to take his side and throw the blame on

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 109
Peacocke. I refused him also. The result was that
Dennis and I never spoke afterwards.
I have gone into all this fully, out of justice to the
memory of Colonel Peacocke, who rested all his life
under most unfair and untruthful misrepresentations of
his conduct in that affair. He was very friendly to the
volunteers. On this occasion that I have been speaking
of, when we were walking along the road in Fort Erie,
we met a young volunteer in private's uniform, who
formally saluted the Colonel. The latter returned the
salute, looked closely at the young man, put out his
hand and said, "Why," (calling him by name) "How are
you ? " and shook hands with him warmly, asked after
his father and mother and what corps he was in, and
then parted with him and walked on. I said : " Colonel,
you do not observe the regular rule that officers are not
supposed to shake hands on the street with privates."
He said : " Why should I ? When I am in Hamilton I
am often at that young man's home. I dine often with
his father and family, and meet him there. He is a
young man of good social position, and because he puts
on a uniform and shoulders his musket to defend his
Queen and country, should that degrade him ? I think
I should shake hands with him all the more on that
account" I have already said that at first we had no tents. We
were camped on the hills above the village on the
extreme northern flank of the line close to the house of
Dr. Kempson, then the Reeve of the village. Next to us
to the south were encamped Lieut-Colonel Hoste's Field
Battery of the Royal Artillery. Colonel Ploste treated

110 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
us very kindly and sent us two tents to help to shelter us
for we were building ourselves shelters with rails from
the rail fences. We had no picket ropes, so we drove
stakes into the ground and fastened each horse separa
tely with the halter chains on our thirty-five sets of
military bridles and with ropes and reins in the case of
the twenty horses that had the ordinary hunting saddle
and bridle. For we had never received the extra twenty
saddles required to complete our establishment In a
few days tents were issued to us and we were able to
return those lent us by the battery.
On the Monday morning a train load of supplies of
food arrived, sent by the inhabitants of Toronto for the
Toronto volunteers. A rumour had reached the mayor
of Toronto on Sunday morning that the volunteers were
starving. He sent messengers to the church doors to
meet the congregations coming out of the churches to
ask all who were willing to help to meet together, and
very soon the warehouses were opened and loads of
bacon, pork, biscuits, corned beef and all kinds of food
and luxuries were poured out by the people, and a train
loaded and sent to Fort Erie. Alderman John Baxter,
who was one of my colleagues from St Patrick's ward
in the city council, was one of a small committee sent
with the food. I was up early on Monday morning,
and riding down the street by the river saw Alderman
Baxter, who was an exceedingly fat, heavy man, seated
on a log. I called out to him : " Hello, St Patrick,
what are you doing here ? " He said : " We have
brought a train load of food, and I am the light troops
sent on in front" This food was most acceptable

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 111
and necessary, and tided over the two or three, days
while the commissariat was being organized and getting
into shape.
We divided up our share with Colonel Hoste who,
the night before, had divided up tents with us, and
a very warm friendship sprang up between the two
corps. Either that night or the next I got a note
from Captain Brown, of the Battery, saying : " Dear
Denison, — We are in luck. We have got an Irish
stew for dinner ; come over and have some with us
now." I went over and we had our meal in the open on a
gate or door taken from a fence, and laid upon stakes
driven in the ground. We sat on benches made of
boards the same way. The servants had gone about
the village and had bought what utensils they could get-
The Irish stew was in a brown earthenware milk pan or
dish. Some beer was in a tea kettle, and we had some
mugs and cups, and glasses and preserve pots to drink
out of. There were about six or seven of us, and we
had a most jolly dinner. I mention this to show how
thoroughly unprepared we all were for service. In fact,
we all had left on but a few hours' notice.
On my way down to join Colonel Peacocke at New
Germany, I had been ordered to leave six of my men at
Chippewa in order that they might be used for carrying
despatches if needed. A day or two after we had
arrived in Fort Erie I asked permission to leave
camp for a few hours to ride down some sixteen
miles to Chippewa to inspect this party and to see
that matters were all right as to their billeting, etc.

112 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I took with me Sergeant John James, who was after
wards an alderman for several terms in Toronto. He
died some years ago. He was then a young man about
twenty-one years of age, a strong, active, cool young
fellow. We rode down to Chippewa, attended to my
business, fed our horses and had lunch, and then started
up the river road for Fort Erie. We had our swords
and revolvers. I had four cartridges in my pistol, and
James four or five in his. My pistol had been loaded
since March, and I had no more cartridges and was not
sure whether what I had would go off, for the percussion
caps had been on for three months.
I do not know why the Department did not get us
ammunition, but believe the cavalry were never thought
of, and that there was no intention whatever to call us
out until they got frightened and ordered out everyone.
I think some of the infantry officials at headquarters
must have read some newspaper or magazine article in
which it was stated that the day of cavalry charges was
over, and that in the future it would be impossible for
cavalry to charge against infantry armed with the new
long-range rifle. This, perhaps, led them to ignore the
cavalry altogether.
At this time there were a number of fugitive Fenians
hiding about in the woods, watching for a chance to
escape. Just as James and I were riding into the little
village or hamlet of Black Creek, a small place with
five or six houses, a resident told me that a man with a
small row-boat was on the shore of the river about half
a mile up, evidently trying to carry off some Fenians.
When we came up within a quarter of a mile of the

!rHE FENIAN RAID, 1866 IIJJ
place we saw the boat with a man sitting in it, drawn
up on the beach where the road ran close to the water.
We immediately rode very rapidly towards it ; we got
within a couple of hundred yards of it before the man
noticed us, when he quietly shoved the boat from the
shore and put his oars in the rowlocks and was just
going to row off when we got up. We had our
revolvers out, cocked, and immediately ordered him to
come ashore or we would fire. He hesitated a moment
but as I took deliberate aim at him and ordered him.
with some strong language, to come ashore, he came.
I told James to dismount and I held his horse with my
bridle hand while I kept my revolver pointed at the
man with the other.
When he touched the shore he got out of the boat
and I told James to search him for arms. I noticed he
had a revolver in his breast pocket and he raised his
hand to reach it I told him to take his hand down or
I would blow the top of his head off, and told James to
seize the pistol. Just at this instant I noticed a pile of
stuff move in the boat and I called to James that there
was someone in the boat. James had taken the pistol
out of the first man's pocket and seeing that it was a
fine new pistol with every chamber loaded, he coolly
put his own revolver into his holster on his belt, cocked
the one he had taken, and went to the boat where, at
the same instant, a man who had been hidden under
some clothes at the stern of the boat, got up. James
picked up another revolver on the bottom of the boat,
put that in his belt, searched the second man, disarmed
him, and put him alongside the first, whom I was

114 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
covering with my revolver. We were so intently
engaged with these two men that we did not notice a
third man who came up behind us just at this time and
made some remark that showed he was one of the
party. We put him under arrest too. In the boat, under
the clothes, we found two Fenian rifles with bayonets
and equipments. We marched the men to the nearest
farm house, impressed a waggon and a pair of horses,
and took our three prisoners, with the rifles, bayonets,
etc., up to Fort Erie, where we handed them over to the
civil authorities, who had taken charge of all the
prisoners. It was not very pleasant for us to feel, in
this affair, that we had no confidence in our pistols. I
could not help being struck with James' coolness as he
took the revolver from the man stepped back a pace or
two, looked at it, and then deliberately cocked it to go
and disarm the other man.
I had every confidence in my men ; they were
generally of good position, many of them sons of well-
to-do farmers ; some were business men. They were
actuated by the same spirit that animated the officers,
and made great sacrifices of time and money in the
interests of their country. All my brother officers
who served with me in this affair are now dead,
many of the men are also dead, and when the medals
for the Fenian Raid were presented, a few months
ago, I was the only officer, and there was only a
remnant of the non-commissioned officers and men
who had served so loyally with me thirty-four years
before. I think it was on the second day after we got

TEE FENIAN RAID, 1866 115
into Fort Erie that Colonel (now Lieut.-General)
R. W. Lowry, who was then in command, sent for
me and asked me to go all over the outposts
and report to him ray opinion as to how they were
placed. It will be remembered that I had only
published my " Manual of Outpost Duties " about two
months before. I rode all along the line of sentries
and visited all the pickets and found a number of most
faulty arrangements, which I reported to Colonel Lowry.
He said he would depend mainly upon his telegraphic
news from the British Consul in Buffalo, who could
notify him of any movement of the enemy. At this
time we had about 2,000 or 2,500 men, while 5,000 or
6,000 Fenians were swarming about the streets of
Buffalo, just across the river.
I had so little confidence in the efficiency of the out
posts that for two or three nights I made my men sleep
fully equipped, ready to jump up in a moment The
night after I had gone around the advance posts I was
fast asleep, when I suddenly heard the alarm sounded.
and then I heard one or two rifle shots followed by
more, then quite a fusilade. Of course we were all out
in an instant and very rapidly formed up. We could
hear the Battery, which was next us, harnessing up in
the dark, which was intense, and the murmur of the
whole force falling in, as we sat on our horses waiting
orders. We waited and waited, the firing ceased, the
noise ceased and an hour or so passed, and then I sent
down to the brigade office to know whether there were
any orders. The reply was that we were to turn in,
that the rest of the force had their orders nearly an

lis SOLDIERING IN CANADA
hour before, and they were very sorry that we had been
forgotten. It was said that the alarm had been caused
by a calf that approached a sentry and naturally would
not answer the challenge. The sentry got alarmed and
fired, and, as it turned out afterwards, killed the calf
This was the story that was accepted in the camp, but
it is possible the alarm was given under orders so as to
train the men to turn out quickly.
For three weeks we were at Fort Erie doing outpost
and patrol duties. We had a camp fire in the middle
of our camp every evening and the men not on duty
gathered around it, singing songs and telling anecdotes
and enjoying themselves. The men got the nickname
of " Denison's Guerillas," partly, I think, from the fact
that I had got them all supplied with jack-boots into
which their trousers were tucked, and we all, both
officers and men, wore them. As no mounted officers
or men wore these in the army at that time, and those
we had were the common lumberman's boots, they
looked very rough and ready and gave the men an
irregular appearance, but they were very serviceable
and useful ; and when I published my " Modern
Cavalry" in 1 868 the Duke of Cambridge took up
the suggestion I made in that book in favour of the
jack-boot, and now, I believe, every mounted officer
and man in the British service wears the lone boots
instead ofthe booted overalls in use in 1 866.
We were ordered to Toronto on June 21st and sent
to our homes. My friend who had warned me that the
raid was coming in the end of May, told me, at the
same time, that if I got through all right I should make

THE FENIAN RAID, 1866 117
arrangements to write an account of it, and advised me
to leave orders to have files of all the papers kept for
reference. So I had the idea in my mind all the time I
was out, and was continually gathering information.
During July I was writing it and getting it published.
An edition of 2,000 was rapidly sold, and that pamphlet
of about 100 pages is now so scarce that any stray copy
coming on the market will bring a large price. I took
great pains to arrive at the truth, and conversed with a
great many people, with all the leading officers on our
side, and with a number of the leading Fenians who
had been engaged. The striking feature to me was the
falsification of history that was taking place all around
me. Fictitious stories were repeated till they were
believed. Blame was placed where it was not deserved,
and faults of the most serious kind escaped censure.
Colonel Peacocke was held up most unfairly to ridicule
and abuse. The late Lieut.-Colonel Booker was also
censured most cruelly without justification. He asked
for a court of inquiry, which showed clearly that he had
behaved coolly and with presence of mind, and with an
anxious forethought in caring for his men on the
retreat. An account of the raid, pretending to be a history of
the campaign, was published by one Alexander Somer
ville, which was manifestly written to put the worst
¦ light on all that Lieut-Colonel Booker did. Some
years after, Somerville, in a fit of remorse, not long
before he died, wrote a letter to Lieut.-Colonel Booker
expressing his regret, and confessing that he had been
hired by a clique of Booker's enemies to write it, but

118 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
that many of the most spiteful paragraphs were inserted
by his employers without his consent and without justi
fication. Lieut.-Colonel Booker let me have a copy of
this letter, which I still have.

CHAPTER VIII
Outpost Duty on the Niagara River
Ordered to frontier again — Employed on outpost duty — Anxiety
about false alarms — Fenian picnic to Grand Island — Pre
tence at landing at Lower Ferry — Attempt to alarm
frontier frustrated — Accident to Lieutenant Denison —
Extraordinary effect of change of air — New method of
enforcing discipline — Peculiar condition of Fort Erie in
August, 1866 — Night ride with Colonel Wolseley — Ques
tion of stimulants — Red River expedition experience —
Advocacy of marriage — Anecdote of Lieutenant {now Gen
eral Sir) W. F. Butler — Colonel Wolseley — High opinion
of him — Report of Black Creek district Colonel Wolseley's
careful examination of that section — Order to secure
contract for scows — Colonel Wolseley asks to retain Body
Guard — 13th Hussars come to Canada — Ordered home
October 5th, 1866 — Field-Marshal Sir John Michel —
Anecdotes of him.
I HAD barely got my book out when my corps was
ordered out again to Thorold, where a camp of
observation was being formed under the command
of Colonel Wolseley. The i6th Regiment of the
Imperial Infantry, Lieut-Colonel Hoste's Battery of
Artillery, and four or five active militia battalions
at a time, were kept there till October — the militia
battalions being kept there for ten days each, and
then relieved by other battalions for the same length

120 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of time. As soon as we arrived at Thorold, before
we had reached the camping ground, I received
orders to march straight on to Chippewa and place
pickets along the River Niagara as far as Fort Erie
and around to Ridgeway. Leaving a small party at
Thorold; we marched to Chippewa that night, and
leaving a post there, moved on the next morning to
Black Creek, where we placed a party, and then on
to Fort Erie where we placed another, as well as one
at Ridgeway. I left my brother Fred in charge at
Thorold, and Lieutenant Edwin P. Denison in command
at Fort Erie. We patrolled the river every night
and kept a careful watch to cover the camp at Thorold.
An attack was expected, and on one or two occasions
the Fenians gathered in large numbers, but they never
attempted to cross.
We had only fifty-five men and three officers to
patrol a frontier of about twenty-five miles, and to
keep up communications with Colonel Wolseley's
camp at Thorold, ten miles in our rear. My head
quarters were at Chippewa, but I was always moving
about between there and Fort Erie, and for some
time, when an attack seemed imminent, I was on the
river with my patrols every night. I had made one
rule that I would never recognize the slightest differ
ence between night and day if there was anything to be
done, and this spirit soon spread through the corps.
My great anxiety was that we should not be caught
napping. I always felt more comfortable when I was
out with my men at night, and I soon learned to sleep
anywhere at any time. If I came to a cross road where

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 121
a patrol was to meet another patrol, and it had not
arrived, I used to dismount, throw up the collar of my
great coat and lie down and fall asleep at once. I
would often get a quarter of an hour or half an hour's
sleep in this way, which was so much gained. The
habit of snatching sleep at any time, which I then
learned, has been of great use to me ever since.
I was as much afraid of false alarms being sent in
as I was of an attack being made without prompt
notice being given. False alarms from outposts are
very common indeed, and it is a reflection on the
officers and men employed on that duty, if they are
made. During the two months there were no false
alarms sent in. Fortunately I was able to prevent one
that might have been made, and, as it is a good illustra
tion of how easily they may occur, I will describe the
circumstances. We had received information that there was to be a
great gathering of Fenians at Buffalo and an immense
picnic at a pleasure ground on Grand Island about eight
miles down the Niagara river, not far from where a
small post of my men were stationed at Black Creek.
I had given orders for every man to be on duty that
night on the River Road, and I rode up myself from
Chippewa to a point just opposite to where the picnic
was going on, where I had some eight or ten men placed.
It was believed the picnic was only a blind and that the
vessels would land the men on our side during the night
My men were hidden under some trees between the
road and the water and, just as I came up, had capttired
three or four men who had come across from Grand

122 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Island from the picnic. I had them searched for arms,
but as they had none, I had no reason for holding them,
so I released them and sent them back. I have no
doubt they took the news of our presence to the main
party. About midnight the Fenians started on their return
to Buffalo. There was a large river steamer loaded with
swarms of people towing an enormous barge that held
probably a thousand more. The weight and the current
prevented them going fast, so that by riding very hard
we were able to follow and keep up with them. The
river is from three quarters of a mile to a mile wide.
As we had to follow all the windings of the shore, we
had a great deal further to go than they had, but we
were able to keep up. When we got close to the lower
ferry wharf, the most convenient landing place for them,
I halted my men under the shade of some trees, just at
the corner of the road leading back towards Bown's
farm, by which we had come down to the river on the
previous June 2nd. We had barely got there when we
noticed the two vessels turn in towards the wharf. One
of my men said, " They are going to land, we had better
get away." I said : " No, keep very quiet," and I
rapidly gave instructions as to what was to be done if
they landed. Two men were to ride up to Fort Erie
and tell my party there to fall back to Ridgeway, and
then with the men from there move down to Stevens-
ville and meet me. I told two others they were to go
back to Black Creek, and send word on to Chippewa
and Thorold, and told the remainder to fall back with me
towards Bown's farm. It did not take me a minute to

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 123
give these instructions and then we all waited, hidden,
to see if they would land. The end of the wharf was
not more than fifty or sixty yards from where we sat
on our horses, but it was a very dark night and we were
under the trees. The steamer came close up to the
wharf, within ten or fifteen feet of it, slowed up and then
having passed it, turned outwards and went across the
river and entered Black Rock harbour. Had they
really intended landing we ^an a great risk, as they
would have been very close to us and even random
firing might have been very destructive, but I was
determined there should not be a false alarm, and there
was not The Fenians had come across and pretended
they were going to land, for the sole purpose of alarming
the whole district and turning out the main force at
Thorold. There would have been numerous newspaper
paragraphs ridiculing us all over the States, and our
corps would have had the blame. I never was so thank
ful for happening to be at the right place at the right
time. One night a patrol consisting of Charles Abbott and
another trooper were coming up the river from the
direction of Black Creek, after having exchanged reports.
about midway with a patrol from Black Creek. They
had not long parted with the others when they came to
an orchard and thought they would get some apples.
By some mischance, perhaps a trick of Abbott's, for he
was an irrepressible wag, the two horses got away and
galloped full speed three or four miles into Fort Erie,
and arrived covered with foam at the stable of the
tavern, where the party, some twenty strong, were

124 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
billeted. The sentry at once gave the alarm. My
cousin, the late Lieutenant Edwin P. Denison, who was in
command of the post, ordered out the whole force, for
the natural conclusion was that the men had been shot
and he immediately went down the road at the gallop.
In the excitement and haste Lieutenant Denison's horse
got his hoof into a hole in the road, tripped and fell,
throwing the rider off and breaking his collar bone. In
a few minutes the two lost troopers were met, quietly
trudging to Fort Erie.
Our surgeon. Dr. De la Hooke, happened to be
stationed at Fort Erie, as our largest post was there, and
" he soon set the bone. A lady friend who with her
family had been very hospitable and kind to us lived
about a mile down the river road from Fort Erie, and
she insisted on having the wounded officer taken to her
house to be cared for. Then she thought it was lonely
for him sitting on a couch or easy chair all day long
unable to do anything, so she sent over to Buffalo, and
invited three very pretty young ladies to come over and
help look after him.
The next time I came to Fort Erie, I found, not only
the Lieutenant away, but the doctor as well, and I was
told that the injury must be serious, as the doctor was
making very frequent visits, several times a day, and
very prolonged ones. I, of course, had to visit my
officer, which I naturally did very frequently. It must
have been a very bad break, for, although the injured
man looked the very picture of health and good spirits,
he apparently could not move. I asked the doctor,
after a week or two, when he would be able to get to

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 125
work again. His report was that nothing would cure
him but change of air. I ordered him to Thorold.
When he left Fort Erie he was apparently very unfit.
The next day I was at Thorold, and he was acting as
galloper for Colonel Wolseley, riding straight as the
crow flies over fences and ditches and everything in his
way as if he had never been hurt in his life. It was
the most wonderful instance of the benefit of a change
of air.
One cannot always, on active service, follow the
prescribed routine which may work admirably in a
garrison town. The usual method of punishment in
the regular service is by confinement to barracks and
stoppage of pay. I had a post at Chippewa of about a
dozen men under the charge of Sergeant-Major Dunn.
I had had occasion to order a man, for some trifling
offence, to be confined to his quarters for a few days.
Shortly after this I found that one very good-looking
smart trooper, a young farmer from near Toronto, had
been negligent in going out with his patrol, delaying so,
that some other patrol had been kept waiting a long
time. I sent for him and reprimanded him sharply and
told him if it happened again I would punish him in a
way he would not like.
I had heard a remark that he had become very
attentive to one of the two pretty daughters of the
keeper of the hotel where the party were billeted, and
that he was a good musician, as also was the young girl
to whom he was paying so much attention. He
expected to be confined to his quarters as a punishment,
and from his point of view he was not in the least

126 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
alarmed, as most of his time would be spent at the
piano. Of course only a night or two elapsed before he
was again late going out on patrol. I heard of it and
simply sent an order to Sergeant-Major Dunn to send
trooper Thompson at once to Black Creek in order to
learn punctuality under Sergeant Ide, and directed that
another trooper was to be sent from Black Creek to
Chippewa to take his place.
I found this most effective. The story went all
through the different posts and Thompson came to me
one day when I was passing through Black Creek and
made the most humble apologies for being late and
promised faithfully, if I would let him go back to
Chippewa, I would never have further trouble with him,
that he had all his chums there and did not get on with
the men at Black Creek. After two or three weeks I
arranged for him to return. He was the most punctual
man in the corps after that.
On one occasion Colonel MacDougall, Adjt-General
of Militia (and in command of it). Colonel Peacocke, in
command in Upper Canada in the absence on leave of
General Napier, and Commodore de Horsey, now an
Admiral, who then commanded the gun boats on the
lakes, came over to visit and inspect the camp at
Thorold and to look over the Frontier. These three
officers, with Colonel Wolseley, went down to Port
Colborne, and then to Fort Erie, and as I was in
command of the outposts, I was with them there to give
information. When we had been in Fort Erie in June, over 3,000
troops were there for a time, and afterwards 2000

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 127
remained for three weeks. Besides that, for some weeks
after the raid the place was swarming with sight-seers.
Fort Erie was practically one long street with the river
on one side and the houses and shops along the other.
So many visitors came in June, in addition to the large
force of soldiers, that it led to almost every house, shop,
shed or lean-to being turned into a refreshment booth,
principally for the sale of liquor, and every place you
looked into had the appearance of a bar-room. For a
while a most flourishing business was done. When the
troops left business was very dull, and while we had our
small party there, the place was almost empty, except
for these bar-room proprietors.
Colonel Macdougall and I were walking in front
when Colonel Macdougall said to me: "What kind
of place is this village of Fort Erie? It is a most
peculiar looking place." "Well," said I, "Colonel, it is a
most extraordinary place, the population consists
entirely of tavern keepers, and they make a living by
going around drinking in each other's bars." It was
quite true, for the occupants were just waiting to sell out,
and in a week or so they were nearly all gone.
That evening Colonel Wolseley rode back to Thorold.
I rode with him as far as Chippewa, where he had
supper with me and I furnished him with a fresh horse
to ride on to Thorold. During the long ride we talked
on many subjects of which I only remember two. We
got on the subject of officers marrying, and Colonel
Wolseley remarked that an officer unmarried had fewer
ties, and that it was an advantage for him to be single.
He was then a bachelor, and although I was six years

128 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
younger I had been married three and a half years.
I remember saying that it was all right when a man
was young for him to be a bachelor, but that when he
got old it was then a lonely and unsatisfactory condition,
and I spoke very strongly indeed in favour of marriage.
Another point we talked about was that of giving
stimulants to soldiers on service. I was very much
averse to the use of stimulants on service, not that I
was a professed temperance man or teetotaller, but
simply because I believed men could do more and
better work without them. Colonel Wolseley's idea
seemed to accord with mine, but he thought that perhaps
where men were exposed to cold and wet it might be
advisable to issue a little occasionally. I did not think
it necessary even under those circumstances. He
instanced the service in the trenches before Sebastopol,
as a case where it might, perhaps, be necessary. I
referred to the custom in our lumber camps, where the
men were often wet and exposed to cold, and I men
tioned the use of hot tea, and suggested that any time
he was out shooting near lumber camps he might make
enquiries. I am under the impression that he must
have looked into the matter for himself, for when he
took command of the Red River Expedition, four years
after, he forbade the use of spirits in the force, and
supplied them with tea instead. I was glad to find that
the experience in that campaign proved that it v/as a
most satisfactory experiment.
My advocacy of marriage was known to several of
my friends in the army, among others Major Butler,
now Lieut-General Sir W. F. Butler. I had known him

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 129
well as Lieutenant Butler at the time of the Red River
expedition, where he very pluckily performed some
special service for Colonel Wolseley. He used to come
and see me afterwards when passing through Toronto.
On one occasion he had with him that magnificent
Esquimaux dog, "Cerf Volant," whose picture adorned
the cover of his " Wild North Land." We went to get
lunch together, the dog with us, everybody turning to
look at him, when, before we knew it,the dog disappeared.
Butler was at once anxious. He said there must be a
butcher shop near, and there happened to be one across
the street. He was afraid the butcher might strike
him, and we both ran across to find the butcher busily
engaged in cutting off pieces of meat to feed the dog.
The greatest compliment to his splendid appearance
that could be paid.
Some years after this I was in London and met
Major Butler several times. One day I chanced to
meet him on Pall Mall, and of course we stopped to
speak. I asked him what news there was. He said :
" Oh, nothing," and after speaking a few minutes he
said : "Well, I will tell you a piece of news quite new.
I know your views in favour of marriage, so I will tell
you that I am just engaged to be married." I congratu
lated him warmly, wished him every happiness, and
then he told me he was engaged to be married to Miss
Elizabeth Thompson, the painter ofthe "Roll Call," etc
I said : " Oh, that is the result of all this trouble you
have had in getting out samples of the uniforms for
Miss Thompson's new picture." Major Butler was then
in the clothing department at the War Office and had

130 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
mentioned to me a week or two before that he was
getting together the uniforms as models for the new
picture " Inkerman " on which Miss Thompson was
then engaged. Some time after I saw the announce
ment of the marriage.
During the months I was commanding the outposts
for Colonel Wolseley I was thrown a good deal in
contact with him, and formed an exceedingly high
opinion of his capacity as a general or officer. He
expected those under him to do their very best, and
those who did not were not held in much estimation by
him. I saw it was necessary to be very prompt in
everything. One night, about I a.m., I received a note
. at Fort Erie asking me to make a careful examination
of the Black Creek country, and particularly to examine
and report fully on all the points at which the creek
could be crossed and on the condition of the bridges.
He had given the letter to the orderly at Thorold about
IO p.m., and it had reached me, some twenty-eight
miles off, in about three hours. I was at the first
bridge at daylight, and rapidly made sketches of all the
bridges, took measurements, etc., and found that his
sketch, traced from the ordnance map, was erroneous,
and I changed it so as to make it correct I was at
work at this from about 5 a.m. till nearly noon, for I
had to ride a number of miles and examine eleven
bridges. I then galloped to Black Creek, took a fresh
horse to Chippewa, and, after getting lunch, sat down to
draw my map and plans of the bridges and prepare my
report I had completed them about 8 p.m. and rode
across to Thorold, arriving about nine o'clock. Colonel

FIELD MARSHAL VISCOUNT WOLSELEY. K P.
(From photogrofh taken in i8jo by F. K. Wiudoiv, London.)

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 131
Wolseley, when he saw me, said : " I wrote to you last
night, and I would like you to let me have your report
as soon as possible." I said : " Here it is, sir," and I
handed it to him. He did not say anything, and I am
afraid he thought I could not have done it properly in
the time.
Two days after he came over to Chippewa, break
fasted there with me and took a fresh horse to go and
see the Black Creek country. My father happened to
be in Chippewa at the time, so I furnished him a horse
also, and we all three rode out to Black Creek. As
soon as we got to the first bridge Colonel Wolseley
dismounted, took my map and plans out of his pocket
and paced everything, and compared his pacing with
my figures, tried the depth of the stream, compared
that, and went from bridge to bridge nearly all day till
he had tested every figure. My father and I both
noticed that he seemed to be annoyed about some
thing, and I was afraid he might have found some
accidental mistake. He hardly spoke all the time he
was busy, but devoted his whole thought to the work.
When he had examined the last bridge he put the
papers in his pocket and said: -"Now we will go
back." He did not make any remark about my
plans, so I said to him : " Now, Colonel, you have
given my plans a very thorough test; are they right
or wrong ? " " Perfectly right, Denison ; in fact, that
map of yours is the best map of that piece of ground
that there is, but I am very much annoyed. _ I have
been relying on the accuracy of the ordnance map, and
there are gross mistakes in it A campaign might be

132 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
lost through depending on a map like that I have
gone over it all very carefully, for I intend to have a
copy made out to be sent to England to be printed to
replace that sheet, which will have to be cancelled."
One night about lo o'clock, at Chippewa, I received
a letter from Colonel Wolseley. He had given it to the
orderly about 9 p.m. and my directions were that a man
on a fresh horse was to be sent instantly to me with
any order issued. As I was at Chippewa I received it
in an hour. I was requested to see if I could hire a
scow to sink in the Montrose swing bridge, in the
channel, to block the passage in case of vessels of the
enemy pushing up to Port Robinson. The idea was to
have a scow loaded so that it could be scuttled and
sunk in the channel in case of need. I was to find out
where I could get one, what I could have it for, loaded,
by the week or month, and to fix a price for it if
scuttled. He finished his letter by saying: " When you
have found out on this point, please come here with the
information, which I should like to have as soon as
possible." I went to see the Reeve of Chippewa, Mr. John C.
Kirkpatrick, that night, and found I could not get a
scow in Chippewa, and that Port Robinson would be
the best place to make enquiries. I wanted to know
the depth of the river in the swing channel. I knew
the general depth of the river was from ten to twelve
feet I got a piece of string in Mr. Kirkpatrick's shop
and measured it off into yards on the yard measure
on the counter, and marked each yard with a knot I
then rode out to the Montrose bridge and fastening a

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 133
stone to the end of my string, found that the river was
eighteen feet deep, and that sinking one scow would be
useless. I then rode on to Port Robinson and got
there about 4 a.m., woke up Mr. Abbey, the Reeve,
went out with him, he being engaged in the shipping
business, and picked out two large scows, made an
agreement with him for their hire and for their value,
and wrote out a formal contract which, as a barrister,
it was easy for me to do, and he signed it in duplicate
in my presence as witness. I then mounted my horse
and rode to Thorold, for Colonel Wolseley said he
wanted the matter attended to at once. I got to
Thorold about 7 a.m., and Colonel Wolseley was just
dressing. He heard me speaking to the sentry in front
of his tent and said : " Denison, I wrote you a note last
night I want to speak to you about it I would like
you to attend to it as soon as you can." " I have it
done, sir," said I. " That is right," said he, " go over to
the mess tent and order your breakfast. I will join you
in a few minutes."
He seemed satisfied with what I had done. I think
he was pleased with the energetic way in which I looked
after matters, for shortly afterwards that splendid
regiment, the 13th Hussars, arrived in Toronto under
command of Colonel Jenyns, and Colonel Wolseley
was told that a squadron of that regiment would be
sent over to relieve me and my sixty " guerillas."
Colonel Wolseley at once wrote and asked that I should
be left with him, as our men and officers were doing
excellent service, and he would rather have us than the
squadron of hussars. We therefore remained on duty

134 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
until the camp was broken up. This gave the greatest
satisfaction to our corps, for we were all very proud to
have so clear a proof of Colonel Wolseley's appreciation
of our work. We heard, however, that the 13th Hussars
did not like it at all, although after we went home,
there was always the closest friendship between our
corps and the 13th.
On October 5 th, 1866, we were ordered home and
relieved from service. We were never called out again
on account of the Fenians.
Lieut.-General, afterwards Field-Marshal, Sir John
Michel then commanded the British troops in
Canada. He was a fine old soldier, handsome and
energetic and had had considerable experience. I sent
him a complimentary bound copy of my account of
the raid, for which he wrote me a note thanking me.
About the middle of October I was introduced to him,
happening to see him by chance at the Hamilton
station. He spoke very kindly to me, thanked me
again for my little book, with which he said he was
very much pleased. " In fact," said he, "to prove how
satisfied I was with it, I may tell you that I received,
not long since, a letter from the Duke of Cambridge
asking me for some details of the operations, and I sent
him your book and told him I endorsed it, and. that
he would get the best idea of the affair from it" I was
naturally much pleased to get this recognition of my
desire to be fair and truthful.
I have one or two recollections of Sir John Michel.
I met him once at a railway junction between his
country seat and London, where we had some fifteen

OUTPOST DUTY ON THE NIAGARA 135
minutes to wait. He at once commenced talking over
Canadian affairs, was very kind and friendly, and urged
me to go down to his place, Dewlish Park, and pay
him a visit. I was, unfortunately, too much engaged to
accept his hospitality. The next time, and the last
time, I saw him, was after he had been for some years
in command of the forces in Ireland. I was in London,
and Lord Wolseley had caused me to be made a visiting
member of the United Service Club (The Senior). I
used it quite frequently, and one day was writing a letter
in the writing room, where conversation was forbidden.
There was no club, I believe, in London at that time
where discipline was more strictly observed. Sir John
came into the room, saw me, and at once shook hands
with me and began asking me questions about Canada.
There was only one gentleman in the room at the time,
in the far corner with his back to us, and we were
speaking very quietly. I hinted to the General about
the rule that we should not talk there. He said some
what louder, " There is only one gentleman here and I
do not suppose he will mind." The gentleman over
heard the remark and at once turned around and in a
very loud voice said : " No, do not mind me. Go on
and talk all you like. I have been accustomed to do
my work for years on the staff of a fussy old command
ing officer, who was always coming in interrupting me,
and I had to work constantly under those conditions.
Don't mind me. Keep on talking, I can get on easily.
I am well used to it." I saw at once there was some
thing behind it Sir John laughed and whispered to
me : "I did not see who it was. He is a very queer

136 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
fellow. He used to be on my staff." It is needless to
say we discontinued our conversation.
I may say that before we were sent over to the
frontier the second time we were supplied with the new
Spencer carbines, and plenty of ammunition. It often
happens that departmental officials, after a long period
of peace, forget to ensure proper preparation. In the
Crimean war our army suffered terribly from want of
organization. The French in the same way, in 1870.
Spain and the United States both felt the same difficulty
in the late war. I doubt, however, if the troops of any
civilized country were ever much worse equipped than
we were at Fort Erie in June, 1866, or with less reason,
for we had three months' warning.

CHAPTER IX
Return Home — Recollections of Sir Henry
Havelock-Allan
Arrive at home with family — Resume practice of my profession —
Business ruined — March, 1867 — Rumours of raids —
Offered position on the staff of General Stisted — Recon
naissance of Niagara district — Meet Sir Henry Havelock
— We take a trip to the frontier — Anecdotes — Tour of
Eixstem Townships frontier — Jack Doty — ' ' You're in He ' '
— Are arrested as Fenian spies — Are released — Havelock
Rifle company — Fine physique of the men — Sir Henry
Havelock' s peculiar charactei  His eccentricities — His
extraordinary energy — His absolute fearlessness — His
account of the pursuit after Tel-el-Kebir — Anecdotes of
him — His mounted visit to an editor — His last remark to
me — Is killed in the Khyber Pass.
I returned to my home with my wife and children
on November 24th, 1866. I had left suddenly on the
afternoon of June ist, and in the unsettled state of affairs
my father did not like the idea of my wife and her two
children being left in our house, which was then in a
very lonely locality, so he brought them over to his
place, Rusholme, and my place was locked up and left
After the Fenians were driven out of the country my
wife went to Chippewa and spent the summer months
at her mother's.

138 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
When I left my home the lawn was in perfect order,
the flower beds looking very pretty, the garden flourish
ing, and everything looking well in the glorious first
flush of summer. When I came back on a cold, gloomy
November day, the place looked dismal — high dead
grass all over the lawn, the flower beds with tall, rank
weeds gone to seed, the garden grown up both in paths
and beds with dense weeds, the path up to the front
door in the same condition, and, by some chance, a
number of sunflowers had grown up and were standing
dead and withered in front of the front door.
I soon had the place tidied up and put in order and
started to gather up the threads of my practice, which I
had left in excellent condition. I went back to my
office, my brother Fred, who was then putting in his
time as a law student, with me, and soon found that the
people had got out of the way of coming to me. They
had taken their business to law firms who had not cared
to defend their country or to interfere with the designs
of the Fenians. As we were protecting the lives and
property of the inhabitants, including our clients, one
would have thought they would not have shown their
favours to those who stayed at home. They never came
back to me, however, fearing, I suppose, that I might
turn out again in case of danger, and so under great
trials and hardships, I had to build up a new practice.
Of all my militia experiences, this was the hardest
My father, at that particular period, was also embar
rassed pecuniarily. He had an extensive landed property
which, some years after, produced quite a large fortune
to be divided among his children, but the collapse of

SIB HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 139
the "boom" which had inflated values in 1857, was
followed by about fifteen years of very great depression.
Property was unsaleable, rents were very low, taxes
very high, so that he had hard work to get along and
save his property, and was quite unable to aid me. All
my relatives were more or less affected by this great fall
in the value of all kinds of property. During 1867 and
the beginning of 1S68 I knew what it was to be ground
down by poverty, finding it most difficult to support my
family even in the most frugal way.
I am afraid my experience must have been that of
many volunteers, who never complained, but submitted
patiently to great hardships, feeling that it was a duty
due to their country. Unfortunately these were sacri
fices that were never appreciated either by the public or
by the departmental officials.
About March 15 th, 1867, rumours of other attacks by
the Fenians were heard, and the military authorities
began to make preparations ; several brigades were told
off and officers named to command them. General
Stisted, who had taken comman-d in place of General
Napier, offered to give me, a position on his staff. The
offer was made in the kindest manner, but I regretted I
could not accept it, because, as 1 explained to the Gen
eral, my men had all joined my corps believing I should
command them, and they all knew me and seemed to
have confidence in me, and would have felt put out if I
left them to others at the commencement of trouble.
Colonel Jenyns was anxious that I should be placed on
his brigade and wanted me to ask the General to put
me with him. I said I would go where I was ordered.

140 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
The next day I saw Colonel Wolseley who had come
up from Montreal to take command of a brigade, and
he told me he wanted me with him. I said I would
like best of all to be put under him. The alarm passed
away and Colonel Wolseley went to England, and 1
was told by Colonel Jenyns I would be in his brigade if
we went out. I was much pleased to find that they
were all willing to have me, for Colonel Peacocke . also
asked to have me in his brigade.
A week or two later General Stisted saw me and told
me that a Board of Officers was going to make a
careful military reconnoissance and report upon the
Niagara district, and that Sir John Michel had told him
to ask me if I would go with them as he was anxious
that I should help in it. He could not order me out,
or pay me, as there was no provision for it, but all the
expenses would be paid.
On March 29th, 1867, Colonel Jenyns drove me to
the General's and we talked the whole matter over and
received his final orders, and the next day Colonel
Jenyns, Captain Innes and Lieutenant Starkey of the
13th Hussars, and I started for Chippewa. We were
away about a week and went all over the district
between Port Colborne, Chippewa, Port Robinson and
Fort Erie, and made up a full report upon it. Although
we were very busy we had a great deal of amusement
over it, and enjoyed the trip very much.
On April 17th, 1867, my father and I were invited to
General Stisted's to dinner to meet Colonel, Sir Henry
Havelock, V.C, Deputy-Quarter-Master General, suc
ceeding Colonel Wolseley. He was the eldest son of

SIR HENRY HAVEI.OCK, BART., V.C. (1867).

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 141
General Havelock of the Indian Mutiny. Sir Henry
wanted my assistance in looking for quarters for
additional British troops, which were coming to Toronto.
This was my first meeting with Sir Henry Havelock,
with whom I maintained an intimate friendship as long
as he lived. I was busy the next day or two with him and
he suggested that he wished very much to examine
carefully the Niagara District and would like me to go
with him. We arranged to make the trip together.
We were away for ten days making our headquarters at
Chippewa. We walked and drove about the country,
examined it thoroughly and a very warm friendship
sprang up between us. I was very fond of him, though
he was a man most men were afraid of. He was
somewhat eccentric and would do, from sheer fearless
ness, things that other men would not attempt.
I was accustomed to chaff him and poke fun at him
constantly and I think it was rather new to him, for he
always seemed to delight in any mischief I did. One
day we were walking from near Drummondville back
to Chippewa when we passed a vacant house with
some grounds about it marked " to let." He wanted
to look around it, so we went in. When we came
out he went out of the gate first and, uncon
sciously, turned away from Chippewa, instead of towards
it I joined him and walked on a couple of hundred
yards or so and then I said, " How far. Sir Henry, do
you think it is to Chippewa ? " "I should think," said
he, "about three miles." I replied, "A good deal
depends on how you go." " Why so ? " said he. " Well
if you persist in going this way, it would take us,

142 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
roughly speaking, about 25,000 miles, but if you would
not mind turning around and going this other way, it
would only be about two and three-quarter miles." He
laughed, called me a scamp, and turned back. There
was not much in the joke but he never forgot it, and
whenever we met after a long absence, he used to ask
me at once whether I had been trying to take anyone
else around the world since.
We were accustomed to talk military matters con
stantly in our trips, and I would give him my views of
changes which I thought should be made. He urged
me to write a book and to advocate my ideas, which he
said were right. It was owing to his advice and
encouragement that I wrote my work entitled " Modern
Cavalry," and if it had not been for him I should
probably never have written any more military books.
On this excursion we hired one of the ordinary
buggies of the country at a livery stable in Clifton near
Niagara Falls, kept by a man named Christopher
Flannagan. A day or two afterwards we were driving
through the village of Welland, about fifteen miles away
from Clifton, when we saw a young man exercising or
longeing a very fine-looking horse. Sir Henry was
looking out for a good horse to purchase, so he called out
to the man. "What will you take for that horse?"
This was rather a slang phrase, sometimes used to
indicate that the man did not own the horse in his
charge. The man's reply was : " What will Chris.
Flannagan take for that horse you are driving?" From
the young man's point of view the repartee was excellent,
but Sir Henry did not understand it until I explained

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 143
that he thought Sir Henry was simply chaffing
him. The following spring I was in Montreal for a few days,
staying with Sir Henry, when he prevailed on me to go
with him on a trip he wanted to make along the frontier
on the eastern townships, for the purpose of verifying
the ordnance map. A good deal of it would have to
be done on foot, and he knew what a good walker I
was from our experience in the Niagara district I was
then a very rapid walker. On one occasion my father
made a bet with my uncle Richard that I could walk
six miles in an hour in a perfectly fair heel and toe
walk. I knew I could pass anyone I ever met, but
had never timed myself When the day fixed for the
test came my uncle and one or two others rode along
beside me to watch me, and I walked backwards and
forwards on a single mile between two mile-stones on
the main road. I did the first three miles in twenty-
nine and one-half minutes, and then said I would step
out, and I did my best, and completed the other three
miles in twenty-seven minutes, or six miles in fifty-six
and a-half minutes, and this was not done in the
professional shuffle or run, which is called walking, but
was a fair heel and toe walk.
I made arrangements to remain away from home a
week or ten days longer, and we went on our trip. We
were walking about all day pacing distances and taking
notes, and as there were again some vague rumours of
another threatened Fenian invasion, we were very
particular to conceal our names and our business, etc.
One night at the hotel or tavern in the village of Fort

144 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Covington, a farmer living near, who told us his name
was Jack Doty, got into conversation with Sir Henry
and set himself to discover his business. He began
with, " I say mister, are ye buying cattle for the Montreal
market ? " Sir Henry replied, " Not exactly, but I am
ready to go into anything that will pay," and immediately
began catechising Mr. Doty about the cattle, the quality,
quantit)-, prices, etc., in that neighbourhood. Then
Doty would try another tack. He would say : "Mebbe
you are picking up butter for Montreal ? " Sir Henry
would go off in the same way, asking every possible
information about butter, as if he was seriously con
sidering the question of becoming a butter merchant
Doty went on to horses and eggs and everything he
could think of, Sir Henry treating every question in
the same way. I was sitting listening earnestly, saying
nothing, being too busily engaged in keeping a serious
face. Mr. Jack Doty knew Sir Henry was fencing all
the time. Suddenly a bright idea struck him, he turned
sharply to Sir Henry and holding up his finger said with
a very strong nasal accent, for we were across the border
at the time, "Now, Mister, I guess I've fixed you!
You're in ile." There was a good deal of excitement
then about the discovery of coal oil. We did not deny
it, so he was perfectly satisfied and asked no further
questions. The next day we got into the village of Huntingdon
on our side of the border, near where a Fenian attack
came two years later. We got into the village tavern
about dark, and after getting something to eat went into
the room allotted to us, which had two beds, one on

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 145
each side of the room. We sat up until about lo p.m.
completing our notes of the day's work, when we went
to bed. There was no lock on the door, but as the head
of my bed was close to the door, by jamming a chair
in between the head of the bed and the door, it was so
securely fastened that it could not be opened.
Evidently our movements looked very suspicious to
the people, and our reticence and exclusiveness must
have created a great deal of curiosity. We had almost
fallen asleep when I heard some one try to open the
door just at my head. It would not open, and then I
heard a rap on the door. I called out: "Who is there?"
a voice replied, " Stranger, let me in, I want to speak to
you." I replied: "Go away, I am asleep; if you go on
that way you will waken me." The man kept on
knocking and asking to be let in. Sir Henry from his
bed on the opposite side of the room said : "Let him in
and see what he wants." I said: "Have you got a
light?" In a minute he said he had. I put my hand
over the head of the bed, as I lay in it, moved the chair,
and said, "Come in." A man came in with a lighted
match in his hand and looking at me, over my head with
the half-burned match, said : " You are two very suspi
cious-looking characters and I want to know what is
your business." The joke of the man saying we were
both suspicious-looking from the hasty glance he got at
me by the light of a burning match, struck me as so
ludicrous, that I simply burst out laughing and did not
reply and the match went out. I then said: "Go and get
a light — come away from that table. Do you want to
steal something ?" He went away and got a candle and

146 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
then stood in the middle of the room and began asking
questions. I said : " Who are you that you ask me
questions ? Are you a look-out man ? " " No," said he,
"I am not." " Are you a constable ? " "No." "Are
you a magistrate ? " " No," said he, "I am not." "What
are you then ?" said I, "that you come here to question
us." Then with a very important air he said, " I am a
Captain of Militia." "Oh, pshaw!" I said, "I am a
Colonel myself" " So am I," said Havelock from his
bed. " Now, look here," said he, with great emphasis,
" that kind of nonsense will not do. You must tell me
your business." Sir Henry got annoyed, jumped up,
put on some of his clothes and went to the landlord and
told him to put the man out, and the man left and we
slept peaceably till morning. When we went down to
breakfast the Captain was there with a party of his
men, and he was armed with a revolver, and he arrested
us both. We paid no attention to him but went in to
breakfast. He watched us eating our breakfast and
was subjected to a good deal of chaff. He then told
us we had better go quietly with him to the County
jail at Beauharnois. As this would have been twenty-
eight miles in cold weather over very bad roads, we
objected. So I went into the bar-room to ask where I
could find a magistrate. The officer had the magistrate
there, and half the population had gathered. I went
straight to the magistrate and said : " Are you the
magistrate ? " He said, " Yes." I said : " This man has
presumed to arrest me. Is there any warrant or any
information, or any charge against me ? " The. magis
trate said he did not know. I said: "Then how can I

SIB HENR Y HA VELOCK-ALLAN 147
be detained ?" The Captain then said : " I lay an informa
tion that these are very suspicious-looking characters
and I ask a warrant." The magistrate scanned us very
closely over his spectacles and said in a doubtful sort of
way, " I do not think they are very suspicious-looking
characters," with a strong emphasis on the "very." I
then asked him if I could have a few words in private
with him and I took him up to my room, told him who
I was, and said my friend was an officer ofthe Montreal
garrison, told him what we were doing, and that we did
not want our business known. I was able by papers
and letters to satisfy the magistrate, who ordered the
Captain to leave us alone. So we went on our way. It
was the only time I was ever arrested.
That day we walked over thirty miles. We stopped
to get a meal at a village which we found was called
Havelock. There were a number of volunteers in
uniform about the village, as they had been drilling
that day, and about a dozen were in the public room
ofthe tavern. The company was called the Havelock
company. Sir Henry asked where they got that name.
They told him it had been called that about ten years
before in honour ofa General Havelock who had fought
in India. Perhaps he might have heard the name. He
said he had. He asked the average height of the men
in the company, as he was somewhat struck with their
physique. They said about five feet ten inches. We
took the height of the group there, and the average
would have been nearer five feet eleven inches. They
were a good specimen of the Canadian country
militiamen. Sir Henry could not let himself be

148 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
known, and if he had, they would not have believed
him. Sir Henry Havelock, or Havelock-Allan, as he was
latterly known, was a peculiar man, and one much
misunderstood. Many in the army were accustomed
to say he was mad — a great many believed it I knew
him very intimately and I often heard this said, and I
watched him and studied him closely. I have had as
much experience in cases of insanity as most men. For
twenty-two years I have been on the bench where, every
week, I have had people charged with insanity brought
before me. I have seen every type by hundreds, and
have heard the evidence of a great many doctors, and I
ought to know something of the subject
Sir Henry Havelock was very eccentric in some ways
but his striking peculiarity was his utter fearlessness.
He positively feared nothing, and his energy and
impetuosity were extraordinary. I remember once,
many years ago. Lord Wolseley telling me (with the
caution that I was not to tell Sir Henry) that it was his
energy, ability and military instinct that were mainly
responsible for the great victories won by his father in
India. He was the steam power that drove every
thing. Many years after Lord Wolseley, speaking to me of
Sir Henry, whom he had once, in public, described as
the "bravest Englishman alive," put his thumb and
finger together and held them up, measuring off
between them about a sixteenth of an inch, and
said : " Havelock missed by about that much of
being the greatest soldier our army ever produced."

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 149
I am satisfied that the cause of all these reports of his
unsoundness of mind was his absolute fearlessness,
which led him to do what no other man would do.
He was as fearless of conventional restrictions as he
was of physical dangers or difficulties. He was
perfectly indifferent to what people would think or
say of him, and delighted to do what no one else
would do. There may have been times when he
showed signs of insanity, but I never saw him on
such occasions.
In 1894 I was in London and saw Sir Henry a
number of times. One day we happened to be in the
Senior at lunch together, when I asked him what truth
there was in the story I had heard about his action in
connection with the prompt pursuit of the enemy after
Tel-el-Kebir. His reply was : " I will tell you, Deni
son, exactly what occurred. We followed the retreating
army all day, and about two in the morning halted to
give the horses rest and food. General Drury Lowe sat
on the piazza of a house and the question was discussed
as to what course should be taken. The artillery had
not come up, and General Lowe was in favour of
waiting till they caught up with the cavalry. General
Herbert Stewart, who was afterwards killed in the
Soudan and was second in command, expressed an
anxiety to proceed at once, and kept urging that
view. At last General Lowe turned to me and said :
' What do you think, Havelock ? ' My reply was : ' If
you don't let them go on at orice, you are not fit to ride
in a saddle.' That is what I said to him, Denison,
and remember it is now history. General Lowe

150 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
immediately turned to General Stewart and said:
'Well, we will go on.'"
One morning that same year, 1894, my wife and I
had strolled into Hyde Park to see the people riding.
We took chairs and watched them. We had not been
long seated when we noticed Sir Henry Havelock. We
saw him, after passing three young gentlemen, also
mounted, suddenly turn back, speak to them a minute
and ride on. Before very long we saw him coming
back, riding alongside of a lady. He was looking about
and saw me sitting among many others. He took off
his hat to the lady, left her and came to the bar along
the edge of the drive and beckoned to me to go over to
him. I went over and spoke to him a minute or so
when he said : " Did you see me speak to three young
men just now?" I said, "Yes." "Well," said he,
"just as I was passing one said something, evidently
about me,another turned and looked at me and grinned,
showing all his teeth. I went back to him and said :
' If God Almighty made you an infernal idiot, that is
no reason you should go around with your mouth open.
The next time you pass Havelock-Allan you keep your
mouth shut or I will knock all your front teeth down
your throat." I have no doubt that man believed the
stories that he was mad, but it was no sign of insanity.
I fancy he was often pointed out as a well-known man,
for while we were talking, not three minutes later, I was
conscious of two gentlemen passing behind me, walking
slowly, and when they got about ten or twelve feet past
me they turned towards the bar I was leaning on, and
it was quite clear that the gentleman with his back

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-ALLAN 151
towards us, was pointing out Havelock to the other,
who was wishing to have a good look at Havelock
without it being noticed. Havelock saw it like a flash,
and said : " Denison, look at that man there with the
black frock coat," etc., describing his dress and pointing
his finger right at the man who had been pointing him
out "Look at him, Denison, that is Lord  , the
Marquis of  ; look at him, take a good look at
him." Lord  and his friend did not delay, they
went off as quickly as they could, and yet Havelock
did openly and boldly what Lord  was doing
quietly. But I have no doubt Lord  also thought
he was mad.
My wife walked over to speak to Sir Henry, when he
asked her how she liked his horse. She said very much,
and I gave my opinion that it was about the finest
horse I had seen on the Row that day. He then told us
an anecdote about the horse. He said he had ridden
into Darlington, Yorkshire, which was close to his
country seat, and sent a boy up to the editor of the
newspaper asking him to come down to the street to
speak to him for a few minutes, as he could not leave
his horse. The boy came back with a message that the
editor was busy and could not come down. Sir Henry
said he would not leave his horse, and therefore rode
him up two flights of stairs into the editor's room, spoke
to him from the horse's back, expressed his regret at
having to bring his horse up, and, having finished the
interview, he rode around the editor's table and back
again out into the street. He said the horse tumbled
things about a good deal in the room and the editor

152 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
had to dance about out of his way, but he concluded by
saying, " Now the editor comes down if I go to see him
mounted." We saw Sir Henry several times during the Jubilee
celebration in London in 1897. He seemed much
quieter and more sedate than I ever- knew him. I think
he was depressed about something, but he was as kindly
and friendly as ever. The last time I ever saw him was
at the ball given by the British Empire League to the
Colonial Contingent at the Hotel Cecil. Sir Henry was
one of the Council of the League and an ardent Imper
ialist. When we were leaving he gave my wife his arm
and went down with us to the door to see us off. We
called a hansom, and after we got in he said " Good-bye"
to Mrs. Denison and to me, and his last words were : " I
would do anything for you, Mrs. Denison, but I would
not do anything for that scamp of a husband of yours."
Poor fellow, that was the last remark he ever made to
me. I knew he meant that he would do anything for
me. Six months afterwards he was killed in the
Khyber Pass, through recklessly and carelessly riding
ahead of his escort in a country infested with Afridi
snipers. He had gone all the way to India, I under
stood, to look into reports that had been circulating
about his old regiment.

CHAPTER X
Publication of " Modern Cavalry "
Write "Modem Cavalry" — Thomas Bosworth, of London, agrees
to publish it — Visit to England — My brother and I visit
France — Pedestrian tour — Camp of Chalons — Interview
with Cavalry Staff Officer — Self-sufficiency of French in
1868 — Battlefield of Waterloo — Letters to Lord George
Paget and Colonel Valentine Baker — Aldershot and 10th
Hussars — Krieg Spiel Game at War Office — Visit to
Cavalry headquarters — Interview with staff officer —
"Modern Cavalry " favourably reviewed — Translated into
German — Changes advocated — Tardy adoption of them —
Duke of Manchester — Return to Canada — Interview with
J'enian at Ch-eencastle.
In the beginning of 1868 the idea of writing a book
on the changes I thought desirable in the organization,
armament, and method of employing cavalry under
modern conditions, became impressed on my mind, for
during the summer and autumn I had been thinking a
good deal over Sir Henry Havelock's suggestion. I
decided to undertake it, and during January, February
and March, I was busily engaged in writing the book
which I published under the title, " Modern Cavalry."
I had the draft finished about March 20th, and on the
26th I went to Montreal to spend a week with Sir
Henry and Lady Alice Havelock. While there I read

154 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
it all over to Sir Henry, who seemed much pleased with
it Colonel Wolseley said he would like to see it also,
so I lent it to him for some days. He spoke very
kindly about it, but said I must expect severe criticism,
as I was combatting many fixed ideas. This turned
out to be correct, but I was not so vigorously criticized
as I expected.
I was afraid I should have great difficulty in getting a
publisher. I wrote a letter to an intimate friend of my
father's (whom I personally had never met, for I had
never been in Europe), Joseph Stansbury, and in a letter
written on one sheet of ordinary notepaper, the last
page of which contained simply the list of contents and
the first three the style of my book and the method in
which I was treating the subject, I asked him if he
would kindly see some publishers and find out if he
could get sufficient encouragement to make it worth
while to send over the manuscript to submit it to them.
I said I wanted the book published somewhat after the
type of Nolan's work on Cavalry, which had been
published by Thomas Bosworth of 215 Regent Street,
London. This led Mr. Stansbury to go to Mr. Bosworth
first My experience in publishing must, I think, have
been rather uncommon, for Mr. Stansbury wrote to me
that Mr. Bosworth read my letter and said he liked the
tone of it, said I evidently knew what I was talking
about and that he would publish it at his own risk and
give me half the profits, and that he would agree to do
this without seeing the manuscript, and after he saw it
he might perhaps do better. He sat down and wrote an

PUBLIC A TION OF ' ' MODERN CAVALRY" 155
offer to publish it on those terms. Mr. Stansbury went
back to his office and wrote me the result, enclosing Mr.
Bosworth's letter, and told me he had concluded the
whole matter within an hour after the receipt of my
letter. I at once accepted the terms with great satisfac
tion, for I had anticipated a great deal of difficulty in
getting a publisher in London.
On April 30th, I sent off my first fifty pages of manu
script, clearly copied out I sent the final batch over on
June 6th. On June 27th, my brother Fred and I left
Quebec, and on July Sth arrived at Glasgow, and after
a short trip in Scotland went on to London. We
remained there for two or three weeks, during which
time I was busily engaged in correcting proofs- and
getting my book out
I liked Mr. Bosworth very much, and he treated me
better than he had first agreed, and without any hint or
suggestion from me gave me a check for ;^IS, which he
said would be counted as part of his expenses. He also
gave me a number of copies handsomely bound in calf
for presentation to any friends to whom I wished to send
them. One day he asked me if I could keep the follow
ing Saturday free, and he would take me for an outing.
I agreed and we left about 1 1 a.m. by train for Hampton
Court Palace, which I had never seen. We went over
it, then lunched at the hotel there, and during the after
noon we rowed down the river Thames to Richmond,
where we dined at the Star and Garter, and then
returned to London by train.
He told me an amusing incident in connection with
the late Duke of Northumberland, who had inherited

156 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the title a year or two before. It Appeared that the
Duke wished to have his library brought up to date by
adding the new books on different subjects, so he wrote
to Bosworth, who was a fashionable bookseller on
Regent street, and asked him to come up to Alnwick
Castle for a day or two to take his orders. Bosworth
went to Alnwick, and for a couple or three hours in the
morning, for two or three days, the Duke and he were
engaged in the library together. During the remainder
of the time Bosworth was taken about driving and
shooting, and treated with every consideration. When
the list of books was all made out and Bosworth's
instructions completed, he wished to start for London
by the next train, but the Duke kept him till the
following day, when he himself was going down, so
that they could both go together. When they reached
London the Duke's brougham was waiting for him, and
Bosworth was about to take a hansom when the Duke
asked him if he was going to his shop. He said he was,
and the Duke said : " I will pass that way and drop
you." Bosworth's good-sized gladstone bag was put
on the front seat of the carriage. Bosworth went on
to tell me with much humour of his anxious considera
tion all the way to Regent street in reference to what
he should do about the bag when he came to his shop.
He was afraid the Duke would not like to see him get
out of his carriage and carry his luggage across the
sidewalk in what was then the most fashionable part
of a very fashionable street, and about 4 p.m., when it
would be thronged with people. He weighed it all
carefully and came to the conclusion that he should

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY" 157
hurriedly cross to his door and send one of his young
men out for the bag. He said he got to the door, called
one of his shopmen and turned to go back to the
carriage, when he met in the doorway the Duke him
self, carrying his heavy bag, saying : " You forgot
this." Bosworth apologized and rushed to take it
from him at once. He told me he had got a lesson
he would never forget, ahd that he would never be too
proud to carry his bag across the sidewalk again.
When my work was done in connection with my
book, my brother and I went over for a few days to
see Paris. We spent two or three days there and then
decided to walk to Chalons and thence to Brussels, in
order to see more of the country and to get a better
idea ofthe people and their ways. We put a few things
in packs on our backs and started off, going over the
district where Napoleon won some of his most brilliant
actions in that wonderful campaign of 1814. We
reached La Ferte sous Jouarre the first night, which
was a good long march. We started early next
morning and reached Montmirail about 2 p.m., where
we halted for dinner. We had been seen by a gen
darme going into the town, and when we went out on
the other side two gendarmes were waiting for us.
We were walking along with a good swinging pace,
which carried us a little over six kilometres each hour,
when the principal gendarme stopped us, saying :
"Pardon, monsieur. Voulez-vous montrer votre passe-
port s'il vous plait!' I straightened myself up, looked
down on the two gendarmes, and said: " Je suis
Anglais. Un passeport ; il ne'st pas necessaire pour les

158 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Anglais." " Oui, monsieur," he replied, "Je comprends
parfaitement, mais vous avez des papiers." Before
leaving home, thinking I might want some papers
as proof of identity, being a perfect stranger in
Europe, I had put my diploma of LL.B. from
Toronto University, my diploma as a barrister and
my commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, in a linen
envelope, and carried them with me. This was the
only time I had to open them. I handed the barrister's
diploma to one, the Lieutenant-Colonel's commission to
the other. They tackled the diploma first, but neither
of them could read a word of it, or understand what it
meant Then they looked at the commission and could
read lieutenant-colonel at once. We were both dressed
in plain tweed travelling suits with cloth caps and with
packs on our backs, and were both young ; I was under
twenty-nine, my brother twenty-one. The gendarme
looked up with astonishment and said: £tes-vous
Lieutenant-Colonel?" " Oui, monsieur" I answered.
" Vous Stes tres jeune" said he with great emphasis.
The two men walked on with us for a mile or so
chatting away, giving us a great deal of information,
and they left us, having learned all they wanted to
know and in the most polite manner, making us feel
we were very glad to have met them. We could not
help saying to each other how very differently that
duty would have been done on our side of the Atlantic.
We arrived at Chalons sur Marne the third evening
about 6 p.m., having marched about 105 miles in the
three days. The next morning we went to Mourmelon,
where the great camp was established, and found some

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY'^ 159
30,000 men there, about 3,000 being cavalry. I had an
advance copy of my book with me, and I thought I
would call on the cavalry staff, and thought of giving
the copy to the cavalry general. I saw a staff officer
and presented my card, and talked to him a few
minutes. He treated me very cavalierly, asked me
why I was not in uniform, and ¦ acted as if the French
knew everything there was in military knowledge, and
that it savoured somewhat of impertinence for the
officers of any other country to have any ideas at
all which they had not taken from the French. I
did not leave the copy of my book, and went away
feeling that it would have been more pleasant if the
staff officer had been as well bred as the country
gendarmes we had met two days before. From what
little I could see or hear in the camp, and it was only
two years before the war of 1 870, I gathered that the
French had the most supreme confidence in themselves
and their ability, etc., and a contempt for all other
nations. Shortly after this my work came out in England. It
was extensively reviewed by the German military
papers and seemed to attract a good deal of attention.
I soon had an application for permission to translate it,
from Captain, now General, Emil von Xylander of the
German cavalry. It was published in Germany, in
Munich, early in 1 870, and was reviewed in the press all
over Germany. My views about throwing cavalry two
or three days ahead of the army, which I advocated and
which the Germans did not use in 1866, were adopted
and used with great effect in 1870, and the French

160 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
suffered immensely from acting upon the old system
and believing the Germans were doing the same. The
German Uhlans appeared everywhere far in advance
of their main army and spread consternation among
the French troops who, when they saw cavalry
outposts, concluded that the enemy were in force not far
in rear of them. That war of 1870 taught the French
that they did not know everything. As I watched
the progress of the war, I often thought of the
men I \\a,d seen at Mourmelon two years before, and of
the self-satisfied cavalry officer I chanced to meet Of
course I could not blame him for keeping me at a
distance, as he knew nothing of me, but what impressed
me most was the magnificent assumption of superiority
that troubled him.
The next afternoon, after seeing some manoeuvres on
a large scale, we left for Rheims. We had got some little
distance out of the town when, chancing to look back,
we saw two gendarmes walking as fast as ever they
could after us and evidently anxious to overtake us.
We decided to lead them a chase, we increased the
length of our pace gradually, and without apparently
going very fast, we slowly kept gaining on them. The
faster they tried to go the faster we went, and kept
about a quarter of a mile between us. After coming
a mile or so they lost heart, stopped and turned
back, sauntering slowly. From Rheims I went north
through the Ardennes to Le Pron, Rocroi and Couvin,
to Wavre. In one day we covered forty-five and
a-half miles and without any inconvenience. From
Wavre we walked to Waterloo. I had studied the maps

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY'' 161
with such care and had read so much about the battle
that when I approached Waterloo the scene seemed
quite familiar, and appeared to me as if I had seen it
only a few years before.
We approached the battle-field by the road from
Chain. I had read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and
the account of the cavalry charges over the sunken road,
without placing any very great amount of credence on
the story, but as we walked along and I began examin
ing the position of the troops, I found that this road, if
in the same condition at the time of the battle, must
have been a most serious difficulty in the way of a
charge. We examined the ground carefully from a
cavalry point of view, and I can readily understand how
the French cavalry could not make very en'ective
attacks on that part of Wellington's line. A day or
two after we were back in London.
I had received from Colonel Jenyns of the 13th
Hussars, two letters of introduction, one to Lord George
Paget and the other to Colonel Valentine Baker. I sent
to Colonel Valentine Baker, then commanding the loth
Hussars at Aldershot, the one addressed to him, and
received an invitation to go to Aldershot and see a
cavalry field day. I went down, was provided by the
Colonel with a capital horse, and saw the manoeuvring
with a great interest. When the field day was over
Colonel Baker took me with him, and keeping his regi
ment out for an extra half hour, put them through a
number of movements in the non-pivot drill, then not
introduced into the British cavalry. I was very much
interested in seeing the practical working of the system

162 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of which in theory I was strongly in favour. My only
anxiety was the fact that I was the means of giving the
regiment an extra half-hour's hard work after a long
morning's parade. I spoke to the Colonel once or twice,
saying I did not like to see the men and officers kept
out, but Valentine Baker was a man of great energy and
enthusiasm and did not get tired himself or see why
others should. He had a splendid regiment at that
time, and was considered one of the smartest officers in
the army. I did not place. him above Jenyns, who was
one of the finest men I have ever met, handsome and
vigorous, with a magnificent figure. Colonel Baker
showed his great military talent afterwards in the
Turkish war as Baker Pasha, and again in Egypt I
met him once again in 1872, while he was still in the
Imperial service, at a Kriegspiel at the war office, where
I was taken one evening by Lord Wolseley to see the
game. Colonel Baker was also looking on and we at
once got together and discussed cavalry matters a good
part of the evening. Poor fellow, he destroyed his
career by a momentary indiscretion, but I always had a
kindly feeling for him and an interest in his welfare, for
I never forgot his courteous and hospitable treatment ol
me. I had also a letter from Colonel Jenyns to Lord
George Paget, then Inspector-General of Cavalry. I
had spoken of him to some friends, and I gathered that
he was a man who would not have been very pleasant
for a young officer to meet, and I was averse to disturbing
a man of his rank, so I refrained from presenting the
letter. Shortly before leaving for home I was looking

PUBLIC A TION OF ' ' MODERN CAVALRY" 163
over my papers and then noticed that Colonel Jenyns
had fastened the letter, so I felt I had to leave it.
I went to Lord George's office one day about noon,
and saw an orderly-room clerk, or official of that kind,
and asked if Lord George was in, as I wished to see
him. I was told he was not in the office, and that it
was not known when he would be in. While he was
speaking a tall good-looking officer walked in, a man
about forty to forty-five years of age, I suppose the
chief of staff, and said in a somewhat haughty manner :
" Anything for Lord George to-day ? " The clerk, who
stood up at his entrance, handed him a letter and said :
"There is this, sir, and this gentleman wished to see
Lord George." The officer, who had taken the letter,
had turned to go into an inner room. He stopped,
looked around at me in the most insolent and super
cilious way, and after coolly looking me over up and
down in the most offensive manner, said : '' He cannot
see Lord George to-day," and went into the room and
shut the door behind him.
There was something in the man's manner that was
so absolutely insolent and offensive that it put me into
a furious temper in an instant. I have only been so
savagely angry three or four times in my life. I stood
a minute, took out Colonel Jenyns' letter and one of
my cards,- opened the door the officer had shut,
slammed it wide open, walked over to where he had
just sat down at his desk, and said : " I want you to
understand that it is a matter of the utmost
indifference to me whether I see Lord George to-day,
or to-morrow, or next week, or never. I have a letter

164 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of introduction for him. It is a closed one, or under
the circumstances I would never deliver it You see
that he gets that letter," and I flipped it defiantly in
front of him on his desk, " and there is my card," and I
flipped that on top of it
I was angry enough to have struck him. He must
have seen that I was in a furious temper, for he much
more civilly said : " If you called to-morrow, you might
see him." I replied, as flippantly as possible, " I would
like you to understand that I do not want Lord George
to do anything for me, and I cannot think, at present,
of anything I can do for him. If I am passing this way
and have plenty of time, and nothing in the world to
do, I may call in, otherwise I won't. Good morning,"
and I walked out As I left for Canada a day or two
afterwards, I had no opportunity of finding out who
the officer was. In fact I was too angry to talk about it
When I got back to Canada I stayed for a day in
Montreal with Sir Henry Havelock, and he was asking
me all about my trip. Among other things I told him
this whole story. I shall never forget the way he
received it He laughed, lay down on the rug in front
of the fire, and clapped his hands and kicked his heels
together in exuberance of spirits and jumped up and
said : " Denison, he took you for some young cavalry
subaltern coming for an extension of leave, and, of
course, wanted to snub you. I hope your action will do
him good," and he laughed and said, jokingly, "Denison,
I would pay all your expenses if you would go back to
England and go through all the departments at the
Horse Guards and treat them all the same way."

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY'' 165
I may say that this was almost the only instance
in which I received anything but the most courteous
treatment from everyone with whom I was thrown in
contact in England. My book was, with a few excep
tions, very favourably reviewed, and was afterwards
translated into German, Russian and Hungarian. I
then advocated a number of changes, the attaching of
the sword to the saddle, the pistol to the man, the jack
boots, the non-pivot drill, the squadron organization, the
mounted rifle principle of tactics, and the pushing on of
cavalry outposts into contact with the enemy, as
was adopted two years later by the Germans against
France. I have lived to see every one of these ideas, then
thought somewhat revolutionary, adopted in the cavalry
of most armies. Of course, as the London Review's
criticism puts it, the regular cavalry would never adopt
the suggestions of a " provincial writer " and would
want some better authority than a " colonial commander
of horse" before they would act, and with the exception
of the jack boot they did not adopt anything. The
Russian Government did, however, and the ideas were
adopted by the Continental armies, and from them
copied into England. Canada followed England's
example, and twenty-nine years after I had urged the
fastening of the sword on the saddle, my regiment was
furnished by the Government with saddles with swords
attached to them, just as I had advocated. I think our
Canadian cavalry were about the last in the world to
get them.
While I am writing, the war in South Africa has been

166 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
raging for three months. Lord Roberts arrived in Cape
Town yesterday and a number of battles have been
fought, and a demand has been made over the Empire
for mounted men to fight as mounted riflemen. Mr.
Balfour has said that was our weak point, and yeomanry
are being organized in England to be sent out I have
lived, unfortunately, to see the principles which I advo
cated thirty years ago being applied with wonderful
skill against my own Motherland to her great loss of
men, money and prestige. The rapid change of front
in army circles, and the vindication of the correctness
of my views cannot lessen my sad reflections on the
hardships and losses my comrades have been suffering.
I sent copies of " Modern Cavalry," with the author's
compliments, to three officers commanding the three
volunteer cavalry corps in England, thinking they might
be interested in reading it. They were, the Duke of Man
chester, commanding the "Huntingdonshire Volunteer
. Light Horse," Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, M.P., of the
Devonshire corps, and Lieut-Colonel Bower of the
Hampshire corps. I was unknown to any of these
gentlemen. I received from Sir Thomas Acland a polite
letter of thanks and also a small military book he had
published. Colonel Bower also acknowledged his, and
spoke highly of my book. I received no acknowledg
ment whatever from the Duke of Manchester. I felt
snubbed, of course, but concluded that I had no business
to send him a copy, as he did not know me, and that I
had only myself to blame.
Four years after I was sent by the Ontario Govern
ment as a special commissioner to London to attend to

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY" 167
some business for them. My appointment was cabled
to the Times, and shortly after I arrived in London the
late C. W. Eddy, secretary of the Royal Colonial Insti
tute, called upon me and invited me to the annual
dinner of the Institute, which was to take place about
a week later. I attended the dinner and then discov
ered that the Duke of Manchester was the president of
the Institute. During the evening Mr. Eddy came with
the Duke over to where I was standing, and introduced
him to me. The Duke almost immediately began to
speak of my book, and how much pleased he had been
to read it. I said : " I am glad to hear you received
it, for as I never received an acknowledgment of it, I
concluded it had miscarried." He said : " Did not my
secretary write to thank you for it?" I replied: "If
he did, it miscarried." He then went on to ask me
some information about the Canadian militia, which I
promised to send him. When he received it a few days
later he wrote and thanked me, and asked me one or
two more questions, and I wrote again answering them.
When he replied he asked me to go down to Kimbolton
and see the old year out and the new year in, which I
did. I asked him to come out and see Canada. He came
the following summer of 1873, and spent about ten days
with me seeing Toronto and its neighbourhood. He
visited me again in 1882, and as long as he lived, we
kept up our friendship and correspondence. He was a
kindly, loyal English gentleman who did great service
to the cause of Imperial unity. He was one who would
never be discourteous to anyone.

168 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
We left England in September, 1868, just as my
book was ready to be issued. Our steamer stopped
at Moville for some hours to take up the mail for
Canada, and my brother Fred and I took a jaunting
car and went down to see the old ruins of Greencastle
and the small fort and battery near it. The Fenian
excitement was still very keen in Ireland, and the
authorities were anxious lest Fenian agents from the
United States should create trouble. I then wore a
mustache and imperial, and happened to be wearing a
broad-rimmed felt hat of the "cow-boy" or "wide
awake " variety when I went over the little fort, which
was manned by a small force of Royal Artillery. A
soldier was told off to show a party of us, probably
eight or ten, over the place. I happened to make some
remarks to my brother about the batteries and the guns
without thinking of any one overhearing me. The
soldier, however, overheard me, and he was evidently
a Fenian, for he managed to get me a little aside and
then, in a rich brogue, whispered to me : " Ye come
from the other side ? " I said : " What do you mean ? "
and he replied : " Ye come from acrass the Atlantic ? "
" I do," said I. " Ye know more about soldiering than
ye pretind. Ye were out wid Meagher." (General
Meagher commanded the Irish brigade in the army of
the Potomac). "I was not," said I most emphatically.
"That's right, sir," he whispered, "stick to that."
"But I was not, I was on the other side," said I.
"That's right, sir," said he with great emphasis, "Stick
to that. It would not be safe for ye to let on ; stick to
that. God bless ye, I wish ye well, anyway. A safe

PUBLICATION OF "MODERN CAVALRY" 169
voyage home, God bless ye." And he shook hands
with me warmly, and I left for Canada with the
blessings of a Fenian hovering over me.

CHAPTER XI
My Resignation from the Militia
Apply for staff appointment — Recommendations from Colonel
Wolseley, General Napier, Colonel Lowry and Colonel
Jenyns — Sir George Cartier' s rudeness — I resign —
Resignation accepted — Red River rebellion, 1870 —
Expedition sent — Colonel Wolseley in command — Incident
in his office — Lieutenant Fred. C. Denison appointed
orderly officer— I refuse to go as correspondent — Intrigue
to withdraw the expedition — Steps to prevent it — Public
meeting in Toronto — Fort Garry occupied — Union Jack
raised.
In the beginning of 1868 there was some talk of
appointing an Assistant Adjutant-General of Cavalry,
and being much embarrassed at the time by the
destruction of my business, I was foolish enough to
apply for the appointment.
I sent with my application some recommendations
from those army officers under whom I had served.
Colonel Wolseley's letter was as follows : —
January 9th, 1S68.
Dear Colonel Denison : —
In answer to your note of the 6th inst., it gives me very great
pleasure to be able to state, in writing, that I consider you a most
valuable officer. You carried on the outpost duties for the camp
which I commanded at Thorold last year, and with a ver3 small num-

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE MILITIA 171
ber of troopers, kept up a system of patrols along the Niagara
frontier in the most efficient manner.
It may sound like flattery, but it is nevertheless true, that I have
rarely met with an officer in any army more zealous to learn the
theory of his profession than you are, and judging from the zeal you
have always displayed when any opportunity offered, I feel confident
that you would turn the knowledge you have acquired to good
advantage were you actually in the field.
I know a large number of cavalry officers, but I know of no one
that I should prefer having with me to do outpost duty were I on
active service myself. In conclusion, I can only add that it is greatly
to be regretted that you do not belong to H. M. Regular Army, for
she has missed having an admirable soldier in you.
Siacerely yours,
(Sd.) G. J. Wolseley, D.Q.-M.G.
General Napier wrote a favourable letter, saying that
he knew of no volunteer officer better qualified to hold
the appointment, and he went on to say : " I consider
you to be one of the best cavalry officers in the volun
teers and if I was again called up to take the field in
Canada I should make a point of taking you and your
troop with me."
Colonel (now Lieut-General) R. W. Lowry, under
whom I served at Fort Erie, said : " I have pleasure in
recording my sense of that officer's ability and indefa
tigable activity  I cannot commend too strongly
the zeal and ability he evinced, and I consider the
employment of Lieut-Colonel Denison at the head of
a very much larger force of volunteer cavalry would, in
the event of an attack in any force on the western
frontier, be of great public service."
Colonel Jenyns, among other things said: "If cavalry
were required in the field I know of no one I would

172 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
sooner depend on than yourself, as I consider you most
efficient, both as a regimental or staff officer, having so
thoroughly studied every branch of your profession. . . .
I can also add that I have personally reported my high
opinion of you to all the General Officers under whom
I have served in Canada."
I mention these recommendations from the distin
guished officers under whom I have served on the fron
tier, because they show that they, at least, who had
good opportunities to estimate my qualifications, were
well satisfied with me as a subordinate officer. In later
years the officers who commanded the militia treated
me, as will be described in subsequent pages. I hope
the recommendations quoted will tend to show that
the fault was not likely to have been altogether on my
side. Having sent in my application, I must say, very much
against my natural inclinations, and only through pres
sure of circumstances, I called on the Minister of
Militia, Mr. Cartier, who treated me very politely and
told me to come and see him again as soon as the
Militia Bill was passed. I promised to do so.
Some months afterwards I was engaged in Ottawa
for several weeks on business while the Bill was going
through the House. After the Militia Act had been
passed and when I had almost completed my business
in Ottawa I remembered that Mr. Cartier (who in the
meantime had been made a Baronet) had told me to see
him. I therefore wrote a short note to him asking if he
would let me know when he could see me at any time
in the next two or three days. I sent this in to him in

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE MILITIA 173
the House of Commons, which is a thing constantly
done. He came out in the lobby, walked up to me in a
very offensive manner and spoke to me so sharply and
in such an overbearing and insolent manner that I very
nearly struck him. It was one of the other occasions
when I got into a bad temper. I told him curtly I did
not want to see him, and turned away from him. His
conduct must have been very marked, for a doorkeeper,
immediately afterwards, said to me : " Sir George spoke
very sharply to you. Colonel, just now."
I at once sent in my resignation of my commission
in the militia to the Adjutant-General, and wrote a
short note to Sir George Cartier, saying : " that his
conduct and bearing to me had been so uncalled for
and unprovoked that I had sent in my resignation of
my commission to prevent the possibility of its recur
rence." Colonel Macdougall, the Adjutant-General, tried to
get me to withdraw my letter and resignation. I
refused unless Sir George apologized, and said I could
not remain in the force unless I was treated properly,
and would not remain in a position where I could be
insulted without being able to resent it. In the fall my
resignation was accepted. A raid was expected, so the
acceptance was delayed. Just before I returned from
England that year I received the official information of
my resignation having been accepted and that I was
gazetted out, and consequently I held no rank whatever
in the militia of the country. My military career for
the time was finished and I had lapsed into the position
of a private in the second class of the sedentary militia.

174 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I set to work vigorously at my law business, and in a
year or two began to work up a fair practice, being
entirely cut apart from all military affairs. A rebellion
broke out at Fort Garry in the Red River settlement in
1 869, and as one of the most active of the leaders of the
" Canada First " movement, I took a deep interest in
the affair, more particularly as two of our prominent
comrades in that movement, the late Sir John Schultz
and Charles Mair, were captured by Riel and held in
prison for a couple of months until they effected their
escape. Our " Canada First " organization agitated for
sending at once an expedition to put down the rebel
lion, and we worked very energetically to stir up public
opinion in favour of Colonel Wolseley being sent in
command. Captain Huysshe, in his history of The Red
River Rebellion, refers to the " Vox Populi " fixing on
Colonel Wolseley as leader. I was busy during the
winter hunting up information that would be useful for
him if he was chosen, and from the Sth until the 14th
of February, 1870, I was staying with him at his house
in Montreal, talking over details a good deal. Some
time early in April, 1870, Colonel Wolseley knew that
he was to be in command of the expedition. On the
2 1st of that month I happened to be in Ottawa, when I
received the following telegram from Colonel Wolseley:
" I go to Ottawa to-morrow by boat. I want to see
you." I remained in Ottawa, consequently, for another
week, and I was a good deal in Colonel Wolseley's
office, where he was organizing his command. We
were standing by the window one day talking over

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE MILITIA 175
something when a knock came to the door and Sir
George Cartier, the Minister of Militia, with whom I
had quarrelled two years before, came in. I at once
picked up my hat to go, but Colonel Wolseley would
not let me. He said : " No, I want to speak to
you." I tried to get away but could not. The Colonel
went over to the door and spoke to Sir George.
He did not ask him even to sit down, while I stood
at the far end of the room looking out of the window.
In a few minutes Sir George left The moment he had
gone I said : " Colonel, you should not have done that,
you should have let me go out. Sir George is a
spiteful little devil and he will never forgive you."
Colonel Wolseley said : " I don't care, I would never let
him turn you out of my room." He knew of the. feud
between us. I think it was a pity, for Cartier never
forgot it and did everything in his power to embarrass
Wolseley and bring about the failure of his expedition.
Cartier, of course, did not sympathize with it anyway,
but this incident added spite to his feelings.
My brother Fred wanted to go on the expedition, but
he and I knew that by no possibility could he get an
opportunity through the Militia Department at Ottawa.
I spoke to Colonel Wolseley about it and he said : " I
will manage it I will try and get him as my orderly
officer or aide-de-camp." He therefore applied for
permission to choose one from the militia. The De
partment telegraphed to Toronto, to Lieut-Colonel
Scoble, offering the position to him, before consulting
Colonel Wolseley. When Colonel Wolseley was told
they would give him Colonel Scoble, he said : " No,

176 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
that will not do. I must be allowed to choose my own
A.D.C., as he will be one of my family." He was asked
whom he recommended. He replied : " I will recom
mend no one until it is settled that I am to have one."
They thought he wanted to take me, so they said it
must be an officer of the Canadian militia. He said :
"Certainly." It was then decided he was to have a
militia orderly officer, and he appointed my brother
Fred. I was much gratified to find out afterwards how
well satisfied he was with my brother.
The expedition was mobilized at Toronto, and
Colonel Wolseley and his staff were here for some
three weeks before it started. The Honourable George
Brown, proprietor of the Globe, made me a very liberal
offer to go up as correspondent for his paper, a large
salary and a very liberal allowance for expenses. I
happened to mention it to Colonel Wolseley. He
tried his best to get me to go, offered me a seat in
his boat a place at his table for meals, and said he
would take me to Fort Garry and back, and send me
up to my house in a cab, and that I need not put a five-
cent piece in my pocket, and the whole salary and
travelling allowances would be a clear gain. I would
have been delighted to have had the experience, but I
knew the difficulties in Colonel Wolseley's way, and I
refused to go. I told him all his troubles would be in
the rear, and that some bold man would be required in
Ontario to fight the battle there.
They started from Toronto on May 20th, and made
their base at Prince Arthur's Landing in Thunder Bay,
now Port Arthur. The first difficulty was the Dawson

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE MILITIA 177
road. Colonel Wolseley had to use the Kaministiqua
river to get his stores on the way to Shebandowan.
There was a good deal of delay and, as I anticipated
Sir George Cartier, in charge of the Government at the
time, began to intrigue to prevent the expedition going
on. A plot was formed to send the new Lieutenant-
Governor of the North-West, Mr. Archibald, and Arch
bishop Tachd, to Fort Garry by way of the United
States, and Riel was to hand over the government to
Governor Archibald, and the expedition was to be
withdrawn. In the middle of July, 1870, I received a message
from Dr. Schultz (afterwards Sir John Schultz, K.C.
M.G., Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba), telling me of
this plot He had received the information from our
comrade, Robert Grant Haliburton, who was a member
of our "Canada First" organization. (Besides Hali
burton, the other founders of this organization were
William A. Foster, Henry J. Morgan, Charles Mair
and myself). I learned many years afterwards how
the information had leaked out Haliburton, by
mere accident, happened to call on Lord Lisgar,
the Governor-General, at Niagara Falls, where the
latter was having a holiday. They had a long
conversation and, whether by accident or design or
carelessness, Lord Lisgar let slip enough to enable
Haliburton to divine what was on foot, and he tele
graphed to Schultz.
I immediately laid the information before our com
mittee, and we at once arranged all our plans so that
we could act the instant we had the slightest public

178 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
hint of the movement The Government organ, the
Leader, had a despatch from Ottawa on July 19th,
1870, outlining the plan, and saying that on the
arrival of Archibald and Archbishop Tach6, " Riel is
to deliver up the government to them, and the expedi
tionary troops will be withdrawn." This was followed
by an editorial urging the withdrawal of the expedition.
We had everything ready, and at once a public meeting
was called by the mayor, the walls of the city were
covered with inflammatory placards arousing the popu
lar indignation against the withdrawal, and such threats
were made against Cartier and Tach6, who were coming
to Toronto on their way to the Falls to see the Gover
nor-General, that they were telegraphed by their friends
not to come through Toronto, so they left the train at
Kingston and took a different route.
A day was thus gained, and the public meeting was
heid. The St Lawrence hall was crammed to its
utmost limits, the crowd being most enthusiastic and
unanimous. I moved the following resolution after a
vehement speech :
" Resolved, in view of the proposed amnesty to Riel
and withdrawal of the expedition, this meeting declares
that the Dominion must and shall have the North-West
Territory in fact, as well as in name, and if our Govern
ment, through weakness or treachery, can not or will
not protect our citizens in it, and recalls our volunteers,
it will then become the duty of the people of Ontario to
organize a scheme of armed emigration, in order that
those Canadians who have been driven from their
homes may be reinstated, and that, with the many

MY RESIGNATION FROM THE MILITIA 179
who desire to settle in new fields, they may have a
sure guarantee against the repetition of such outrages
as have disgraced our country in the past, that the
majesty of the law may be vindicated against all
criminals, no matter by whom instigated or by whom
protected, and that we may never again see the flag of
our ancestors trampled in the dust, or a foreign emblem
flaunting itself in any part of our broad Dominion."
This was carried amid great applause and excitement
and the popular feeling as displayed caused Sir George
Cartier to pause and Lord Lisgar to object to the plan.
The threat of organizing a scheme of armed emigration
must have opened the eyes of them both, for a similar
scheme had been successfully worked in Texas and
Kansas and had been shown to be practicable. I was
then, and have been ever since, very thankful that I
refused the tempting offers of both Colonel Wolseley
and the Hon. George Brown, and remained at home to
help to guard the rear, where I expected the real attack
would come.
When approaching Fort Garry Colonel Wolseley sent
my brother on to reconnoitre. He rode on to the Fort,
and around it to the rear gate, out of which Riel's
followers were running. He rode into the gate, glanced
hurriedly around and rode out and back to carry the
information that there would be no resistance. As he
was the first man in Fort Garry, Colonel Wolseley
ordered him with Sir John McNeil to raise once more
the Union Jack to the top of the flagpole from which
an alien emblem had been flying for some eight or nine
months.

180 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Colonel Wolseley went through Toronto without
stopping on his way home to England from Fort Garry.
He telegraphed to me to meet him at the station, but
the telegram was not delivered in time for me to see
him. He wrote me from the steamer off Father Point
as he was leaving Canada, and I was much pleased with
the way in which he spoke of my brother Fred. " A
better or nicer fellow in every respect I never knew.
He was the best of aide-de-camps, and a most zealous,
hard-working soldier."

CHAPTER XII
Niagara Camp, 1872
Large camp formed — Sham fight — Colonel Robertson Ross — His
curious remark — Plan of attack — Success of attacking
party— Election of 1872 — Colonel Dyde — Defeat of Sir
George Cartier — Colonel Dyde and the Subaltern — Election
in Algoma — Officer commanding militia to be a Major-
General — Foundation of Royal Military College.
In June, 1872, the militia camp at Niagara was the
largest training camp that has yet been gathered
together. The force consisted of about seven thousand
men, including two corps of cavalry, three field bat
teries and about fifteen battalions of infantry. Colonel
Robertson Ross was then Adjutant-General of Militia.
He was a warm friend and protegd of Sir George
Cartier. I was out of the force and had been criticising
the Department somewhat freely, so that there was no
friendly feeling between us, and on account of this my
uncle, Lieut-Colonel R. B. Denison, then Brigade-Major
at Toronto, and my brother Fred, who commanded the
Body Guard, were not favourites of the headquarter's
staff. A sham fight on a large scale was arranged to come
off, and I chanced to be over at the camp for a couple of
days looking on. Colonel Robertson Ross chose my

182 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
uncle to command the attacking force, in which he
included the Body Guard and the Toronto Field
Battery, so that every member of my family was on
that side. He gave my uncle two batteries of artillery,
two brigades of infantry and two troops of cavalry.
To Colonel Gillmor, who commanded the defence, he
gave some six troops of cavalry, one battery and five
regiments of rifles. The attacking force was conse
quently nearly double the strength of the defence, and
the public would naturally conclude that the superior
numbers would win. Then came the laying out of the
ground. The camp was to form an impassable morass
covering Colonel GiUmor's whole front ; on one side
three narrow defiles alone gave approach to his position;
his left was covered b}- a supposed unfordable river with
one bridge, while the Niagara ri\-er protected his rear.
Beyond the unfordable river about three-quarters of a
mile away was another narrow defile, through which the
attacking force had to march in column for over half a
mile before they could deploy.
With good handling, leaving out morale, which can
not influence sham fights, the defending force had an
absolute certainty, for they only had to fight the heads
of columns coming out of the narrow defiles. M}' uncle
said to Colonel Ross that he had neutralized so much
ground and given so many advantages to the defence,
that he did not have a fair chance, and asked that he
might be relieved from the command. Colonel Ross'
reply was : " No, I will not relieve you. You Denisons
have got such a reputation as soldiers, that it would be
no credit for you to win unless the odds were very great

NIAGARA CAMP, 187IB 183
against you." My uncle told me what he said, and we
both agreed that he was going to hit me over the
shoulders of my relatives. I said : " Never mind,
we will just have to lick them." This was on a
Saturday afternoon. I went over to Chippewa that
night with my brother Fred and made a tracing of a
good map I knew was there, and on the Sunday we
rode back to Niagara, examining the ground carefully.
Then Fred and I went to my uncle's room about nine
at night, and taking out my map, I marked out all the
morasses, etc., and then examined the position carefully.
I saw at once that the unfordable river to the left was
the only possible chance to get In, as the enemy might
rely somewhat upon it and allow us to get through the
defile beyond it. We were not long in making our
arrangements, and when finished, I urged my uncle
strongly to let no one know his plans. I particularly
advised that the umpire staff should be kept ignorant of
the real point of attack.
It was agreed that the main attack from the left was
to be carried out by Lieut.-Colonel Skinner, under my
directions. Skinner and I being good friends, we knew
he would agree to this. It was arranged that my uncle
was to march out by the north or right flank early with
seven battalions and one troop of cavalry and six guns,
being a battery and a half. Colonel Skinner, having
less distance to go, marched out by the south or left
flank with the two smaller battalions and one troop of
cavalry and two guns. This was seen, of course, by
every one, and the idea at once was given that tne
main attack would come from the north, where there

184 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
were three broader defiles and open ground in front,
and no unfordable river.
The column under Lieut-Colonel R. B. Denison
marched around, to the west and took up the line
behind which they were obliged to remain until the gun
fired at ten o'clock. Then they halted until the three
largest battalions, and a battery of artillery would just
have time to march across about two miles to join
Colonel Skinner on the south flank. Colonel Skinner
had no idea of the arrangements for the day till we
were riding out I was in plain clothes, and, riding
between Colonel Skinner and Lieut-Colonel Moore, his
Brigade-Major, I explained fully and clearly what the
plans were. They entered into them with spirit, and
when the five battalions were concentrated the five
Colonels were brought together and made to understand
the plan. The whole point was to get through the
defile and get deployed before the enemy could cross
the bridge and attack us.
To get through the defile rapidly we put the regi
ments two abreast in columns of fours and when the gun
fired the whole force went ahead on a good run, not
doubling exactly, but faster. We had stopped any one
going to the front for about twenty minutes, as informa
tion could have been carried, so the road was empty.
It was a very pretty sight looking back to see 2,000 red
coats, running on like a stream without a sound but the
rumble of their footsteps.
The troop of cavalry had started almost at charging
pace in front and got out of the mouth of the defile
about 200 yards when they met a body of the opposing

NIAGARA CAMP, 1872 185
cavalry, followed by some infantry. Our cavalry
deployed at once and began firing their carbines at the
enemy who halted, then fell back as two or three com
panies of infantry came up skirmishing and opened fire.
This caused a few minutes' delay and the 13th Battalion
of Hamilton, who had got out of the defile, deployed at
once on the double, and running through between the
cavalry skirmishers, opened fire upon the enemy who,
being much outnumbered, fell back.
In a few minutes the men were across the bridge,
deployed on the other side, covered by a heavy fire from
the south bank of the unfordable stream. Regiment
after regiment was hurried over, followed by the six
guns. A regiment of the enemy was captured in
quarter column before it could deploy. A gun was
taken, the defiles to the north uncovered and hands
joined with the force under Lieut.-Colonel R. B.
Denison, and the affair was over. . My brother
Fred with the Body Guard had ' also captured a
company of the enemy's infantry in the streets of the
town. The umpire staff had all gone off to the north expect
ing the attack from there, and when they heard the
heavy firing from the south came back in time to order
the regiment and one of the enemy's guns out of action.
The attacking force gained great credit in the accounts
in the newspapers, but no one knew the great difficulties
under which they succeeded. There was no reason why
they should not have been defeated. I was, naturally,
much pleased with the result, as I knew I was the one
aimed at The public never knew of the inside history.

186 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
although the sham fight was very much discussed in
military circles all over Canada.
The department found out I had had a hand in it, and
afterwards there were orders issued that suggestions
from outsiders were not to be received in these sham
fights. Shortly after this I went down to Montreal in antici
pation of the general elections, and I visited the camps
at Kingston, La Prairie and Levis. Colonel Dyde and
I spent several days quietly organizing opposition to
Sir George Cartier's re-election to Parliament. The
election came off a month or so later and Sir George
was overwhelmingly defeated. This concluded my con
test with him. He died in London the following year.
He was a man of many fine qualities. I heard he
regretted very much having annoyed me. He had been
so long dealing with office hunters that he mistook me
for one of the class and thought I would put up with
cavalier treatment, and probably he did not mean to be
offensive. Perhaps I was over-sensitive, as I had asked
for an office very much against my instincts, being
driven somewhat by the destruction of my business and
the hardships my family had to suffer on account of it.
I have referred to Colonel Dyde. He was one of the
most striking figures of his time in the Canadian Militia.
He had served as a boy in the war of 1812. He had
also done excellent service in the rebellion of 1837-8.
He had organized a regiment ready for embodiment at
the time of the Oregon difficulty, and was for many
years the commandant of the active militia of the
Montreal district, having over three thousand men

NIAGARA CAMP, 1872 187
under his command. He had the rank of full Colonel
and held a good place in society, he and Colonel
Sewell, of Quebec, and my father, being the only three
of that rank or command in Canada. Colonel Dyde
was a very fine-looking man, about six feet three inches
in height, was afterwards appointed an A.D.C. to the
Queen, and received the C.M.G. He lived to be over
ninety years of age. We were warm friends in spite of
the great disparity in our ages.
He once told me an anecdote which he looked upon
as a joke, because chance had given him such an inside
view of the circumstances. I shall repeat it as an
illustration of the estimation in which Colonial militia
were then held. Colonel Dyde had occasion to visit
Quebec sometime about the year 1 862. It was then the
seat of Government, Lord Monck being the Governor-
General. On the train going down he chanced to be
seated next to a young gentleman of tvv'enty-two or
twenty-three years of age, and they chatted together
and at last exchanged cards, the young man being an
ensign in a regular regiment of infantry then stationed
in Ontario. When they arrived at the station, they
drove to the same hotel, had breakfast together, and
then went out together. Colonel Dyde said that before
he went to attend to some business, he wished as a
matter of politeness to put his name in His Excellency's
book, and he advised the young man to do the same.
Their names were put down, together with their rank
and residences. In the afternoon the young officer met
Colonel Dyde in the hotel, and he at once said : " I
suppose I shall meet you this evening ? " " Where ? "

188 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
said the Colonel. " At Government house, are you not
going to dine there ? " "I have not been invited," he
replied. The young officer said he had been invited.
Colonel Dyde thought that probably some of the staff
knew him, but the officer said he had never heard of
any of them before, and all they had ever known of him
was seeing his name in the book.
In the general election of 1872 I contested Algoma
in the Reform interest at the request of the Hon. George
Brown and the Hon. Alex. McKenzie. I was defeated
by the Hon. J. B. Robinson by eighty votes. As I was a
perfect stranger in the county it was what I expected.
1 did a good deal of service for the Reform party, in
helping them into power, and after they got possession
of the Government J asked Mr. McKenzie, the Premier,
to do two things for me. One was to provide that the
command of the Canadian militia should not be given
to an officer under the rank of full Colonel, and that
when appointed he should be made a Major-General.
The next thing was the establishment of a Military
College, such as the Kfngston Royal Military College.
Mr. McKenzie said he would see what he could do and,
after some considerable delay, he told me he would do
both, and he kept his word.

CHAPTER XIII
The "History of Cavalry"
Czar's offer for prizes for best history of cavalry — Terms of
competition — Open to all armies — Delay in getting pro
gramme — Difficulty of obtaining books — Secrecy — J. J.
Vance — Goldwin Smith — B. Homer Dixon, K.N.L. —
Decide to visit St. Petersburg — Lord Dufferin — Major-
General Selby Smyth — His curious action — Lord Derby — -
His kindness — Difficulties of a colonist — Visit Hatfield —
Assistance by Lord Salisbury — General Gorloff — His
thoughtful kindness and courtesy — A ' ' list de courier. ' '
Some time about August ist, 1874, my brother
Henry sent me a little cutting from a newspaper
containing the following words :
" The Grand Duke Nicholas, of Russia, offers prizes
of $4,000, $2,400 and $1,600 for the best work on
cavalry and military operations on horseback in all
ages and countries."
This announcement had been made in St Petersburg
on July 1st, 1874. I thought I would compete, but
being out of the force, I was not eligible, so I asked
Mr. McKenzie, the Premier, if he would have the order
accepting my resignation cancelled, and let me raise a
second troop and give me the command of a squadron.
This was done, and I was placed in the same position
as if I had never retired.

190 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I began to make enquiry about this competition at
once, and wrote to Sir Garnet Wolseley, then on the
staff at the War Office, asking him the particulars,
thinking he would easily be able to get the informa
tion. He wrote me on August 1 2th, saying: "As
soon as I received your note I wrote about the prize
essay, but no one could give me any information. I
spoke to our military attache at St. Petersburg, but he
had never heard of it I put our Intelligence Depart
ment to work on the scent, but to no good purpose."
On November loth, 1874, Sir Garnet wrote me:
" Just a line to say that you will find in the Times
of last month an account of the prize to be given for
the cavalry essay, which must be in the Russian
language." In the Army and Navy Gazette of November 7th,
1874, the following letter appeared :
THE history of CAVALRY.
To the Editor of ihe Army and Navy Gazette :
Sir, — I shall feel much obliged by your giving publicity to the
following communication which I have received from the Imperial
Government of Russia. His Imperial Highness, the Grand Duke
Nicholas Nicholaievitch, Inspector-General of Russian cavalry,
recognising the incompleteness of any existing treatise on cavalry
history, and considering that so important a service merits the
closest study, has determined, with the sanction of his Imperial
Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, to offer three prizes of 5,000,
3,000 and 2,000 roubles, respectively, for the three best essays on
the above subject. In order to encourage international scientific
intercourse, His Imperial Highness has decided to throw the com
petition open to all foreign armies, but non-Russian competitors will
have their productions translated into that language. All competing
essays must be handed in at St. Petersburg on or before January ist

THE "HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 191
(13th), 1877, when they will be carefully examined by a committee
nominated by His Imperial Highness, and the prizes adjudged.
The instructions accompanying the above are too lengthy to be
reproduced, but I shall be most happy to impart them to any
intending competitor who will put himself in communication with
me. I feel, however, bound to indicate that the essay in question
will have to be of the completest character, going back to the
earliest times, gradually descending to our own day and elaborately
reviewing the present employment of mounted troops in all the
functions of war. I am, etc., A. GORLOFF.
Major-General of the suite of His Majesty, the Emperor, and
Military attach^ to the Imperial Russian Embassy.
I had already been very busy reading up the early
history of cavalry, but it was a great loss to me that I
was so long in getting any information about the terms
of competition.
On November 23rd, as soon as I saw this letter, I
wrote to General Gorloff and asked for the full
particulars. On January 2nd, 1875, I received a reply
from General Gorloff, saying that the programme and
other particulars relating to the competition would
appear in the Journal of the Royal United Service
Institute for January, 1875.
It was February, 1875, before I was able to obtain
the full programme, with the particulars of the
competition and the outline sketch of the scope of the
book. I had of course been working very diligently
during the six months in which I was trying to get
these papers. The delay is a good illustration of the
procrastinating spirit of the Russian people. It was
seven months after the announcement in St Petersburg

1C2 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
before I got it in Toronto, which was a large deduction
from the two and one-half years given to prepare such
an extensive work.
I endeavoured to get permission for officers on this
continent to put in their works in French or English
on account of the difficulty in getting translators in
this country, but the request was refused, so that I had
to get a translator in New York. The translator was
not a soldier, and the translation consequently was very
defective, by which I nearly lost the benefit of all my
work.. I had great difficulty in getting the books I required,
and being able to read only French and English, I
could not study many works in other languages, as I
should have liked to do. Most of the best works,
however, could be got in either French or English,
except quite modern ones. I was writing constantly to
an agent in l^ondon sending lists of books to procure
for me, and almost every week brought me by post one
or more volumes. Many of them rare books, difficult
to obtain.
I was very anxious to keep it private that I was
writing at all. I felt that the odds were against me,
and I knew that no matter how gallant a struggle I
made against what seemed insurmountable difficulties,
I would be laughed at and ridiculed, if I failed to
secure at least one of the prizes, for I knew it looked
absurd for a militia officer, a lawyer, one who had never
attended a military school of any kind, one removed
froni the centres of military thought and away from
the great military libraries, to attempt to compete in a

THE "HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 198
competition open to all the trained officers of the
regular armies of the world.
This troubled me more than any other consideration,
for I knew how I should be laughed at, and particularly
in Canada. I was consequently very secretive ; a very
few intimate friends alone knew in confidence of my
work. I was afraid also of injuring my practice if I
was much away from my office. My brother Fred,
aided by our clerk, undertook to relieve me of the bulk
ofthe responsibility of our law business, in which he
was then my partner. I arranged to be always in the
office between 2 and 5 p.m., after which we walked
home together. I was accustomed to get up all
through the springs and summers of 1875 and 1876
before daybreak, and was at work by daylight. Often I
have heard the town bells ringing at 6 a.m. after having
put in two hours' good work. I used to take a cup of
coffee when I first got up and had breakfast at seven.
Commenced work again at eight and worked till noon,
when I had lunch and walked a little over three miles
to my office. I generally managed to get in two hours
work again in the evening. I averaged eight hours
work a day for over two years, and during two months
in St Petersburg, at the end, it was nearer twelve and
fifteen hours.
I had to go hurriedly through over 700 volumes,
picking out what I wanted, classifying it all. I
worked at that for about a year, making notes,
before I began to write at all. Then I had to
write chapter after chapter, go over them carefully,
and then make a clean copy to send instalments.

194 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
from time to time, to New York to be translated.
It can be readily imagined how hard I had to work,
and at what high pressure. The pressure of the amount
of work to be done made many competitors fall by the
wayside. Out of twenty-three competitors who sent in
their mottoes and addresses some six months before
the books were to be put in, only three sent in com
pleted books.
One of my intimate friends who knew what I was
doing was James J. Vance, a barrister of Toronto, who
some time before had been an alderman with me in the
City Council for a year or two. He was a man of very
high Hterary tastes and good judgment He had been
educated partly in Germany, and spoke German
fluently. He took a deep interest in my work, and
was accustomed to come out to my house frequently,
and I would read him my draft and be guided a good
deal by his advice and criticism. As the work went on
the difficulties seemed to increase much faster than they
were overcome. I was often much discouraged, and
Vance's confident friendship was a great support to me.
I had a feeling that no English cavalry officer could
beat me. I thought that the surroundings in a cavalry
barracks and the military life itself would make it
difficult for any English cavalry officer to write such
a book, and none of them had ever written anything
that would lead me to fear them. I knew all the
French cavalry literature and I was not afraid of their
officers, but I knew the thoroughness of the Germans
and their fine military system, and, as I could not read
their books, I was very much afraid of them.

THE " HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 195
Often I would say this to Vance. He never lost
confidence. As the months passed on and the book
kept developing, and he began to see- the way I
handled the subject, and particularly the speed with
which I worked, he would say : " Don't be uneasy,
Denison, I know the Germans well. There is not a
German in all Germany who could work at half the
speed you work at. If they had ten years to write it
in you might be alarmed. I will guarantee your book
will get the first prize."
He may have said all this out of friendship, just to
encourage me, but whether he did or not it certainly
encouraged me very much, and it turned out he was
right. He was another of my old friends who passed
away comparatively young. He died in 1888.
Professor Goldwin Smith very kindly gave me the
use of his library, lending me any books that were
useful, and giving me most valuable advice in reference
to the portions relating to the history of Greece and
Rome. The late B. Homer Dixon, Esq., Consul-
General of the King of the Netherlands, at that time
had one of the finest collections of ancient arms and
armour on the continent, and a special library on
chivalry and arms and such subjects. He kindly
gave me every facility to study his collection, and
lent me such books as I required from his library.
I worked very hard all the year 1875, and in the
spring of 1876 I saw that I could not complete the
Russian sections without going to St. Petersburg to
consult the libraries, with the assistance of interpreters
who could aid me in reading the Russian authorities. I

196 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
did not think I could safely put in my completed work
without doing it myself. I decided, therefore, to go to
London in October and consult a few books in the
British Museum, and then go on to St. Petersburg, so
as to leave me two months to finish it up there.
I knew it would be necessary for me to appear in
Russia properly vouched for by my Government. I
knew that no country in the world was more subject to
officialdom, and that unless properly introduced by my
Government, I should be looked upon as a socialist or
anarchist, and my manuscript thrown into the waste
paper basket. Consequently I thought out all the
questions that might arise, and planned to guard
against all eventualities.
To do this I found it necessary, shortly before I left
Canada, to take into my confidence three or four more
people. One was Lord Dufferin, the Governor- General,
another was Major-General Sir Selby Smyth, command
ing the militia, and the other the Hon. Alexander
McKenzie, the Prime Minister. I asked Lord Dufferin's
advice, and he took the greatest interest in my work,
and gave me two letters of introduction, one to Lord
Derby, Foreign Secretary, and the other to Lord
Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord
Derby was asked to give me a letter to the Ambassador,
Lord Augustus Loftus, which he did. I wished to see
Lord Carnarvon, who officially should present colonists at
Court, to give me such an authorization as would enable
Lord Augustus Loftus to present me at St. Petersburg,
if by any chance the Russian Court wished him to do
so. At that time I had never been presented at St.

THE "HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 197
James', and there is a rule that the Ambassador will not
present at a foreign court anyone not already presented
at home. This was my greatest anxiety, for it would
have been ruinous if, in response to an invitation. Lord
Loftus should say that he could not present me. Lord
Carnarvon was the member of the Government who
could arrange this for me.
I received a letter from the Hon. Alexander Mc
Kenzie to Mr., now Sir Robert Herbert, Under-Secre
tary of the Colonies, who treated me with every kind
ness and arranged to have all my letters sent by the
Queen's messenger to the Embassy with their mail.
The next important point was to have a letter from
the Major-General Commanding to the Horse Guards,
saying I was an officer of the Canadian forces, so that
I could be officially passed on by them to the military
attache at St Petersburg, as an officer in good standing
and therefore qualified to compete under the regula
tions. I explained all this to Sir Selby Smyth and
asked him for an official letter of introduction to the
Horse Guards, saying I was an officer of the Canadian
forces wishing to compete, so that I might have a letter
authorizing me as one of the officers of Canada to put
in my book. Sir Selby Smyth promised to send me the
letter, but did not do so. He was in Toronto on
October 12th, 1876, the day I left for England. I tried
to find him but could not I left a note at the Queen's
Hotel, saying I would call to see him at 7 p.m. My
train left at 7.30. I called a few minutes before seven
and was told the General had just gone out I asked if
he had received my note, was told he had. I asked

198 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
if there was a note or message for me. There was not.
I waited till the last minute, and then went down to
the station, where my brothers were waiting to see me
off, and found out from my two younger brothers that
they had seen the General and his aide standing
together up a quiet street for some time, and that they
were still standing there, when they lost sight of them
in the distance. My brother Fred went at my request
to see the General the next morning to remind him
again of his promise. He once more promised to send
me the letter to England and took my London address.
On November 7th, 1876, I received the letter in the
following words : — Ottawa, October 25th, 1876.
Dear Colonei, Denison : —
I am sorry I had not the pleasure of meeting you, when I passed
through Toronto last week.
On my return you had gone, but your brother called upon me, and
has since sent me your address in London. He said you wished me
to write to introduce you at the Horse Guards, and I should gladly
do so of course, but I think it almost superfluous, as you are so well
known there to so many of the staff who have served in Canada.
You have General Macdougall, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Major Butler,
Colonel Hawley, Major BuUer, upon any of whom you need only call
to be remembered and attended to.
If you think it would serve you, you are perfectly welcome to use
this note.
I only hope you will meet with every success in the object of your
mission, and return here fully satisfied with the result.
I need only repeat that I am only too glad to endeavour to pro
mote your wishes at all times.
Pray believe me.
Yours very truly,
E. Selby Smyth, Major-General.
It will be seen that this letter, while politely

THE " HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 199
expressed, was practically a refusal to comply with
my request. Several of the officers named by him I
had never met, and the others knew I had resigned, and
did not know whether I then held a commission or not
This annoyed me very much ; I saw at once the mean
ing of it Sir Selby Smyth, I have no doubt, looked
upon my competition as a wild and ridiculous piece of
conceit and ignorance. He did not wish it to be
thought in London that he would encourage a militia
officer in undertaking such a work and going upon a
fool's errand. He was afraid he would be laughed at in
the military clubs if it became known that he was
helping a colonist from the woods of Canada in such
a wide competition. Still this did not aid me or help
me very much. The result of it all was that I got no
letter from the Horse Guards.
I presented Lord Dufferin's letter to Lord Derby.
He received me with great courtesy, and gave me a
simple letter of introduction to Lord Augustus Loftus,
the English ambassador at St Petersburg. Sir Garnet
Wolseley gave me a private letter of introduction to
Colonel Fred Wellesley, the military attache, and they
both treated me very kindly.
My main desire was to see Lord Carnarvon, and have
matters arranged so that if an intimation for a presenta
tion at court came, there should be no obstacle. I went
to the Colonial Office, saw Lord Carnarvon's private sec
retary, left Lord Dufferin's letter of introduction and a
request for an interview. I waited for about ten days
and received no acknowledgment or notice of any sort
I made a second attempt, which was also abortive.

200 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I thought then the game was up. I had been evaded
by Sir Selby Smyth, and my request for an interview
with Lord Carnarvon ignored. I shall never forget my
disappointment and anxiety, for I thought of all my
labour for two and one-half years, and the expense,
which I could ill afford in those days, all wasted.
Fortunately I was acquainted with the Marquis of
Salisbury, and I had left a card on him, and just about
this time I received a note from him inviting me to go
to Hatfield to spend two or three days. I went down,
and on the evening I arrived, after dinner. Lord Salis
bury asked me something about my visit to England,
and I said I would like to ask his advice on one
point As we walked out of the dining-room, he
allowed all the others to go into the library, and
said to me : " We will walk up and down here."
This was in the magnificent long gallery, about 130
feet long, one of the finest rooms or galleries in
England, and we walked up and down for about
fifteen minutes, and talked the matter over. I told
him I was afraid the question might be raised about
my being presented to the Emperor, and that I had
never been presented at St. James', which would lead
to a difficulty. The Marquis said : " I can arrange
that The question very likely will not arise ; if it
does, tell Lord Loftus not to refuse, but that I say
I would like him to telegraph to me, and whatever
is necessary will be done."
This relieved my mind on this point. I received a
note from the Colonial Office the day I left London,
telling me to apply to the Assistant Adjutant-General

THE ' ' HISTOR Y OF CAVALRY" 201
at the Horse Guards for the letter of introduction to
St Petersburg. This was through the kindness of Sir
Robert Herbert But it was too late then, and in the
meantime I had arranged with the Marquis of Salisbury
on the only point I was anxious about, and General
Gorloff, the Russian military attache, did so much for
me and took so much trouble to smooth my way, that
I was made independent of our militia department.
General Gorloff gave me a letter to the chief of the
staff. Count Heyden, who commanded the Russian
army, and actually gave me a list de courier or passport,
usually given to Imperial messengers on special service,
which placed everything necessary at my disposal
in Russia. This was in order that my papers and
manuscript should not be taken from me in the
custom-house on the frontier, as is customary. My
manuscripts were all carefully wrapped up in two
large bundles and sealed with the seal of the Russian
Embassy in London and addressed to Count Heyden
to whom I was to deliver them in St. Petersburg, and
my list de courier was my authority to carry them.

CHAPTER XIV
Visit to St. Petersburg
Arrive at frontier — "List de Courier" — Arrival at St. Peters
burg- — Interview vnth door keeper at General Staff Offices
— Interview with Count Heyden — Captain Schenchine —
Mrs. Tangate — Interview with General Miloutin — Grand
Duke Nicholas — Court Etiquette — Princess Louise —
— Madame de N  Cabmen — No tariff — Sharp bar
gaining — Procrastinating character ofthe Russians — IUness
while in St. Petersburg.
My brother Henry travelled with me on this trip.
We left London on November i8th, and when we
reached the frontier of Russia at Wirballen, the change
from Germany was at once strongly apparent We
were all marched into a large room for the examination
of passports. An official in uniform came and asked me
for my passport. The air of official importance with
which he approached us was very marked. I brought
out my list de courier. It worked like magic ; before
I had it fairly opened he saw the big seal with the
Russian eagle and he stepped back, took off his hat
and bowed almost to the ground. He then went away
and brought a more prominent official who spoke
English. He looked at the paper and asked me if I
would point out my luggage, gave instructions to have
it put on the train at once without question, and then

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG 208
showed me to a compartment on the train. An
English banker and one or two other fellow-travellers
told me their experience afterwards and said I ought to
be very thankful to have had my list de courier.
We arrived at St. Petersburg the next day, and put
up at the Hotel D'Angleterre, a very comfortable, large
hotel opposite the great cathedral of St. Isaac. General
Gorloff, who had spared no pains to be kind to me, had
told me, among a great many useful hints which he
gave me, and which were of much service, that when I
went to call upon any of the officers of high rank to be
sure to wear my full uniform. He said : " I know you
English never wear your uniforms when on leave or
when not on duty, but you will understand what I
mean when I say that it would be looked upon, in St.
Petersburg, if you went in plain clothes, as if an officer
were to call at the English War Office in his shirt
sleeves or if he kept his hat on in the room of the
gentleman on whom he was calling."
I thought I would go and ask the porter at the door
of the official residence of Count Heyden in the
General Staff building at what hour the Count was
most likely to receive visitors. I was as well dressed as
a Bond street tailor could arrange it for me, yet that
porter, or door-keeper, or footman, or whatever he was
in his showy livery, made me understand, in the plainest
way, the extraordinary contempt he held for an
ordinary civilian, who did not have even a ribbon or
rosette in his button-hole. He let me understand that
Count Heyden would not see a man of my class at all.
We had our conversation in French so that I did not

204 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
appreciate the fine points of his contempt as well as if
it had been in English, but there was no mistaking his
air, manner and tone. By persistence and unruffled
amiability I at last extracted from him, very reluctantly,
that Count Heyden saw the persons whom he did see
at his audience or levee at 10.30 a.m.
The next morning, therefore, I left the hotel at 10.15
in a fine carriage which I had ordered the night before.
I was in full uniform and had with me the two bundles
of MSS. addressed to Count Heyden. We drove up
to the door. I jumped out, walked in the doorway,
threw off my cloak and handed it to my friend of the
day before, who received me with a most deferential
bow. He hung up my cloak and then went up-stairs
almost backwards, bowing to me most deferentially
every second step. I assumed to have never seen him
before. He showed me into the large audience chamber
and left me. About ten or fifteen officers in uniform
were standing about talking. An aide-de-camp entered
the room and came up and addressed me in Russian.
I handed him General Gorloff's letter of introduction
and he went into an inner room with it.
Shortly after Count Heyden came out with a
secretary behind him on one side and an aide on the
other. All the officers turned towards him in a semi
circular row, evidently according to rank, and everyone
bowed, and the Count bowed very formally to us all.
He spoke a few minutes to each one in turn, each one
stepping a few paces forward so as to have private con
versation with him. The Count would turn and give
directions to one or other of his staff, who would make

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG 205
notes about each matter of business. When he came
to my turn, the aide evidently told him who I was. He
shook hands with me very cordially and said : " Entrez
dans mon cabinet, sil vous platt!' The aide took me
into his private room, or office and giving me a seat in
front of the bright fire went back to the Count.
In about ten or fifteen minutes, after getting through
with his visitors, he rejoined me, and as he could not
speak English and I spoke French indifferently, I asked
for someone who could speak English, and Captain
Shenchine of the General Staff was sent for. I brought
in my documents and the Count opened them and
glanced at them. On looking at the Russian trans
lation he read some of it here and there, evidently
curious to see what it was like. I asked him if the
translation was any good, for I was anxious about that.
He said, not very encouragingly, "Assez bien!' He
then said that I was in a strange place and would want
advice and assistance, and would probably have to
make enquiries, and he gave orders to Captain Shen
chine to do everything he could for me, and told me
that I could always apply to him if I wanted anything
in the way of information. Captain Shenchine treated
me with kindly courtesy and arranged that I should
have the use of the magnificent library of the General
Staff; and what was a great advantage, I was to be
allowed to take five books at a time to my rooms,
changing them as often as I wished.
I secured rooms at the residence of an English lady,
Mrs. Tangate, who had been governess in the family of
the Emperor Nicholas for ten years, and had special

206 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
charge of the Princess Olga, afterwards the Queen of
Wirtemburg. I employed a Mr. Clark of the Russian
civil service, a Russian by birth, but who spoke English
fluently, as an interpreter or assistant, and all his time
out of office hours was devoted to me. He read
Russian books to me in English while I made notes.
He read the contents of the books to me and I would
pick out the parts I wanted to read. It was a very
awkward method but the only one practicable, and it
enabled me, in seven or eight weeks of very hard work,
to fill in the Russian portions of my history fairly well.
In the meantime I had another gentleman employed
to go all over the translation and remedy any little
defects, and then for three or four weeks I had a staff
of copying clerks from one of the public departments
engaged in copying the revised translation in neat
writing so that it would be handed in in proper shape.
I began with five or six copyists, but soon found that
Russians knew nothing about hurrying. They were
paid by the folio, so that it was their interest to work as
fast as possible, but nothing would make a Russian
hurry. Their quickest word when they wished to
indicate speed was " Se chasse." Where we Anglo-
Saxons would say " immediately," " at once," " this
instant," " this minute," " in a second," " right off, " etc.,
I found the Russians had only one phrase, " se chasse,"
"se chasse." I used to be so annoyed by their pro
crastination that I said to Mrs. Tangate one day :
" What does ' se chasse ' mean ? " She said : " Immed
iately." I said : " Is that the original meaning ? What
does se mean ? What does chasse mean ? " Her reply

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG ilQl
was : " Oh, this hour." I asked if there was not some
quicker word that I could use. She said : " No, that
is the speediest expression they have."
Every day I added to the copyists till, in a few days,
I had fourteen employed, who wrote in the several
rooms I had secured till one and two in the morning.
By this means I got the work finished just before the
last day, and with great difficulty I was able to get a
bookbinder to bind the manuscript up in two large
volumes. He worked all night to complete them, and
on Saturday morning, December 30th, 1876, old style,
January I Ith new style, I put on my uniform and went
to the Chancellerie of the cavalry and handed my book
in to General Djounskovski. He wrote me a note to
General A. Leontieff, commandant of the staff college,
and asked me to drive on there and hand my book and
the note to him.
I will now refer to some of the events of my visit.
General Gorloff had evidently written to Count Heyden
a very friendly letter about me, for Count Heyden wrote
me that the Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander of
the Russian cavalry, and General Miloutin, the Minister
of War, would like to see me if I would call at certain
hours mentioned.
I donned my uniform once more and called on
General Miloutin on a Sunday afternoon, but as we
had to rely on my imperfect French, we did not have
a very long conversation. He was, however, exceed
ingly kind and courteous. He was a very quiet,
mild-looking man and, I fancy, a man of some ability.
I went to see the Grand Duke Nicholas at the Nicolai

208 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Palace on Monday morning, November 27th. He had
been appointed to the command of the army then
mobilizing at Kischenef, which shortly afterwards was
employed in the war with Turkey, and which battered
itself so badly against the Heights of Plevna. I was
shown into a large audience-chamber perfectly void of
furniture. In it were some twenty or thirty Russian
generals in full uniform, covered with decorations, many
of them wearing the grand cordons of the military
orders of knighthood. General Todleben, the cele
brated officer who defended Sebastopol, a tall, fair,
sturdy, good-looking soldier, with a capable air about
him. General Boronzoff, the chief of all the artiller}-,
and other distinguished men were there. I knew the
amount of work there would be at the headquarters of
the commander-in-chief of an immense army on the
verge of war, and who was leaving to join his forces
on the following Friday, and I thought it quite likel}-
there would be no time to waste on me.
An aide-de-camp came up to me shortly after I
entered the room and took my card, and after the
whole party had waited about half an hour, an officer
came out from an inner room and beckoned to me to go
in. I went in and found another room with several
staff officers in it, apparently busily engaged at their
desks. I was led through it and was told to enter the
next room. I did so and found a very large, gorgeously
furnished room, and all alone in it was the Grand Duke
Nicholas, the brother of the Czar. He came towards
me in the most friendly way and shook hands, saying :
" Good morning, Colonel ; you must excuse my bad

nSIT TO ST. PETEESBURG 209
EnglisL" He spoke with the slightest foreign accent
I was not experienced in courts and had not associated
with kings or emperors or grand dukes, and was as
innocent as one of Mark Twain's pilgrims. So with
the fi^nk freedom of our western continent, I replied :
"Your Imperial Highness speaks excellent English. I
was afraid we should have to depend on my bad French,
and then we sJwuld have had a time of it, " and I
laughed at the idea of our struggling with my French.
^Irs. Tangate, who had ten years' experience with that
class of people, told me, when I described my intennew,
that I had made a frightful breach of etiquette — that no
one presumed to joke w-ith the Imperial family. I did
not see whj' they should not appreciate a joke just as
much as anyone. The Grand Duke looked astonished,
stared at me a moment and saw that I was utterlj'
unconscious of having made any mistake. The idea
seemed to amuse him. He laughed and said : " Ah,
Colonel, you flatter me." I said : " Xo, your High
ness speaks excellent EngHsh." Then he began telling
me about the competition ; what an extraordinary thing
it was that there was never a historj^ of the cavalry
service pubhshed in any countr}^ at an}' time, and that
he had asked the Emperor to offer the prizes so as to
secure a good histor)^. He told me the commission had
been appointed to decide on the works, and said that it
looked as if there would only be three or four competi
tors. He then asked me about my corps and about
Canada, and I began to think of his urgent business, and
of the room full of generals waiting, ^^"e had been
talking some fifteen minutes, and in my " freshness " I
'4

210 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
referred to it, telling him that I knew he was very busy
and that the ante-chamber was filled with people, and
that as I knew he was leaving for the army on Friday
I felt I must not take up his time. He looked at me
again in astonishment, for I had made another frightful
breach of etiquette. Mrs. Tangate was ready to faint
when I told her. She said I should have stood there
talking till it was dark if his Imperial Highness wanted
to talk to me, and that it was terrible for me to suggest
that the interview should close, or that I should think
that the Grand Duke would speak to me one minute
longer than he pleased. He laughed out this time as if
exceedingly amused, and said : " You need not worry,
Colonel, about those old fellows. It will do them good
to kick their heels about a while ; they are a lazy lot —
let them wait." And he went on talking about Canada,
and about our horses and dogs and our customs, etc.
When he had talked as long as he wanted to, he said :
" I am afraid. Colonel, you are thinking again of those
lazy old fellows out there. Well, I am glad to see
you, Colonel. You must come and see me again, and
if there is anything you want, come straight to me,
I shall always be glad to see you." He shook hands
with me again and said good-bye ; I never saw him
again. The Grand Duke Nicholas was a tall man, about six
feet two, I should judge; somewhat stout, not corpulent,
carrying himself in an upright, soldierly way. He had
a very frank, blunt, outspoken manner. I took to him
at once. The moment we began to talk about the
cavalry arm of the service, I saw that he was an

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG 211
enthusiastic cavalry man, and there we met on common
ground with common sympathies. He easily forgave
me my unconscious breaches of etiquette.
A few years later I was dining one night at Govern
ment House in Toronto, and sat next to the Princess
Louise, then in Canada with her husband, who was
Governor-General. She asked me about my visit to
St Petersburg. I told her of my interview with the
Grand Duke, and of the way in which I had broken all
the rules of etiquette. Her Royal Highness was highly
amused at the story, and told me some interesting
instances of the etiquette at Vienna and Berlin,
which she said was infinitely more strict than in our
court Before I left London I was introduced to a gentleman
who had lived a good deal in Russia. He gave me
many valuable hints and said he would introduce me to
a Russian lady in London who could give me letters to
friends in St. Petersburg. My brother and I went with
him to the lady's hotel on Brooke street, and we were
introduced to her. She received us with great kindness
and promised me a letter to her brother, who was a
Colonel in the Guard of the Emperor. She also asked
me to take a small parcel of photographs to him.
There were one or two others calling, and I for some
reason thought there was something peculiar about
them. She was a tall, handsome woman with most
fascinating manners and evidently very clever. When
we left we walked a short distance, when at the corner
of a street our friend parted from us. As soon as we
were alone I said to my brother: " What do you make

212 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
of that lady ? " He said he thought her a charming
person. I said: "Yes, but there is something more
than appears. That lady is one of two things, a Russian
diplomatic agent or a Nihilist conspirator." I was con
vinced of this and I was determined I would not be
entrapped into carrying documents into Russia if she
was intriguing against the Government.
Consequently the next time I saw General Gorloff I
told him I had been fortunate enough to get the intro
duction, and that I was going to get a letter from her
and had promised to carry a package of photographs to
St Petersburg for her. I asked if he knew anything of
her. He thought for some time and then said : " I think
there is a lady here of that name. I know nothing of
her." I knew if she was a Nihilist I should be asked for
the package at the frontier, and when I was not asked I
said to my brother. "Madame de N  is a diploma
tic agent of the Russian Government." After I came
back to London this was well-known. She was said to
have been the originator of the whole agitation about
the Bulgarian atrocities, which had such an influence on
the policy of the English Government during the
Russo-Turkish war, which broke out about that time.
It was publicly stated that it was Madame de N 
who had enlisted Mr. Gladstone's interest in the move
ment, and a good deal of discussion took place in the
press on the subject of their friendship.
I have a word more to say with reference to the
magnificent porter who attended the front door of
Count Heyden's official residence, and who had been so
pompous, and I might say insolent, when I called first

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG 213
to make enquiries. I have said that Count Heyden
took me into his private room, and that I was there for
fifteen minutes or so after the levee was over, and all
the others had gone. The knowledge of this got down
to the door where the porter had returned after showing
me up. The private interview in the inner room was a
very uncommon occurrence, only granted to important
personages. When I went down stairs the porter and
his assistant had my cloak ready for me, put it on and
escorted me out to my carriage with the greatest defer
ence. I was often obliged to pass that street afterwards
in going to the staff library for books, and although I
sometimes walked, sometimes went in a cab, sleigh or
samkey, and always in plain clothes, that porter, if he
saw me across the Admiralty Place, would stand at
attention and salute me with the greatest respect. I am
sure he was afraid that I should complain of the way he
treated me the first day, and I fancy he was relieved
when I left. It is astonishing to us the extraordinary
influence of the official classes in that country. They
are looked up to with as much respect as political bosses
are in the United States.
I experienced a difficulty in getting about St. Petersburg
through not understanding the language. I found that
there was no cab tariff, and that everyone was expected
to make his bargain before taking his seat in the little
.sleigh or samkey, which in winter is the hansom of St
Petersburg. I learned the Russian names of four or five
points where I sometimes wished to go, and I would
say to a driver : " Isvostchik, Isaacovski Sobor, skolko!
("Driver, St Isaac's Cathedral. How much?") He

214 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
would reply: " Piatdesiat" or generaWy " Sorok kopeck"
(fifty or forty copecks). I would say : " Neit! tritsat
kopeck!' I had asked what would be a fair, liberal
price to pay for an ordinary journey and was told
" tritsat kopeck " (thirty copecks) would be liberal. I
found that they always accepted that.
I was, however, once going to my lodging in the
Vassili Ostrof, and just alongside ofthe statue of Peter
the Great I called an Isvostchik, and gave him my
address, and asked him how much. He replied:
" Dvatsat piat!' I had never heard that before, so I said
very firmly : " Niet tritsat kopeck!' " Oh da da isvolti
pajaliute. (Yes, yes, very well, come in). He flicked
his horse and seemed highly amused as he drove me
home. I paid him thirty copecks and went upstairs,
and asked Mrs. Tangate what " dvatsat piat" meant
She said : " twenty-five copecks." I said I thought so.
She laughed heartily when I told her I had refused to
pay a cabman twenty-five copecks and insisted on pay
ing thirty. The man thought, no doubt, that I was an
eccentric Englishman having a joke over it
I was very ill during the time I was in St. Petersburg,
The water or something upset me. I fancy the heavy
work I was doing, and the mental strain and anxiety to
get my work completed, must have affected my health.
The pressure was intensified by having to depend on
others for assistance, men who could not conceive why,
any mortal should ever hurry about anything. I never
put in two such months, for I was never worked so
hard, and I was ill all the time. I consulted the doctor
of the English Embassy several times, but still was con-

VISIT TO ST. PETERSBURG 215
stantly suffering. I used to rest absolutely from Satur
day night at midnight until Monday morning after
breakfast, and generally slept the greater part of Sunday.
I was not well enough to go to church.

CHAPTER XV
A Reception at the Winter Palace
Invited to reception — Hermitage Palace — Take part in diplomatic
circle — Crowds of officers — Variety of uniforms —Profusion
of decorations — The Imperial Court — The Empress — Her
costume — The train bearers — The Cfrand Duke, the Czare
vitch — Translation of " Modern Cavalry " into Russian —
Copy given to me — Prince Gortchakoff — New Year's
greetings — Russian patriotism.
After I had been in St. Petersburg about six weeks.
I received a note one day from Colonel, the Hon. Fred
Wellesley, our Military Attache, saying that he would
like me to go down to the Embassy as soon as
convenient, as he wished to see me. I went down at
once, and he told me that Prince Gortchakoff had told
the Ambassador that the Emperor would receive me if
he presented me. I was the only officer who went to
St. Petersburg in response to the Czar's offer of prizes,
and as I came from such a far-off country, and one so
little known to Russia as Canada, I suppose my visit
attracted a little more attention than, under other circum
stances, it would have done. I think also that General
Gorloff did everything he could to show me civility, for
he seemed very much impressed with my energy and
determination.

A RECEPTION AT THE WINTER PALACE 217
Colonel Wellesley at once asked me if I had been
presented at St. James'. I said I had been unable to
do so, as I had never been in London at the right time.
He remarked that it was very unfortunate, and told me
of the rule already referred to. Then I told him of my
conversation with Lord Salisbury and asked him to
request Lord Augustus Loftus to telegraph to Lord
Salisbury. I do not know if he did so or not, but a
few days after I got notice that he had put in an
application to present me, and that I should be
presented at the New Year's reception.
I received from the Grand Master of ceremonies, on
December 30th, 1876 (January nth, 1877), a letter
informing me that I was invited to the Winter Palace
on New Year's day at noon to join the diplomatic circle
which would be held there "pour offrir les felicitations
d leurs Majestis VEm-p^reur et ITmp^ratrice, on which
occasion I should have the honour of being presented
to their Majesties, and I was directed to alight at the
Hermitage Palace, at the stairway of the Council of the
Empire. At about 11.45 ^-r"- °" January ist (13th), 1877, 1
drove up to the Hermitage Palace, where I was shown
into a large room, where the Ambassadors and their
suites were assembling. In a few minutes masters of
ceremonies or ushers in splendid uniforms came in and
led us through about an eighth of a mile of rooms and
galleries, through the Hermitage Palace and a good
portion of the Winter Palace, until we entered an
enormous hall in which a great crowd of the foremost
people of the Empire were gathering. We were

218 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
marshalled through this room into the next, where the
different Ambassadors and their suites were placed
according to their precedence. They formed a semi
circle from the door by which we entered in one comer,
around the three sides to the door in the opposite
corner. On the side where the windows were, no one
stood. I was placed with the Hon. Philip Stanhope,
who \\as also to be presented, next to the Roumanian
Ambassador, who was the last on the line of Ambassa
dors. Mr. Stanhope and I were the only outsiders.
We were barely placed when the great crowd that
had gathered in the large room, was marshalled
through our room two abreast They came in by the
same door as we had, walked across our room, past
the windows and through the other door close to where
Mr. Stanhope and I stood. As they slowly trooped by,
probably one thousand or perhaps fifteen hundred, all
in gorgeous uniforms and covered with decorations, the
sight was very imposing ; but as I stood and watched
them passing, there was something so strange and
foreign in it all that I felt I was far away from home.
There was an endless variety of uniforms. There were
Guards and Infantry officers, Cossacks and Circassians,
and other strange types, all in their quaint uniforms.
When the last had trooped through, the great hall was
empty, and from where I stood, close to one door, I
looked through the other straight down the centre ofthe
spacious apartment, and I noticed the Guard of Honour of
two lines of soldiers, whom I had not seen before, as they
were standing along the two walls, move towards each
other so as to form a passage between them about fifteen

A RECEPTION AT THE WINTER PALACE 219
or twenty feet wide. Then looking to the far end I saw
the doors thrown open and a procession of court
officials marshalling the Emperor and Empress and the
Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses, and the ladies of
the Court towards us.
When the Emperor and Empress entered the door of
our room the semi-circle all bowed towards the
Emperor. He turned to his right and addressed the
senior Ambassador, and spoke a few words to him, then
addressed the next in turn, speaking two or three
minutes or so to each. If any Ambassador had a new
attache in his suite who had not been presented it was
then done. I noticed Mr. Boker, the United States
representative, introduce the gentleman with him. They
were the only people in the Palace that day who were
not in uniform. They were in ordinary evening dress,
and looked more remarkable and attracted more
attention than any of the others.
I was much interested in watching the Empress, who
was magnificently dressed, and with splendid jewels.
She wore a crimson or wine-colored velvet dress, with
an enormous train covered with gold embroidery, so
large and so heavy that I think it would have been
difficult for her to have walked about in it without
assistance. She had two good-looking young officers
of about twenty or twenty-one j^ears of age, as pages or
train-bearers. They carried it when she walked. The
instant she stood they spread it like a fan or a peacock's
tail. They watched her every movement, and if she
turned to the right to speak to any one the train was
swung round to the left, and vice versa. I was much

220 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
struck with the wonderful quickness and skill of these
two young fellows. As for the Empress she seemed
unconscious that she had any train on at all.
The Czarovitch, the late Emperor Alexander HI.,
was there, and his wife the Princess Dagmar, sister of
our own Princess of Wales. She was, in my judgment,
the finest-looking of all the ladies. She had on a blue
silk velvet, of an exquisite shade, with a much more
moderate train, and she had no train-bearers. Her dress
was also embroidered in gold with great taste, and was
the most effective costume of many very beautiful ones.
I saw the Czarovitch then for the first and only time. I
was much interested in him from one circumstance.
When I arrived in St. Petersburg I was at the General
staff offices several times to see Captain Schenchine,
and he introduced me from time to time to a number of
cavalry generals and colonels, who seemed interested in
meeting me and who immediately began discussing my
"Modern Cavalry," which had appeared in English
eight years before, and in German six years before. I
was astonished to find them so well up in it. I saw that
they must have read it, and naturally thought to myself
what close attention these people must be paying to
military matters, if they are reading foreign books so
carefully. Day after day I was astonished at this.
One day I saw a regiment of Cossacks hning the
street, as the Emperor was to pass at a funeral ofa field-
marshal. I examined the men and their equipment,
naturally with deep interest, and was surprised and
pleased to see that they were equipped more as I wished
to see cavalry equipped than any cavalry I had ever

A RECEPTION AT THE WINTER PALACE 221
seen. After I had been three weeks or so in St. Peters
burg I got a new Russian book on cavalry raids out of
the staff library, and on looking over the contents and
title page I noticed a list of books consulted. I found
some titles of Russian books, which, of course, I could
not read, and a number of French and German books
and some English. I did not see my " Modern Cavalry,"
but did not think much of that.
When Mr. Clark began to look over it to translate
parts of it to me he said : " Colonel, this author is con
stantly referring to your book." I said: "That cannot
be, for it is not mentioned in the list of authors." He
turned to the list and said : " Why, yes, there it is,"
pointing out a Russian title and name, which I could
not read, and he said : " That is it, that is your name."
I said: "How strange he did not put that in English
like the others." He said : " He has evidently used the
Russian translation." I said : " It has never been trans
lated into Russian." " Yes, it has," said Mr. Clark, " by
order of the Grand Duke, the Inheritor." I went next
day to see Captain Schenchine and I asked him if
he had ever heard that my "Modern Cavalry" had
been translated into Russian. " Certainly it has," he
replied. " Surely you knew that" " I never did," said
I. Then he told me the circumstances.
He said the Grand Duke, the Inheritor, happening
to see the German translation, had read it and was
so pleased with it, that he caused it to be translated into
Russian, and some tens of thousands to be printed.
Further, he had presented a copy to every cavalry
officer in Russia. I was so surprised that I simply

222 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
blurted out : " Well, that was cool." Captain Schenchine
looked astonished and said: "There is no copyright
here, and there can be no objection. The Inheritor
can do as he wishes." The next day the authorities
sent me a copy of the book, which I have now. It had
been published four years before. I might easily have
come home without even hearing of it.
A lady ofthe household ofthe Czarovitch was calling
upon Mrs. Tangate one day, and hearing that a Colonel
Denison was staying in the house, said she remembered
the fact of the Czarovitch being so much interested in
my book " Modern Cavalry" and of his ordering it to
be translated, and she enquired of Mrs. Tangate whether
I was the author of it or not. Mrs. Tangate got the
information from me. These facts caused me to look
at the Inheritor with greater interest than at any other
members of the Court. He was not as tall as his father,
the Emperor, nor so good-looking as the Emperor must
have been when he was young. He was much more
heavily built — in fact, he was a most powerfully built
man with a broad, strong face, brutal almost in its force
and sternness — a most determined, dogged-looking man.
I thought of the story of Charles II. saying : " No one
would kill me, because it would put my brother James
on the throne " ; and I made the remark to Mrs. Tan
gate that, looking at the father and son, I did not
believe the Nihilists would kill the Emperor to make
way for the Czarovitch. This did occur, however, a few
years later.
While the Emperor and Empress were slowly making
the circuit of the ambassadors, I happened to look

A RECEPTION AT THE WINTER PALACE 228
behind me and noticed that I was standing exactly
in front of Prince Gortchakoff, who had been pointed
out to me, and numbers of whose photographs I had
seen. I naturally said : " I beg your pardon, Prince,"
and stepped aside to allow him to get in front of me.
He took me playfully by my shoulders from behind
with both hands, turned me around so as to directly
face the Emperor, who had his back turned to me, and
said in a good natured whisper : " Never mind me,
there is the Emperor." I knew what he meant : that
where the Emperor was, no one else was to be seen.
Gortchakoff was then about eighty, with clear blue eyes
and fresh, rosy cheeks, bright, cheerful and clever-look
ing. Bismarck, in his autobiography, often refers to
Gortchakoff's vanity and conceit. He certainly did
seem happy and contented, and satisfied with his
surroundings. Soon the Emperor got through with the ambassadors
and then I was presented, first to the Emperor and then
to the Empress. I bowed low to them and they bowed
to me. Mr. Stanhope was presented last. Prince
Gortchakoff then wished the Emperor a Happy New
Year in French, and then the same to the Empress.
He kissed the Empress' hand and she kissed him
lightly on the temple. Mr. Stanhope, Prince Gortcha
koff and I had been crowded round past the door and
into the window recess next to it The Emperor then
gave the Empress his arm. The ushers led the way
into the next room, and Prince Gortchakoff, standing
close in front of us, chatted away, and laughed and
joked with the ladies of the Court as they filed slowly

224 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
past, about fifty of them two abreast He kissed the
hands of some of them. Where he did, they all kissed
his temple. Some he kissed. Evidently he was a
great favourite with them all, and I do not wonder,
for he had such a genial, kindly, I might almost say
jolly, manner.
One very pretty, clever-looking young girl, evidently
a niece ofthe Prince's, kissed him and in French wished
him " A Happy New Year, my uncle," and with empha
sis and feeling, " A Happy New Year for Russia."
(The army had just left for Turkey). The old Prince
seemed touched at once. He patted her on the
shoulder and with feeling said : " Ah, my child, that
is better." As soon as the Court had passed, I did not
wait to see the other rooms. I was not at all well, and
I went back the way I came and went to my lodgings.

CHAPTER XVI
Incidents in St. Petersburg and Return
TO England

Leave St. Petersburg — " The blessing of the Neva" — Integrity
of the Commission — Curious testimony by a Russian officer
— My translation defective — Gift to patriotic fund — Count
Heyden writes me — Mrs. Tangate' s kindness — Anecdote
of Emperor Nicholas — Magnanimity of the Emperm —
Night drive to Cronstadt — Clever escape of a young officer
— Corruption of officials — Death of Nicholas I — J' lour con
tractor is sent to Siberia — Arrive in Warsaw — Helplessness
— Still very ill — Decide to go to Cannes — Health improves
— Arrive in London — Lord Chamberlain's office — Pre
sented at Court.

My manuscripts had been handed in on the Saturday ;
the reception was on the Monday and I at once applied
for permission to leave Russia, for no one can leave
without a permit or order, and it takes two or three
days to get one, I left as soon as I got it, on Thursday,
January 4th (i6th), 1877.
About an hour after I left, a messenger from the
palace brought an invitation for me to go to the palace
on the Saturday in order to accompany the Imperial

226 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
family to the ceremony of the " Blessing of the Waters"
on the Neva. This is a great function. A handsome
pavilion is erected on the ice, and the highest church
dignitaries, in the presence of the Emperor, perform a
short religious service. I was most thankful, when I
heard of it afterwards, that I was safely away. I was very
ill and it would have been ungracious and impolite not
to have gone, and to have taken off my helmet for a
religious service on the ice, with the thermometer
perhaps fifteen or twenty below zero, as might have had
to be done, was not an inviting prospect
I was very anxious while in Russia about the honesty
of the Commission making the award. I heard so
many stories of peculation and corruption that it was
somewhat depressing. I find that writing home on
December loth, 1876, after I had been about three
weeks in St Petersburg, I say : —
" I have no fear of failing to get a prize if I get fair
play. But I have heard so much from every quarter of
the bribery and favouritism that rules everything that I
have very little hope of getting any. If I had known
or had heard as much before I left England as I have
heard here of the unfair way in which everything is
decided, I would have published my book in London,
and have let the prize go. I will go through with it
now, however, on the chance that things may be done
right What makes me doubt most is that the Rus
sians themselves, to whom I speak, seem to doubt the
uprightness of the commission more even than the
foreigners. Of course this is all based on conjecture,
for no one knows who the commissioners are, and they

BETTRN TO ENGLAND 227
may be first-rate men. Everyone tells me that the
Grand Duke Nicholas will do all he can to have the
affair properly done, but of course he will have to rely
upon others."
Among other letters of introduction I took to Russia
was one to a Russian officer of good status, who, when
I delivered my letter, asked me what I was doing and I
told him I was competing for one of the Emperor's
prizes. He heard me with interest and did not say
very much about it I did not see or hear anj-thing of
him for some weeks, when one evening he came into my
room, sat down and began to tell me that he had been
trying to get me one of the prizes. I did not interrupt,
but let him go on. I think I was struck dumb w ith
astonishment He went on to tell me how he had
made every enquiry to see if he could not use some
influence so that I would get a prize. He interlarded
his description of his efforts with profuse regrets and
apolc^es for not having succeeded, and fancy ! this
was all before my book was finished or put in. And
he explained to me his difficult^'. " You see. Colonel,"
he said, " the Grand Duke Nicholas is really desirous of
getting a good history of cavalry. He wants the best
that can be got, and to secure this he has appointed a
commission of no less than (I think it was) fifteen
members, men of the highest position, men whom
it is impossible to approach. I am so sorr}-. Colonel,
that I cannot get you a prize. You will just have
to finish your book and put it in, and it \\'ill have
to stand its chances, I am sorry, but it cannot be
helped"

228 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
This was all said in the coolest, most matter-of-fact
way, as if it was the most natural thing possible for a
prize to be given by favouritism without the formality
of competing. The gentleman was perfectly unconsci
ous of my astonishment I told him that I was delighted
with his information, that all I wanted was a fair field
and no favour, and that I was much pleased to hear
that the commission would act honestly.
Just before I left St Petersburg I was asked to go to
General Leontieffs, the chief of the commission, to
meet a committee of the principal members. They
had an interpreter, and they explained to me that
General Leontieff had hurriedly glanced at the four
books that had been put in, and I was told that mine
was beyond all doubts the most complete and the best,
but that my translation was very badly done, with
many manifest inaccuracies in translation, and therefore
that it was not up to the terms of the competition,
which required the book to be put in Russian. The
other books, or some of them, were in good Russian.
I said : " It is hardly fair for me to be ruled out for
a poor translation." General Leontieff said : " If we
give you the first prize under the terms, you would be
entitled to publish it in Russian, and would be entitled
to a royalty on the sale, which would be very great, as
we should expect our cavalry officers to procure it." I
told them I would publish my book in England any
way, and also in Germany, and that whichever book got
the prize in Russia, would also be translated and read
by military men, and if mine was much the best it
would attract attention if I did not get the prize. I

RETURN TO ENGLAND 229
went on to say that I did not want the royalty, that if
I got the first prize, any Russian officer of ability could
translate it and he could have the royalty. This was
considered reasonable. The decision was not given
until the following September, and a special finding
was made that I could not get the prize on account of
the bad translation, but that as the book was the best
and had incontestable merits, the commission recom
mended to the Emperor that I be granted the first prize
of 5,000 roubles. The other prizes were not awarded,
the books not being considered of sufficient merit The
Emperor approved of this finding, and I was notified to
send authority to some one to call at the General Staff
to receive the 5,000 roubles. I sent authority to the
banking house of Thompson, Bonar & Company to
receive it
I felt all along while in St Petersburg that I was in a
sense representing my Canadian comrades, even if our
General had not endorsed me. The Russian officers and
officials had treated me with such unvarying courtesy,
consideration and fairness, that I was very anxious to
show my appreciation of it. The Russo-Turkish war was
still going on, and a patriotic fund had been started by the
Empress to provide comforts and care for the Russian
wounded. I gave instructions to Thompson, Bonar &
Company to pay over 1,000 roubles for me as a
subscription to this fund in proof of my strong
appreciation of, and gratitude for, the many kind
nesses received by me from the Russian officers. I
received the following letter from Count F. Heyden,
chief of the staff :

280 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
No. 109.
Ministere de la Guerre,
Etat Major. St. Petersburg,
November 30, 1877.
Monsieur :
Sa Majesty I'lmperatrice m'a charg^ de vous exprimer sa vive
reconnaissance pour le don de 1,000 roubles que vous avez fait au
profit des blesses de notre armie.
Recevez, Monsieur, I'expression de ma haute consideration.
Cte. F. Heyden.
Monsieur Le Lieut.-Colonel Denison.
This personal acknowledgment from the Commander-
in-Chief of the Army showed, in my opinion, marked
politeness. On the whole transaction my expenses were about
$1,500 more than the amount I received from the prize.
I came in for a considerable sum of money while I -was
away from home, however, which with additional acces
sions in various ways and at different times, have placed
me in comfortable circumstances ever since.
I found St Petersburg a most interesting city. I was
there during the winter, and I was told that it was an
exceptionally cold winter. The thermometer was nearly
all the time below zero, although we did have one thaw
with a day's rain. I was fortunate as to my quarters.
Mrs. Tangate, a kind-hearted old lady of about seventy
years of age, could not have treated me better if I had
been her own son. Her husband had been unfortunate in
business and had died leaving her in somewhat straitened
circumstances, with one daughter. She received a small
pension from the Imperial family on account of her
service for many years as English governess. She took

RETURN TO ENGLAND 231
in two or three boarders to eke out her means. She was
full of recollections of the life in the palace in the reign
of the Czar Nicholas, during the ten years before and
during the Crimean war, and she told me many anec
dotes of the Court. I have forgotten most of them, but
I recall a few.
The Emperor Nicholas was a most industrious ruler,
and consequently endeavoured to discover abuses by his
own exertions. He would suddenly appear in public
institutions at the most extraordinary hours, and with
out the slightest warning. Mrs. Tangate told me that
on one occasion, rather late at night, she was walking
along a corridor in the Winter Palace, when she sud
denly met the Emperor, muffled in a large cloak, going
out by one of the side doors of the Palace. He turned
towards her, put his finger on his lip as a warning that
nothing was to be said and went on out The next day
she heard that he had gone through some public institu
tion, and had discovered a number of grave abuses.
On another occasion Mrs. Tangate, then of course a
young woman, was walking in the gardens ofthe summer
palace at Tsarkoe Seloe, with the Grand Duchess Olga,
then a child under her special care as governess, when
the Emperor came up behind her quietly, and took his
cap off and put it on Mrs. Tangate's head. She, with
out looking, instantly threw it off on the ground, and
then saw it was the Emperor's. He said : " Well, young
lady, are you not going to pick it up ? " " Indeed I am
not," said she, " you had no business to put your cap
on my head." He laughed, picked it up himself and
made some remark to the effect that she was a pert

232 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
young minx, and walked on. She said he was not in
the least annoyed and seemed rather pleased that there
was some one not afraid of him.
It will be remembered, that during the whole Crimean
war with England, he made arrangements to pay the
dividends on the Russian loans in London to the
English holders of Russian bonds. I was told that the
Governor-General of Moscow, during the war, ordered
the chapel of the English colony to be closed, because
the chaplain was praying every Sunday for Queen
Victoria, praying the Almighty to " strengthen her that
she may vanquish and overcome all her enemies.''
When the Czar Nicholas heard of the order he rescinded
it at once, saying that it was natural for people to pray
for their Sovereign and the success of their arms, and
that he hoped Russians all over the world were praying
for Russia. He also asked the English residents of St
Petersburg to take houses in the town of Tzarskoe
Seloe, near where he lived, that he might see that they
were not rudely treated on account of the ill-feeling
engendered by the war. I gathered from all Mrs.
Tangate's stories of Nicholas I. that he was a chivalrous
gentleman. One anecdote struck me forcibly. A young officer
stationed at Cronstadt, about sixteen miles from St
Petersburg, was very anxious to attend a ball at the
Winter Palace, and was refused leave to go. He went,
however, without leave, and took good care to keep out
of sight of the Emperor. Some one was supposed to
have betrayed him to the Emperor. The Emperor
ordered privately his sleigh with his fastest horses,

RETURN TO ENGLAND 233
and jumping into it said : "Cronstadt, at full speed. '
The coachman drove at a tremendous rate. The
Emperor entered the barracks where the officer's
regiment were all asleep, and instantly ordered a
trumpeter to sound the assembly. In a few minutes
the regiment was drawn up, the Czar walked slowly
along the line, found everything in order, and to his
utter astonishment saw the young officer in his proper
place. He dismissed the parade and sent for the officer,
and told him he had come to Cronstadt to catch him
away from his post, for he had heard he was at the
Winter Palace that night, and was satisfied he had seen
him in the distance. Then he went on to say: "You are
pardoned for being away, and I will not blame anyone,
but I am very curious to know how you got here." The
young man then told him that a friend came to him
hurriedly and said that the Emperor had ordered his
sleigh, and that it was suspected he was going to Cron
stadt He went instantly to the stables, told the coach man
the Emperor was going to Cronstadt, and asked him to
give him a lift by letting him get under his (the coach
man's) legs, where he would be hidden by the big fur
robe. This was done, and as the Emperor got out of
the sleigh and entered the door of the barracks, the
officer rolled out on the snow on the far side, and was
able to fall in with his regiment.
I also heard that the finishing blow that ended the
Czar Nicholas' life, in addition to all the worry and
distress and vexation caused by the ill success of his
armies in the Crimea, was in reference to a hospital
he was building in South Russia for his wounded

234 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
soldiers. He had taken a great interest in it, had
approved of the plans, had ordered the payment of
immense sums on reports of progress made by officials,
and was constantly expecting the buildings to be ready
for use. At last he sent an absolutely trustworthy aide-
de-camp down to investigate and report, with the result
that he discovered that right through the whole chain of
officials, who were supposed to be guarding the honest
expenditure of the money, each one had his share of the
plunder, that the work was not half finished, and that
not more than about one-third of the enormous sums
paid out had been really expended on the building.
The Czar never recovered from this. There were
rumours of suicide, but whether from suicide or not,
this was said to have been the last straw.
I was shown by an Englishman, a banker in St
Petersburg, the ruins of a large flour mill which had
been burned a few years before. It stood on the out
skirts of St Petersburg, close to the railway track by
which we entered the city. He told me the story of it.
A contractor got a contract with the Government for
the supply of all the troops in St Petersburg with flour,
which was to be ground in the mill which I was shown.
As flour could be brought in from outside cheaper than
it could be ground in St Petersburg, the Government
gave a considerably higher price, as they wished the
work to be done in the city. There was a clause in the
contract that if the mill was burned the contractor
would be allowed to bring in flour from outside until
his mill was rebuilt.
The mill was soon burned and cheap flour brought in

RETURN TO ENGLAND 235
and sold at the high rates to the commissariat depart
ment This went on for a long time, and no steps were
taken to rebuild. At last the matter got to the Czar's
ears, and suddenly the police visited the offices of the
contractor and seized all his books and papers. An
examination disclosed the fact that for a considerable
time all the officials in the commissariat department
who, in any way, had come in contact with this
contractor (with the exception of the head of the
whole branch of the service), had been receiving
monthly, from the contractor, exactly the same
salaries as they were receiving from the Govern
ment. The contractor and several others were sent
to Siberia. The incident throws a flood of light on
some Russian methods.
I left St Petersburg on January i6th, 1877, and
travelled to Warsaw without leaving the train. Here
I had to change across the city to a different station to
take another line to Vienna. I walked up and down
the station asking everyone I met whether they could
speak French or English. I had taken the precaution
to get Mrs. Tangate to write in Russian the directions as
to where I wanted to go. After asking any number of
people who did not understand a word I said, one man
had compassion on me and took me to an office, and
pointed to a clerk sitting at a table. I asked him if he
could speak English. He did not understand a word I
said. I then said : " Parlez-vous francais ? " He
replied : " Oui, monsieur, un peu!' I got him to
send for a man he knew, whom I agreed to pay
liberally, to procure me a cab, get my luggage and

236 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
go with me to the other station, and see me safely
off on the right train. I never before felt so thoroughly
the utter helplessness of not being able to talk even to
the extent of a few words. It was like being deaf and
dumb. During all this journey to Vienna I was very ill and
suffered exceedingly. I rested a day or two at Vienna
and consulted a doctor there, who advised me to get
down to a warmer climate. I went from there to
Munich, where I rested a couple of days, still very ill,
and again saw a physician. He also advised me to go
farther south, so I went to Venice, where I was in bed a
day or two. My brother was very much alarmed about
me, and I was afraid that I should not rally. The reaction
from my years of hard labour, with the two months'
illness in St. Petersburg, had left me in a wretched
state. My brother got me down as far as Florence,
where I sat one bright sunny morning in the Boboli
gardens for several hours. This, I am sure, was most
beneficial to me. I then decided to go to Cannes,
where I should find English doctors, and made up my
mind to stay there till I got better or fell through. At
Genoa I first began to feel better, and from that time I
rapidly mended. After a few days at Mentone and
Cannes I quite regained my health and spirits. I think
the constant brain-work and worry and anxiety had
upset my whole nervous system. I often thought what
a fool I had been to undertake such a job.
I arrived again in London early in February, and
having experienced the difficulty of never having been
presented at Court, I thought it would be well to take

RETURN TO ENGLAND 237
advantage of an opportunity that occurred a short time
after. Hearing that the Prince of Wales was about
to hold a levee on behalf of her Majesty, I called at
the Lord Chamberlain's office and said that I wished to
be presented. I was shown into the office of the gentle
man who had charge of that branch of the business,
and he asked me my name, residence, rank, etc., and
then said : " You will have to ask the Earl of Carnar
von to present you." I asked if the Marquis of
Salisbury could not do it He said : " You come from
a colony, the Earl of Carnarvon should present you."
I repeated : " Will not the Marquis of Salisbury do?"
He then explained to me that Lord Salisbury was
Secretary of State for India, and it was his place to
present people from India ; that Lord Carnarvon was
Secretary of State for the colonies, and that, as I came
from a colony, I must get him to present me.
I then said : " I shall not ask Lord Carnarvon to
present me. If I cannot be presented to my Sovereign
without asking him, I will never be presented if
I live to be as old as Methusaleh," and I told him
about the failure of my attempts to get an interview,
and said if he would not accept a presentation from
Lord Salisbury, that ended the matter. He immediately
replied : " I did not know that there was any reason
why the usual course should not be followed ; of course
there can be no objection if Lord Salisbury presents
you." I wrote to Lord Salisbury asking him if he would
present me, which he at once agreed to do and I
received my notification to attend the levee at the St.

238 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
James' Palace. There was a marked difference between
the display at the Winter Palace and at our Court
The Winter Palace is many times the size of St James',
the number present three times as great, so also with
the variety of uniforms and the profusion of decorations.
The men in the St. James' Palace that day, however,
were a splendid body of cultivated, distinguished
capable-looking men. One naval officer presented just
in front of me was Lieutenant Lovat Cameron, who
had lately come home from crossing the African con
tinent, the first, I believe, who ever accomplished that
feat

CHAPTER XVII
Publication of the '' History of Cavalry "
Arrange with Macmillan & Company — General Smyth refuses to
order copies — Emperor of Russia accepts dedication —
General Gorloff's friendship — General Selby Smyth's
annual report — Reference to my book — Mutual congratu
lations — Treatment by headquarters — Colonel Walker
Powell's friendship.
By the time I got back to London, I had had about
a month's rest, and was able to arrange for the publica
tion of the English edition of my book. After consult
ing two or three publishers who seemed willing to
undertake it, I arranged with Macmillan & Company
for its issue. They undertook all thfe expense of
getting out the book, and' I was to have half the profits.
In addition they agreed to keep the type set for five
weeks, and then to allow me to buy one or two hundred
copies or more, at the cost of the paper and presswork
only, which would have been trifling.
To explain this I must go back and mention that I
had wished, before I left home, to get an order from
our Government for about 200 copies to distribute
among the militia, in order to help me somewhat in an
international competition in which I was representing
my country. This was not an unusual request, because

240 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the Department had ordered copies of books from the
few officers who before had published military books in
Canada. Mr. Mackenzie, our prime minister, promised
to give me an order for about 200 copies. Just before I
left I asked him for the order, and he consulted, I
suppose. General Sir Selby Smyth, and wrote me that
he did not like to give me an order for a book before it
was even printed, but as soon as it was, he would attend
to it. Counting on this, I based my arrangements with
Macmillan & Company upon it The moment I could
get proofs of the work, before the index was made, I
had two copies bound and sent to Sir Selby Smyth and
Mr. Mackenzie, the premier, and asked for the order
once more. It was in the closing days of a busy
session, and I have no doubt Mr. Mackenzie just sent
word to Sir Selby Smyth to attend to it.
By return mail I got a very polite letter from Sir
Selby Smyth saying he could not give me an order,
and if he did buy any, he thought it better to buy those
required through the bookseller in Ottawa in the usual
way. I was delayed some weeks by this, and lost
advantages I otherwise could have had. I wrote to
Sir Selby Smyth acknowledging his letter and telling
him I did not want him to buy any copies, and that I
hoped he would not ; that I would have the satisfac
tion of feeling that, under difficulties of all kinds, I had
represented my country in an international competition,
and with some degree of credit, and that I had done it
unaided and alone, and I gave the most positive instruc
tions to the publishers that no copies were to be sent
for sale in Canada, and that no efforts were to be made

PUBLICATION OF "HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 241
to sell them in this country. This was carried out, and
Canadians wishing to buy the book had to send to
England for it
I sent a copy of the proofs also, through General
Gorloff, to Russia, with the request that I might have
permission to dedicate the English edition to the Czar,
and General Gorloff asked Count Heyden to send a
reply as soon as convenient. I received the following
letter from General Gorloff, which shows the prompt
and courteous manner in which the Russian Emperor
had acceded to my request : London, April 7th, 1877.
My Dear Colonel Denison :
I have the honour to inform you that to-day I have received a
telegram from Count Heyden (in answer to my letter to him),
informing me that His Majesty the Emperor of Russia has gra
ciously accepted the dedication of your work on the " History of
Cavalry," so that you are, by the present, authorized to dedicate
this to the august name of His Majesty. . .
You will see, dear Colonel, that I have not delayed one day,
and did all that was in my power to promote your desires and
procure what you have asked. This time, as from the very
beginning, as well as in the middle of your task, I was sustain
ing you as well as I could. Yours truly, A. Gorloff.
This last paragraph was fully justified. From the
beginning, as in the middle and in the end of my
associations with General Gorloff, I found him a
courteous gentleman, and a kindly and sympathetic
friend. My intercourse with him is one of the bright
passages of this episode of my military career.
16

2-13 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I was much pleased with the way in which Mac
millan & Co. treated me. My dealings were all with
Alex. Macmillan, the head of the firm. I always used
to call and see him when I went subsequently to
England. I dined with him one evening at Balham,
and had the pleasure of meeting J. R. Green, then just
becoming famous for his " Short History of the English
People." He was a quiet-looking man, rather short, and
so delicate that I was not surprised to hear of his death
at an early age.
When I returned to Canada some months elapsed
before I got official information that the prize had been
awarded to me. The newspapers received the news of
my success with satisfaction, and my brother officers in
Toronto gave me a complimentary banquet in the
National Club, the late Lieut.-Colonel, Fred W.
Cumberland, being the originator and moving spirit in
the matter. This action of his pleased me very much,
for we had fought an election against each other in
Algoma, in 1872, he retiring, on account of my
opposition, in favour ofthe Hon. J. B. Robinson.
In the annual report of Major-General Sir Selby
Smyth for 1877, he referred to my History of Cavalry
in the following terms :
" Among many excellent cavalry officers I must take
the opportunity of specially referring to Lieut.-Colonel
George T. Denison, the author ofthe treatise on ' Mod
ern Cavalry,' and who, this year, was fortunate enough to
bring himself, and through him the militia of Canada,
into enviable notice, by gaining the first prize of 5,000
roubles offered by the Government of Russia for the

PUBLICATION OF ¦HISTORY OF CAVALRY ' 24^
best history of Cavalry from the earliest times. It
cannot but be a source of much satisfaction that tlie
prize for this history, compiled after much laborious
research, should, though open to all nations, have been
carried off by an officer of the Canadian Cavalr\-
against all competitors, even though at the last the
number of competing officers was reduced to three, two
of whom were foreigners."
I heard afterwards that Sir Selby had been speaking
slightingly of my book, saying that it was only a com
pilation, which was an absolutely inaccurate statement
The first time I saw Sir Selby Smyth, I congratu
lated him on his knighthood, which he had obtained since
I last saw him, and also on his being promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant-General. He thanked me, and then,
in a hesitating way, said : " I ought to congratulate you
on vrinning the Czar's prize." I said, " Thank you. " He
then went on : " I understand that no English ca.valr}'^
officers competed." I saw at once the inuendo. I
thought I had stood enough from him and I answered
him in the most amiable way, taking him into my con
fidence as if he had been my bosom friend. " Certainly
not, there is no English cavalry officer who could have
done anything in that competition. I was afraid some
what of one Frenchman, De la Barre Duparcq, who had
written some good works, and I was ven.- much afraid
of the Germans, for I cannot read their books and
could not gauge the value of them, but I knew what
the English cavalry officers had ^\-ritten, and that I
could easily beat them and if I got any of the prizes,
that end would be gained. One object I had v.as t j

244 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
show that a Canadian militiaman, a barrister, could
compete creditably on their own ground with the
regular officers of Europe. I was not afraid to face
the odds and the difficulties, and I succeeded in my
object" He muttered something about it being " very credit
able," and we did not pursue the subject. I think he
was somewhat angry, but I had stood enough to make
me feel irritated at the way in which I had been treated.
If these experiences had ended the matter I should
have been well content, but from the time I won that
prize I noticed a difference in my treatment by the
headquarters staff. My recommendations were often
ignored, my requisitions generally pigeon-holed. I
found a difficulty in getting things for my corps, and if
any opportunity arose I was usually snubbed. I some
times thought that I had jarred their views by writing
books in which I advocated new ideas. This surmise
was, perhaps, erroneous, and after all I alone may have
been to blame. It is possible that I am too combative
and energetic, and am perhaps constitutionally incap
able of acquiring that spirit of obsequious servility,
which military officials seem to rank as the highest
proof of soldierly capacity.
One officer always treated me well, that was Colonel
Walker Powell, for many years the Adjutant-General.
He was a Canadian by birth, and an officer of the militia
in his younger days. When there was anything I par
ticularly wanted for my corps I would wait for months,
if not for a year or so, till the General commanding
was away on leave, or during the interval between the

PUBLICATION OF "HISTORY OF CAVALRY" 245
retirement of one General and the appointment of a
new one, and by making application while Colonel
Powell was in command, I could sometimes get some
thing done. He understood our seivice and the diffi
culties militia officers had to meet, and his sympathies
were with us. a think he was always popular with the
whole force.

CHAPTER XVIII
Visit to Europe in 1883
General Luard — Lieut.-Colonel Campbell — Captain Ridoutr-
lAeut.-Colonel Arthur Williams, M.P. — Leave for Europe
— Visit Berlin — Colonel Brix — Review on Templehof
Plain — At Munich — Visit General Von Xylander at Fre-
ising — 3rd Bavarian Cavalry — Colonel Von Nagel — Lunch
— Count Holnstein — Visit 23rd Dragoons at Meaux —
Colonel Baron Faverot de Kirbreck — Curious railway
incident — Return to Toronto Newspaper interview —
General Luard' s memo — My reply — Second memo — Final
reply.
I NEVER came in contact with our second General
(Luard) but once, and that was by correspondence. My
experience with Sir Selby Smyth caused me to desire to
do my duties in the most unobtrusive and quiet manner
possible. Our regiment always driUed so as to avoid
attracting attention, my desire for seclusion, learned in
childhood, being much increased by the treatment I
received from headquarters. The result was that
General Luard was here for about four years without
our having met
He had aroused considerable ill-feeling in the force
by his treatment of Colonel Campbell, of the Lambton
battalion of the Active Militia, on the occasion of his
first visit to the annual camp at London. Lambton

VISIT TO EUROPE IN 1883 247
was a somewhat newly-settled county with no large
towns, and very few villages, with a struggling rural
population of sturdy farmers with strong thews and
stout hearts, though with but little money — men willing
to fight manfully for their country. There were hardly
any men of means in the county, no class from which
educated wealthy officers could be obtained. Colonel
Campbell was an elderly man, had been warden of his
county, and was one of the most influential inhabitants,
and although of moderate means may have been wealthy
compared with his neighbours. He had obtained his
uniform, it was said, from Sarnia, the most important
place in his county, and I have no doubt that the gold-
embroidered figures on his cap were not as highly.
finished or artistic as those bought in Piccadilly or Pall
Mall. When General Luard arrived at the camp it was
given out that there would be no formal inspection or
field day, but that the regiments would go on with their
ordinary drilling as regiments, and the General would go
about and watch them.
Lieut-Colonel Campbell obeyed these orders and was
drilling his regiment and facing them, as is customary
in drilling, when the General rode up. Campbell went
on, as he understood was intended. The General began
to scold him at once, found fault with him for not turn
ing his horse round, and when he did, abused him
before his whole regiment about his uniform and the
figures on his cap and the want of style about them.
Colonel Campbell sat on his horse and said nothing, but
as the General continued his scolding, he rode off to the
Brigade office, leaving the General talking, and told the

248 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Deputy- Adjutant General that he would not be abused
before his men, that he resigned his commission and
wished to be relieved from further duty. This action of
General Luard, caused simply from ignorance of the
condition of affairs, and from bringing the customs of
one system into an entirely different one, raised a
perfect uproar all over Canada. The press, everywhere,
defended Colonel Campbell, and with much persuasion
he was induced to withdraw his resignation.
General Luard got into difficulty again over the dis
missal of Captain Joseph Ridout from the Royal Mili
tary College, which was another extreme and tyrannical
use of military power and a great injustice to that
officer. General Luard afterwards got into a difficulty
with Colonel Arthur Williams, M.P., who succeeded in
getting him sent home before his term was up.
In 1883 I took my wife and two eldest daughters to
Europe for a trip, my daughters having just left school.
We went to the Hague first and then on to Berlin,
where we spent two or three days. Colonel Brix, ofthe
Prussian staff, who had translated my " History of
Cavalry " into German, treated us with great kindness,
and drove us to a field day on the Templehof plain,
where we saw a large number of German troops. He
introduced me to the Commandant of the Body Guard
of the Emperor, who could speak English. I was much
pleased with the corps, which was composed of picked
men splendidly mounted.
One custom I noticed that day which interested and
amused me. We were driving in a carriage with a
coachman and servant on the box. The servant had

LIEUT.-COL. ARTHUR WILLIAMS, M.P.

VISIT TO EUROPE IN 1883 249
a helmet case with him. When we were driving out.
Colonel Brix wore a cap with a peak. Sometimes,
when we would be approaching a regiment or officers,
the Colonel would ask his servant for his helmet and
would put it on and hand the servant his cap. When
we drove on he would exchange again. Sometimes he
would come in the neighbourhood of regiments or
officers, and would not change his head-dress, but he
was changing backwards and forwards all morning. I
watched and tried to make out the reason of it, and at
last I asked him what it meant. He said whenever he
approached an officer of superior rank he had to put on
his helmet ; if of inferior rank, he retained his cap. This
seemed a very inconvenient regulation. The German
officers struck me as being a very capable .set of men.
While at Munich I went out to Freysing to see my
old friend. General Emil Von Xylander, commanding
the 1st Cavalry Brigade of Bavaria. When he was a
captain he had translated my " Modern Cavalry " into
German. He was at Freysing inspecting the 3rd
Regiment of Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Von
Nagel, and he and the officers treated me most court
eously. I arrived early in the morning. About 1 1 a.m.
a message came to the Colonel from Count Holnstein,
Master of Horse of the King of Bavaria, whose country
castle was not far away, saying he was coming to lunch
with the regiment and was bringing a friend with him,
and he sent a cask of a very famous kind of beer, made
at his castle, as a present to the officers. Preparations
were immediately made to receive him, and a special
lunch prepared of boiled sausages, a new idea to me.

250 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
which I was told were considered the correct food to
eat with that kind of beer.
The mess room did not have one long table, but a
number of small round tables at each of which six or
seven could be seated. General Von Xylander, Baron
Von Nagel, Baron Von Falkenburg (Major of the Regi
ment), Count Holnstein, his friend, and I were at one
table, and as they could all speak English pretty well
they spoke it a great deal as a matter of politeness to
me. I was much interested in meeting Count Holn
stein, as he was one of the most influential men in
Bavaria. Prince Bismarck, in his memoirs, gives him
more credit than any one for helping to bring Bavaria
into the German Empire. The lunch was a very jolly
affair. Some . capital songs were sung, and some of
them, evidently drinking songs, were joined in by all,
as they walked around the room, clinking the glasses
of beer in each other's hands. The beer was certainly
excellent, and very different from any I had ever tasted.
The officers spoke to me in great admiration of
Lord Wolseley's tactics at Tel-el-Kebir the year be
fore, saying that he showed a remarkable amount of
ingenuity and boldness. I was delighted with the high
compliments they paid to his soldierly ability.
A few years after I saw that the Government of
Bavaria had deposed the king on account of insanity,
and that Count Holnstein had been deputed to go to
the king's country-seat to announce the decision.
The king put him under arrest, closed the gates
of his castle, and for some days there was con
siderable anxiety about the fate of Count Holnstein.

VISIT TO EUROPE IN 1883 251
Shortly after, the king drowned himself and settled
matters. When in Paris I was invited to go to Meaux, to visit
the 23rd Dragoons, by the Colonel, Baron Faverot de
Kirbreck, and was treated with as much courtesy by
the officers of that regiment as if I had been an
inspecting officer.
A curious incident occurred during this trip. We
were travelling in a railway carriage in the northern
part of Germany, when at a station two young officers
came into the carriage where my wife and daughters
were with me. After a little while I wished to make
some casual enquiry about where we stopped for meals
or something of that sort, so I asked the young gentle
men if they could speak English. One said he could a
Httle. I received the information he was able to give
me and the conversation closed. After a while the
gentleman said, " I see you are an Englishman, sir.
When did you leave England?" I replied, "On
Thursday last," and then said, " Although I am of pure
English descent, I am, properly speaking, a Canadian.
I was born at Toronto, in Canada." He sat quietly
for some time, and then said, " Have you read
Denison's 'History of Cavalry' ?" I was so astonished
I could hardly believe my ears. I said, "What?"
He repeated, " Have you read the ' History of Cavalry'
by Colonel Denison, a Canadian officer ? " My
daughters began to laugh, and I said, "Yes, I have
read it," and then I added, "To tell the truth, I wrote
it" He evidently doubted me, and took out his card-
case and handed me his card, and it showed he was

252 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
a cavalry officer named Wittsen Elias. I handed him
mine, and he saw I was right I said to him, " How do
you know of my book ? " " You see," he said, " I am an
officer of cavalry." I replied, " But how do you know
of my book?" " I am only two years from the Academy,
and it was one of our text books," he said. I asked what
edition, and he replied, "Colonel Brix's translation."
He then went on to say, " It is the foundation of our
present system of cavalry tactics." I was much pleased
to hear this in a great military nation such as Germany.
On the day I arrived in Toronto on my return I was
attacked by the irrepressible reporter for my impres
sions of my trip. I told him of my seeing the German
troops at Berlin, and of my visits to Freysing and
Meaux, and I showed him a silver coronation medal,
one of four given to Lord Wolseley at the coronation of
the Czar, Alexander III., at Moscow, and which he had
kindly given to me. I would a great deal rather have
been left alone and I said as little as I could, but the
reporter made a column of it in the Globe next day,
August 7th, 1883.
On August 15th, 1883, my uncle, Lieut-Colonel
Robert B. Denison, sent me an order requesting me to
state when it would be convenient for my corps to
muster for the Major-General's inspection. This was
sent me in obedience to the following memo, sent to
Colonel R. B. Denison, Deputy Adjutant-General, by
General Luard.
" I see by the papers that your relative, the cavalry
swell, has come back.
" I have never had the honour to inspect his corps.

VISIT TO EUROPE IN 1883 253
" Please arrange with him for me to do this, at his
convenience and that of his corps, and let me know
when it is to be."
Under the Militia Act we could only be ordered to
perform our annual drill each year, to furnish an escort
to the Governor-General for public functions, and to
turn out on active service in case of war, invasion,
insurrection, or imminent danger of any of them. My
corps had put in their drill and had been inspected, and
it was no light matter to notify all the men, issue all the
saddles, bridles, etc., and parade for one day, and then
return them all into store, and have all the expense of
cleaning them up again, oiling them, etc. It meant
a couple of days' work and a considerable expense to
us, for which there could be no pay, and all to
enable the General to sit upon a militiaman and a
colonist who had the impudence to be looked upon as
a " cavalry swell."
I replied as follows : Toronto, August 17th, 1883.
Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter
ofthe ISth inst., asking me "when it will be convenient for the
Governor-General's Body Guard to muster for inspection by the
Major-General commanding."
In reply I have to state that the corps under my command has
already performed its annual driii, and had its inspection, and that
it will not be convenient for us to have a second inspection this year.
I have the honour to be, sir. Your obedient servant,
George T. Denison,
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel and Major Commanding G.G.B.G.
The D. A.-General, 2nd Military District.

254 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
On August 27th, 1883, Lieut-Colonel R. B. Denison
enclosed a copy of the following memo, to me and
asked me " if it would not be convenient for the Major-
General to see my corps as suggested."
(copy of memo.)
I am given to understand the Governor-General will be shortly
visiting Toronto, and if the Governor-General's Body Guard be
then in attendance, would not that be a convenient occasion for me
to see them ? (Signed) R. G. A. LuARD, M.G.
August 24th, 1883.
I immediately sent the following reply :
Toronto, August 28th, 1SS3.
Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 27th inst. I have the
honour to state that in case the Governor-General's Body Guard
are ordered to furnish an escort for His ExccUencj' on his visit here
next month, there can be no reason why the M.ajor-General com
manding should not inspect the escort, if he thinks it worth while to
inspect a fraction of the corps.
I have the honour to be, sir. Your obedient servant,
George T. Denison,
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel and Major Commanding- G.G.B.G.
The D.A.G., 2nd Military District.
The Major-General did not care to inspect the escort
He left the country before the next year, so I nevei
met him.

CHAPTER XIX
Soudan Expedition and the Canadian
Voyageurs
My brother Fred offered the command of the voyageurs — Tele-
grams — My brother Egerton turned off the steamier — His
rapid journey to Alexandria — Is appointed to the contin
gent — Their mutual promise — Fred elected to the House of
Commons — His death — Kind letter from Lord Wolseley.
On August 27th, 1884, I left Toronto by the evening
train for Montreal, to attend the meeting of the British
Association. I was at the Parkdale station to take the
train when, just a few moments before it left, my
brother Septimus came down in great haste, and
showed me a telegram from Lord Lansdowne, the
Governor-General, to my brother Fred, asking if he
would go to the Soudan with a body of Canadian
voyageurs. The telegram was vague as to whether he
was offered the command or a subordinate position.
My brother was with his family at his summer resi
dence at Chippewa, an out-of-the-way place, where a
telegram would not reach him that night, as it was
after eight o'clock. I told my brother Septimus to
telegraph as soon as possible to Chippewa. I arrived
at Montreal in the morning and put up at the Windsor.
I expected a telegram from one or other of my brothers.

256 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
but none came. About one o'clock p.m. I met Mr.
(now Sir Adolphe) Caron, then Minister of Militia, and
as we were talking together I spoke of the proposed
sending of a corps of voyageurs, and that my brother
had been telegraphed. He seemed surprised that I
knew anything about it, and, ignoring the possibility of
my brother going, said, " I am to meet His Excellency
at 1.30, and I will arrange what officers are to go."
I was afraid there might be some delay about my
brother's reply to the telegram, so I left Sir Adolphe
Caron and went straight to Lord Mountstephen's
house, where the Governor-General was visiting, and
saw Lord Lansdowne, and told him my brother's tele
gram would not come for two or three hours, and I dis
covered that it was the command my brother was offered,
that Lord Wolseley wanted him, and that he (Lord
Wolseley) was also personally to command in the cam
paign. I left the Governor-General and went straight to
the nearest telegraph office and telegraphed my brother
that Lord Wolseley was going in command of the
army, that he had asked for him, and that it was the
command of the voyageurs that was offered him. I
heard afterwards that Lord Wolseley had said in his
cablegram, " Send a Red River officer in command.
Denison preferred."
My brother received the first telegram in the morning
as he was getting on the train for Niagara to take the
steamer for Toronto, and he decided not to telegraph
till he reached Toronto, so as to take time to consider
the matter. It was at the time very inconvenient for
him to leave home. He was Chairman of the Execu-

THE CANADIAN VOYAGEURS 257
tive Committee of the City Council, was almost certain
to have been Mayor the following year, and had the
business of his law firm, which was extensive, to attend
to. He thought it over and had written a telegram on
the steamer declining it. When the steamer reached
the wharf Septimus was waiting with my telegram.
As soon as my brother read it he tore up his refusal
that he had written, said " Lord Wolseley wants me
with him and I must go," and telegraphed at once
accepting it.
Had it not been for my chance meeting with Mr.
Caron at the Windsor, Fred would never have gone
to Egypt On such slight chances do events turn.
My brother joined me at Montreal next morning and
arrangements were soon made for commencing the
organization of the expedition. Mr. Caron took the
appointment of the officers into his own hands. I have
heard it stated, but I cannot vouch for it, that Mr.
Caron, before seeing the Governor-General, had offered
the appointment of the command to another officer. If
so, history repeated itself, and my brother got this
appointment, as well as the one to the Red River
expedition, against the will of the Militia Department.
When the contingent was organized and was leaving
Quebec, my brother felt that he was going away a very
long distance with a large body of lumbermen and
voyageurs totally without discipline, and that in the
whole force he had hardly one man he had ever known
or could rely upon. He consequently asked our
youngest brother, Egerton, to go with him as a clerk
or private secretary, or anything, intending to pay all

258 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
his expenses himself When the vessel was leaving
Quebec, and just before starting, some of the depart
mental staff drew Lord Melgund's attention to Eger
ton's presence on the steamer. Lord Melgund asked
my brother if Egerton was going with him. My
brother said, "Yes." Objection was raised. My
brother offered to pay for his passage and food, that
he could go nominally as his secretary, or even as his
servant, but no ! nothing would do, and Egerton was
turned off the steamer.
Fred, however, gave Egerton money and told him to
take the first train to New York, the fastest steamer to
London, buy an outfit, and go by Marseilles or Trieste
the quickest way to Alexandria, and find him some
where. Egerton did this, was detained in quarantine
one day in Corfu, and so reached Alexandria twenty-
four hours after the contingent. He chased it on and
caught up with it before they reached the first base.
When they reached the army Lord Wolseley came
down some three miles ta see the voyageurs, and my
brother introduced Egerton to him, told him he was a
captain in the English South Staffordshire Militia, and
said he would like to have him allowed to go with him.
Lord Wolseley gave orders at once for him to be
appointed as a captain on the staff attached to the
contingent, and he served all through the campaign.
After they came back Egerton told me that Fred had
only given him one instruction, and that was, " If I die or
am shot, you are to see that my body is taken back to
Canada, no matter what the cost may be, and I am to
be buried with my people in the family burying ground

THE CANADIAN VOYAGEURS 259
on the banks of the Humber (near Toronto)," and he
promised to do the same by him.
A year later, Egerton, who had obtained a position
on the Gold Coast, was invalided home, and died on
the S.S. Vancouver in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The
mail officer, James O'Hara, an old and esteemed friend
of our family, insisted on bringing his remains on, and
the two brothers are buried now where they desired,
within a few yards of each other.
My brother Fred was in the battle of Kirbekan, and
received the war medal and clasp, the Khedive's star
and the cross of St. Michael and St. George. The
Soudan expedition is one of the cherished recollections
of our regiment. In moving the vote of thanks in the
House of Commons to the army in the Soudan, the
Marquis of Hartington, Secretary of State for War,
mentioned my brother by name in complimentary
terms. In 1887, my brother was elected member of the
House of Commons for West Toronto, and again in
1891, with the largest majority gained by any candidate
in Ontario. He died in 1896 from cancer, after an
illness borne with remarkable fortitude. His death was
cabled to England, and the day the news appeared in
the English papers Lord Wolseley wrote me :
"The newspapers here have announced to-day the
death of your poor brother Fred. I do sincerely feel
this loss of an old friend and old comrade, of one for
whose family I have always, had a real affection and
admiration. The word 'Canada' is with me indissol-
ubly connected with you and your brother Fred. I

260 SOLDIERING.IN CANADA
never hear it, I never think of Canada, without thinking
of you both. And now one is gone, and my small
group of friends is now one man, and that a good man,
the less. Please convey to your sister-in-law my heart
felt sympathy with her in this moment. I feel deeply
for her in her distress. Indeed, I feel for you all as a
family." This was only one of the many tributes I received,
showing the high esteem and respect in which my
brother was held by all who knew him.

CHAPTER XX
The Outbreak of the North-West Rebellion,
1885
Major-General Middleton — Succeeds General Luard — North-West
Rebellion unnecessary — Extraordinary obstinacy of Depart
ment of Interior — Charles Mair's repeated warnings —
Moves his family from Prince Albert — He commences to
write Tecumseh — Fight at Duck Lake — Infantry ordered
out — Body G^iard ordered out also.
In July, 1884, Major-General Middleton had been
appointed to the command of the Canadian Militia.
General Luard had left in the spring of that year, some
fifteen months before his term had expired, owing to a
difficulty with Lieut-Col. Arthur Williams, M.P., who
commanded the 46th Battalion of our Militia.
The following spring saw the outbreak of the North-
West Rebellion. This was caused by a remarkable
instance of departmental inefficiency and obstinacy.
The department of the Interior was in the charge of
Senator Sir David Macpherson, a fine old gentleman,
loyal and honourable, but accustomed to being obeyed.
A few hundred half-breeds had settled on the south
branch of the Saskatchewan River, about twenty-five
miles south of Prince Albert, near a point called
Batoche's crossing. Some had been in the neighbour
hood for many years and others had moved there from

262 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the neighbourhood of Fort Garry during the years follow
ing the Red River Rebellion. Their farms were laid
out and fenced, their houses built and all going on
comfortably and prosperously when the Government
surveyor came along, insisting on surveying the land on
the uniform plan adopted in the unsettled prairies. By
this the farms and buildings would have been all mixed
up, and great expense and inconvenience caused to the
settlers, who had for some years been settled at that
point. Complaints began to be heard and representations
were made to the Department at Ottawa, urging them
to make special arrangements to leave these poor
people undisturbed in their homes. One can easily
understand the horror of the officials of the Department
of the Interior at the suggestion that their uniform
system of survey should be varied in the slightest
degree. Such a breach of red tape regulations could
not even be considered, so the complaints became more
numerous and the department more o'ostinatei. The
months went on, nothing was done, and muttering
threats were heard.
I happened to be in a position to know something
more of what was going on than most people. My
friend, Charles Mair, the poet, one ofthe five originators
of the " Canada First " party, had been living for some
years in Prince Albert. He had been in prison in Fort
Garry in the 1870 insurrection and understood the
country thoroughly. He had large interests in Prince
Albert, where his wife and family were living with him.
For two years or more before the outbreak he had come

OUTBREAK OF NORTH-WEST REBELLION 263
all the way from Prince Albert to Ottawa, about 2,000
miles (of which 250 miles were travelled by wagon trail),
to impress upon the Government the danger. He
came about every six months, and was in the habit of
staying a day or two with me on his way to Ottawa and
on his way back. He told me each time he went down
that there would be trouble ; each succeeding visit he
became more and more alarmed. He begged of the
Government to make some concessions, and warned
them there would be bloodshed. On one occasion he
was one of a deputation of Prince Albert residents who
went down and interviewed Sir John Macdonald and
Sir David Macpherson. Sir John asked them to put all
their points into writing and he would see what could
be done.
Mair went back on that occasion more hopeful. Six
months passed, and in April, 1884, he came down once
more to appeal to the Government to settle the diffi
culty. When he returned to Toronto from Ottawa he
told me most positively that there would be a rebellion,
that the officials were absolutely indifferent and immov
able, and I could not help laughing at the picture he
gave me of Sir David Macpherson, a very large, hand
some, erect man of six feet four inches, getting up,
leaving his room and walking away down the corridor,
while Mair, a short, stout man, had almost to run along
side of him as he made his final appeal to preserve the
peace and to prevent bloodshed.
Mair then told me that a rising was inevitable, and
that he was determined to remove his family to a place
of safety. He left me and went to Windsor, Ontario,

264 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
bought a house, furnished it, went straight to Prince
Albert, and as soon as possible brought his wife and
children down to Windsor, installed them there, returned
to Prince Albert, wound up his business, fastened up
his house and left in September, 1884, to come down to
Windsor to await the rebellion, which he, at least,
clearly foresaw. So imminent was the danger, even
then, that on his way down he would not stop in the
Batoche settlement, but drove on ten miles beyond
before he would halt for the night.
In order to occupy his time he commenced to work
at once on his splendid drama " Tecumseh " and con
tinued hard at it all the winter of 1884-5. Iii De
cember, 1884, he went to Ottawa once more, to impress
upon the Government the danger. As he had no
interest in the matter in dispute, and was anxious
simply that there should be no disturbance, his repre
sentations should have received some attention, but I
suppose it would have been unconstitutional for a
Government to act upon the verbal report of an out
sider. There would be nothing to tie up neatly with
red tape, and docket and file away in a pigeon hole.
The storm burst on March 26th, 1885. A party
of police from Fort Carlton went to Duck I^ake to
remove some Government stores. With them were a
volunteer company from Prince Albert, consisting of
forty men. They were met by a largely superior
force of half-breeds, an altercation took place, firing
began, and in a few minutes eleven of Mair's fellow-
villagers and friends were killed, and three wounded, out
of forty engaged. The police had to retreat, the news

OUTBREAK OF NORTH-WEST REBELLION 265
was flashed to Ottawa, and the Government found an
expensive and troublesome campaign on their hands.
The whole dispute was over some 40,000 or 50,000
acres of land, in a wilderness of tens of millions of acres,
for which the Government were crying for settlers. It
cost Canada the lives of two hundred of her people, the
wounding of many others, the expenditure of about
$6,000,000 in cash, and the losses of time and business
that cannot be estimated. When it was all over the
Government offered, free, to the volunteers 1,800,000
acres ofthe land if they wanted it to settle on, and yet
the whole dispute was mainly about some red tape
regulations as to surveying some forty or fifty thousand
acres of land on which people were already settled. It
is not often a country suffers so severely and so
unnecessarily. On March 28th, 1885, the Toronto Regiments, the
Queen's Own and Royal Grenadiers, were ordered to
furnish two hundred and fifty men each, to form a
force to be sent to Winnipeg. They left on the 30th
by the C. P. R. I saw them start, my brother Lieut-
Colonel Clarence Denison being with me. There must
have been many thousands of people before the station
to see them off ; the whole street was packed. I
remember making the remark to my brother that if I
was going I would like to get off quietly.
The Volunteer corps all over the country were volun
teering their services, and using every effort to be sent
up to the North-West. Several of my officers came to
me and asked me if I had volunteered the services of
the corps. I said, " No, I had not." They asked me if

266 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
I would not do so. I refused for two reasons, partly be
cause a large force was being sent to crush a few people
who had been wronged and practically goaded into re
bellion, but my main reason was that if they thought I
wanted to go they would certainly not send me. I also
said that an officer should wait for his orders.
On April ist, in the afternoon, I received orders to
turn out my corps for immediate active service, and
about an hour later Mr. Mair arrived from Windsor.
He said he was determined to go to the North-West
with some of the corps, to help relieve his friends about
Prince Albert I saw that he was determined to go,
and finding that my Quartermaster, from personal
reasons, could not go with us, I arranged that Mair was
to take his place temporarily as Quartermaster.
On Saturday the 4th, we were ready to start, but the
authorities would not give us our orders. On Sunday
we had our train made up and loaded with some stores^
but were still detained, as we were all day Monday.
On Monday night I got my orders and started in the
night in a heavy rain, in marked contrast to the depar
ture of the infantry, for one man, whose son was a
trooper, and another an ex-officer of the corps, were the
only ones at the railway to see us off.
I knew from the telegraphic reports and letters from
the infantry who were ahead of us, that we would
necessarily suffer a good many hardships on the North
Shore trip. I had noticed large numbers of grumbling
letters that had been sent back and had found their way
into the papers, and I was very anxious to prevent any
grumbling among my men. I went through the cars

OUTBREAK OF NORTH-WEST REBELLION 267
talking to the non-commissioned officers and men, and
urging them not to be writing complaining letters home.
I said that might do for infantry, but would never do for
cavalry, and that if they found any man grumbling to
let me know, and I would send him home to his mother.
Very soon there was such an esprit de corps that they
would have stood anything without a word.
My men who served in this affair were of a very
superior class — many of them well educated and of
good social status, most of them in comfortable circum
stances. There were doctors, bank clerks, business men,
farmers, one Oxford graduate, one ex-army officer, etc.
They behaved splendidly, keen to obey every order,
always willing, and preserving perfect discipline. Not
the stolid discipline, the result of years of routine, but
the discipline of zeal and enthusiasm, based upon the
common desire of us all to do the very best we could
for our country, and for the credit of our corps.
The esprit de corps, which I always sedulously culti
vated, sometimes exhibited itself in a peculiar manner.
On one occasion when the corps was ordered out on
active service I had to make out lists of the men
according to the churches to which they belonged. The
men were drawn up on parade, and I called each man's
name and asked to what church he belonged. One
would be Church of England, another Methodist,
another Roman Catholic, and so on, till a dozen or so
were marked down. Then I asked one smart young
fellow, and his reply was: "Well, Colonel, I am not very
particular, you might put me down to whatever church
you think would be most to the credit of the corps." I

268 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
said : " Very well, you will go'to church with me," and I
put him down Church of England. After that a
number of the men said that they had been in the habit
of attending other churches, but to put them down
Church of England.

CHAPTER XXI
The North Shore Trip
We leave Toronto — Biscotasing — Detraining horses — Magpie
River — Exposure to cold — Gravel Trucks — Arrive at Port
Munro — Lecture on wastefulness — March of thirty-five miles
on the ice — Novel experience for cavalry — Difficulties of
journey — Crust ice — Threatened blizzard — Intense Cold —
Track almost impracticable — Arrival at Jackfish Bay —
Meet Colonel Arthur Williams — March to Winston's —
Train to Nepigon — March on the ice to Red Rock — Beacon
fire — Passage of the Alps compared.
The North Shore trip, as it has always been called,
was to the north of Lakes Huron and Superior from
near Biscotasing to Red Rock, some four hundred miles,
in which there were four gaps, amounting altogether to
one hundred and ten miles, rail being laid for the
remaining two hundred and ninety. This was through
four hundred miles of an almost unbroken wilderness,
uninhabited with the exception of the gangs of work
men on the railway at five or six places. It was
virtually winter, with four feet of snow upon the ground.
It was in many ways an unique experience in moving
troops, and I shall on that account describe it fully.
We left Toronto at 1.30 a.m. on April 7th, 1885,
arrived at Biscotasing in the afternoon of the 8th and
reached the end of the track on the 9th about noon.

270 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
From this point, what is known as the North Shore trip
commenced. When the infantry reached this place they
disembarked and were conveyed by sleighs to the next
point where a part cf the track had been laid, but with
the cavalry it was very different. We first had to
unload our horses, and we were now practically away
from civilization and there were no platforms or gang
ways by which to detrain the horses. The men were,
therefore, obliged to gather railway ties or sleepers and
build up an inclined plane to the track alongside of
which the cars could be moved, and down which the
horses could be led. The snow was from three to four
feet on the level all over the country, and the wooden
ties were icy and slippery. To give the horses a sure
footing we were obliged to spread blankets on this
improvised gangway. When the horses were unloaded
they had to be fed and watered and then saddled. Our
stores had to be loaded on sleighs. All this took us
nearly three hours and then we marched to Magpie
River, where there were two or three tents, and a log
shelter or two in which we put our horses. The corps
arrived there at 11.30 p.m., having marched about thirty
miles that day. Here we got supper about midnight
There was no place to sleep, so we only rested a few
hours, the men sleeping a little in the sleighs and in the
open, on a very cold night. I had half an hour's sleep
sitting on a bench at the kitchen table, which was in a
tent, with my head on my arms on the table.
I arranged for a hot breakfast for the men, had the
horses all fed and saddled, and we set out again on our
journey at 6 a.m., and marched some fifteen miles or

THE NORTH SHORE TRIP 271
more to the end of the next piece of track, which we
reached at lO a.m. Here the horses were again fed, the
men ate what they had with them, and we then loaded
our horses upon flat construction or gravel cars, which
had no shelter but a rough fence around each to break
the wind somewhat. The men were put on the same
kind of car, fenced the same way, with crevices between
the boards, through which the wind whistled. We
started from this point about noon on the loth. There
was a conductor's car or caboose, a small place with a
stove in it, which was assigned to the officers. The
exposure and fatigue had caused two or three men to be
pretty well played out, so I had them brought into that
car with the officers.
When it came towards night the weather became
colder and snow began to fall. My men were lying
down close together on straw in these partly open cars,
and it was a dismal outlook. I knew the men would
be pretty well depressed with the cold and fatigue, and
I felt I would rather share their hardships. I picked
up my blankets the first chance I got and climbed
over the fence into one of the cars where the men were
lying, and said : " Lads, have you got room for another
fellow in there ? " They said : " Yes, Colonel, there is
plenty of room for you." " All right," I replied, " that
caboose is so hot I cannot stand it," and I got down in
the straw among the men, and, wrapped in my blankets
slept as soundly as I ever did till nearly 4 a.m., when we
arrived at the end of the track near Port Monroe. It
had snowed r^early all night, about six or eight inches
falling. Our saddlery, which was also on open cars,

272 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
was covered with snow, so that one could not tell what
was on the cars.
As soon as the train stopped I walked on about a
mile to Port Monroe to wake up the people in the tents
and camps, where the gangs of men were living who
were working on the track, and get them started at
preparing breakfast. I then went back to the train, got
the men roused, and began the work of unloading the
horses, clearing the snow away from the saddles, and
feeding and saddling the horses. The baggage was
loaded in sleighs. The unloading of the horses was
accompanied with the same difficulties that we had
every time it had to be done. The hind shoes had all
been taken off before we left Toronto to prevent injury
by kicking on the cars, and even with that precaution,
on the second night after we left Toronto, a fine black
horse had his leg broken by a kick and we had to shoot
him. This lack of shoes on the hind feet caused the
horses to slip about much more than if they had been
properly shod. We started for Jackfish Bay from Port
Monroe about 8 a.m., or perhaps a little later. When
the men were drawn up before moving off, I noticed a
piece of bread, a chunk about a pound in weight of
good fresh bread, that some man had thrown away.
Having just had a good warm meal he thought he
would never be hungry again. I had noticed this
failing, common to green troops, of wasting food, and
had lectured the men once or twice already about it
When I saw this piece of bread lying in the snow and
mud on the ground, I asked a man to hand it up to me.
I lectured the men again upon the subject, and said it was

THE NORTH SHORE TRIP '2Ti
a poor soldier who had thrown that away. I brushed
off the snow and mud as well as I could with my glove,
and put the piece of bread in one of the wallets in front
of my saddle, and said I might want that before long.
We moved off then on what was the hardest exper
ience on the campaign. We had thirty-five miles to go
on the ice across a great inlet of Lake Superior, along
the front of which, some ten or fifteen miles out, were
one or two islands, which held the ice together and
made a firm stretch of ice over which we had to march.
After we had gone some twelve or fifteen miles we
came to a point where the sleighs with our baggage
stores and dismounted men left u.s, and turning to the
right went up an inlet for some miles, to a place called
McKellar's Bay, from which a short piece of track had
been finished to Jackfish Bay. Here we halted for our
mid-day meal. The horses were drawn up in a line
facing the south, as there was a strong north wind. The
horses were fed from their nose-bags, and the officers
and men stood in the shelter of the horses, and with a
chunk of corned beef in one hand and a chunk of bread
in the other we made our dinners. A hole was cut in
the ice and our horses watered from it, and we drank
from the same source of supply.
When leaving Toronto the supplies were short, or the
officers in charge thought anything would do for the
cavalry, for we were issued blankets that had been
condemned, in most of which there were holes more or
less. I insisted on an extra supply and obtained three
for each man, and, as the holes were not all opposite
one another, they were of some use. We were issued
i8

274 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
water bottles just as we were leaving, and when we got
to Biscotasing I arranged to have tea made to fill them
all. They were all filled, but would not remain in that
condition, as they all leaked, and in a few minutes the
men had got rid of their so-called water bottles. These
also were condemned water bottles, but unfortunately
we could not, by any means, turn them to any use
whatever. As soon as we got a chance the men got
soda water bottles, and made out to get along with
them. From Port Monroe to the point at which the sleighs
left us to go to McKellar's Bay, the track along the ice
was packed and clearly marked by the sleighs, which for
some days had been plying between these points ; but
when we left the track to go some twenty miles across a
vast prairie or desert of ice, with snow in drifts every
where, there was no track and we had to pick our way.
In the early spring there had been rain and thaw, and
all over the solid ice there had accumulated some few
inches of water. This had frozen to a depth of about
two or three inches, and on this crust-ice several snow
falls had been deposited. The snow, as usually happens,
had been blown by the wind, so that in places there
would be smooth glare ice, and in others snow, from a
quarter of an inch to perhaps a foot or even more in
depth. The glare ice was, of course, strong and solid,
but where the snow was deep it had protected the ice
under it, so that it did not become nearly so strong. As
we marched on the glare ice the horses without their
hind shoes slipped about and travelled with difficulty.
When the snow was deep, and the deeper it was, the

THE NORTH SHORE TRIP 275
more certain the result, the horses' hoofs would go
through the snow to the crust-ice, and through it down
two or three inches to the solid ice below that
Where the snow was deep the horses were almost
mired, so to speak, their hoofs catching and tripping
them in the crust-ice. We pushed on as fast as we
could, trying all the while to pick our way, avoiding as
much as possible the glare ice, or the deep snow. This
made the distance longer, and the wind from the north
kept constantly getting colder and stronger. A man on
horseback had been provided as a guide to go with us.
He was afraid a blizzard was coming up and -got
considerably alarmed, for we were miles from shore, and
along the whole stretch and on the islands it was an
absolute wilderness. He kept urging us on, and we
kept moving as fast as possible. About four or five
o'clock we came to where the snow on the ice seemed to
have gathered much more extensively, and we could
hardly move, the horses going through the crust-ice
every step. I halted the column, and sent several men
out like a fan to see if a place could be found where the
snow was not so deep. William Hamilton Merritt, my
adjutant, was one, and when he had got about a quarter
of a mile off he signalled us to follow him, and we
struggled through the deep snow and found a clearer
stretch. He and I rode on ahead after that, to pick the way.
I think the spot where I halted was by some current of
the wind much more covered with snow than other
parts, for after that it was not nearly so difficult to find
a way through the drifts. The wind, however, was very

276 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
high, the temperature, as we found out afterwards, about
zero, and some flakes of snow began to fall. I was very
uneasy lest a real blizzard should come on, which would
leave us without food all night on the ice. Many lives
would have been lost Fortunately it was only a slight
flurry of snow, which soon blew over, enabling us to see
our way.
By six o'clock the exertions we had gone through
made me at any rate, very hungry, and then I thought
of my piece of bread I had picked up in the morning at
Port Monroe. It was rather cruel of me, but I was
determined to teach a lesson. I took it out of my
holster, picked the mud off it carefully and commenced
eating it. As I was doing it I dropped back and let the
column pass me as I rode, slowly eating my supper.
Every man in the command saw me eating it and they
had all seen me save it. I did not have to complain
of wastefulness after that
We kept on marching and pushing on as fast as we
could, but did not reach Jackfish Bay, then a small
contractors' camp of tents and a few buildings, until
about 8 p.m., just at dusk. Our men who had gone by
McKellar's Bay had arrived many hours before us, and
we found there the Midland Battalion, who were under
the command of my old friend and schoolmate, Lieut.-
Colonel Arthur Williams, M.P. They all came down to
the shore to meet us and received us with loud cheers,
for they had been very anxious on account of our delay,
and the threatened blizzard. Colonel Williams came
up and shook hands with me and said: "Supper is just
ready and my men want your men to come and eat it,

THE NORTH SHORE TRIP 277
and they will wait till another meal is cooked." We
were much pleased at this evidence of kindly feeling,
but I told him to let his men have their meal at once, as
we would have to look after our horses before we had
supper. There was no stable, of course, and we had to look
out for the most sheltered nooks we could find to place
our horses, poor beasts, for the night. We got some in
deserted lumber shanties, some in a tent, some in an
empty root-house, and some under the shelter of build
ings away from the wind. We did not get any supper
that night till ii o'clock. I had been in the car among
the men in the snow the night before ; the night before
that had been an hour or two in the kitchen tent at
Magpie River, and I had been up since about four in the
morning, so I was rather tired. I slept on the floor of
an upstairs room in an attic with Colonel Williams and
some officers of the Midland, but I had both an over
coat and cloak, as well as my blankets, so I was warm
and felt the luxury of being under cover, for I could
have slept anywhere.
We were left at Jackfish Bay all that next day and
night to rest Colonel Williams and his regiment left
in the morning in sleighs for Winston's, twenty-five miles
off. I went down to the ice to see him off. I said
"Good-bye " to him as he got into the last sleigh, and I
never saw him again. In the evening the 7th Battalion
from London, Ontario, arrived and stayed all night and
all the next day.
The next morning, Monday 13th, was bright, clear
and cold ; thermometer about 8 degrees. We left at

278 -SOLDIERING IN CANADA
8.30 a.m. and marched twenty-five miles over the ice to
a place called Winston's and reached there at 2.30 p.m. ;
marched up the hill to the end of the track, where once
more we had to build up arrangements to load our
horses on flat cars and went by train to Nepigon, un
loaded there and left about dark to march across the ice
to Red Rock, which we reached about 1 1 p.m. This
was a most dreary part of the journey ; we were told to
follow a track on the ice to a light shown us on the
other side. We were told it was about three miles
across. The light looked like a lamp in a station and
we marched towards it ; after marching an hour the light
looked the same but slightly brighter. In about
another hour of marching over a track full of ruts and
holes, the light flickered and looked as if it were a torch.
It kept getting larger and brighter and when, at eleven
o'clock, we reached the shore and the end of the track,
we found that what we had taken for a lamp was a
large beacon fire of about half a cord of wood, kept
replenished, with a flame reaching probably ten feet in
the air at times. The distance was really about nine
miles. Here we got on the cars again, after feeding our
horses, and left at i a.m. on the 14th. We reached
Rat Portage at 4.30 p.m., and having fed our horses
again we left at 6.30 p.m. for Winnipeg, which we
reached at i a.m. on the 15th April, exactly eight days
after we left Toronto, and we had travelled altogether a
little more than fifteen hundred miles. A great deal
has been said about the passage of the Alps in 1800
and there is no doubt it was a brilliant strategical oper-

THE NORTH SHORE TRIP 279
ation, but as far as the hardships and difficulties and
exposure to the men were concerned, I am satisfied that
our trip was much the worst. The march of Napoleon's
army was perfectly easy by a good carriage road as far
as St. Pierre, with every facility for feeding the troops
from supplies gathered for weeks beforehand. The only
difficult part was from St. Pierre to St. Remy, about
fifteen or twenty miles, which was crossed by Lannes'
division in ten hours, the men getting a good meal of
bread and cheese and wine at the monastery at the
summit. From St. Remy the carriage road began
again and the snow was left behind.

CHAPTER Xy.II
Winnipeg to Humboldt
Arrive at Winnipeg — Camp at "Mud Flats" — Dampness of
tents — Sickness among the men — Fort Qu'Appelle — News
of Fish Creek — Send off force under Lieut.-Colonel
Tyrwhitt — Leave for Humboldt  Commence entrenching
— Joke on the cavalry — General Middleton criticizes me
for entrenching — First day's fight at Batoche — Lord
Melgund arrives in camp — His news — Telegraph lines
break down — Humboldt becomes end of the line — Obliged
to take charge of telegrams — General Middleton obliged to
entrench — Orders Colonel O'Brien up.
We unloaded from the train in Winnipeg at daylight
on a dull day, with the snow falling, and were ordered
to camp on a piece of vacant land, which we christened
"Mud Flats." We were put there because some rail
way contractor had built a shed for his horses,
about one hundred yards long, and it was then aban
doned and empty. This gave us a fairly good shelter
for most of our horses. For the men it was not so
pleasant We pitched our tents in the snow, scraping
the snow out of the interior, so that the floor of the tent
was composed of a thick, clammy, greasy clay, the
quality of which no one can understand who has not
seen Winnipeg mud. We ordered a quantity of hay,
and put that on the ground to prevent our sinking in the

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 281
mud, and putting oil sheets, which we had, over the
hay, we were able to lie down without getting actually
wet When we walked about the tent the mud would
squeal out " chuck, chuck " every step, and the hay was
damp all the time. We only expected to be there one
night, but one day passed, and then another. In the first
two days we had got all our saddlery and bridles mended
and put in order for they had suffered a great deal of
damage on the cars, loading and unloading, etc., during
the North Shore trip. Before three days had elapsed
the dampness and cold of this camp had commenced to
have its effect on the men, one-third of them being
broken down with rheumatism and diarrhoea. I rented
an empty house, got a stove in it, turned it into a
hospital, and filled it with the sick men. Every minute
I was expecting orders to go on. At last I told the
Brigade Office I would not stand it any longer, and that
we must be taken out of the mud. Quarters were
found for us, and we moved on April 22nd. In the
evening we had got comfortably settled, and about 10
p.m. I received a message that I was wanted at the
Brigade Office at once.
When I reached headquarters I found Lieut.-Colonel
Jackson, commanding at Winnipeg, Lieut-Colonel
Turnbull, of the Permanent Cavalry, and Captain
Knight, of the Winnipeg Cavalry, already there.
Colonel Jackson told me that he had received orders
that I was to move on to the front at once with my
own corps, the Permanent Cavalry corps and the Winni
peg Cavalry, and he asked me when I could start I
said as soon as it was daylight, for I had had great diffi-

282 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
culty in loading in Toronto in the darkness. Colonel
Turnbull said that he could not leave, that he was not
ready, that he had to get some work done. He had
arrived with his corps in Winnipeg two or three days
after we had. He said, " I could leave the day after to
morrow." I replied, "The General says at once, so I
will leave in the morning, and as the other two corps are
not ready let them follow next day." Colonel Jackson
approved of this, and on April 23rd we left for the West
Just as the train was leaving I received a telegram
from Lord Lansdowne, the Governor-General, saying
that my brother Fred was dangerously ill with fever in
the hospital in Cairo. This illness detained him for
many weeks and prevented him from joining us in the
North-West, as he otherwise would have done. The
weather was much finer on this journey than we had
been having, as the spring was fast coming on. We
reached Troy at 2 p.m. on the 24th, and at 4 p.m. we left
for Fort Q'Appelle, nineteen miles further on. Lieu
tenant Fleming and I rode on ahead, and arrived at the
village at dusk, where we heard of the battle of Fish
Creek, which had been fought that day.
Colonel O'Brien was stationed herewith the I2th and
35 th Battalions, and when I arrived, as senior officer I
assumed command. He at once told me that he had
received news of seventy-six carts having crossed the
river Qu'Appelle at Racette's crossing, some thirty-two
miles down the river, and it was supposed that they
contained supplies for Riel. He had arranged to send
Lieut-Colonel Tyrwhitt, with sixty men to intercept
them. I varied the arrangements, thinking it better to

"^^^ .ty^- - 'I v;^^^

_3!

HUMBOLDT, 1885.
The moimted M '"-e « « com-ier ; Col. Denison in uniform ; Bill Scott, the civilian pofiuht.on of Humboldt, is the other seated figure.

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 283
send ninety infantry, and I added twenty of my own
corps under Lieutenant Fleming. They left at 4 a.m. on
the 25th. It turned out that the carts belonged to a
party of plain hunters who had been wintering in the
West and were getting back to their homes. Lieut.-
Colonel Turnbull with the other two cavalry corps
joined me that night
The next night, Sunday the 26th, I received orders
about midnight to march at once to Humboldt We
left at 4 p.m. on the 27th, having a great difficulty in
getting transport wagons. I reached Humboldt on
the night of May ist, and found awaiting me at the
telegraph station, which was the solitary house which
formed Humboldt, one or two telegrams from General
Middleton, who after the fight at Fish Creek, had halted
near that place. My instructions were to remain at
Humboldt and await further orders.
There was accumulating by this time at this post a
large quantity of food and supplies of all kinds. I
found a very large tent covering the perishable articles,
the other things being piled in the open. These stores
were in an absolutely indefensible position, and I saw at
once that if they were to be guarded they must be
moved. I went out on to the open rolling prairie, and
about six hundred yards from the station I found two
knolls or bits of rising ground, close together, about
eight feet high, with a dip between them. On the
higher or larger knoll I pitched my camp and in the
dip I placed my picket ropes and fastened my horses,
where they would be protected from fire.
The position I was placed in here was another joke

284 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
on the cavalry. I was on an open rolling prairie, open
for miles to the north in the direction of the enemy, who
were at Batoche, about fift)'-five miles away by the
Hoodoo trail. The General with about i,ooo men was
at Fish Creek receiving his supplies from Humboldt by
way of Clarke's Crossing, so that practically the enemy
were nearer to me than the General was. And I was
left with about ninety cavalry, all told, officers and men,
to guard all the stores which were pouring in every day.
I knew that cavalry could not act on the defensive
mounted, and therefore would be forced to act as
infantry. I began the first night to dig rifle pits to shelter the
men ; I kept enlarging and connecting them and deep
ening the ditches in front, until I had a fairly good little
earthwork around my tents. On the other knoll, on the
far side of the horses, I had a sort of lunette field
entrenchment, that was covered entirely from the other
work. The stores, which were accumulating ever)' day,
were brought over and piled in a V-shaped pile, the
point outward, so that each face could be enfiladed by
the fire from the two works. In a few days I think I
could have held my own against a respectable force, if
they had no artillery.
As I saw my horses in the little valley eating hay that
cost about $600 a ton to transport, for the grass had not
yet begun to grow, and my men working as hard as
they could by turns, with the few spades I had thought
would be sufficient for a cavalry corps to carry, I could
not help smiling at the absurdity of the whole business.
General Middleton, I am satisfied, had inherited the

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 285
tradition of the department against me, and did not
want me up there at all, and so he left me on the prairie
guarding stores with cavalry. I had never met General
Middleton at this time, but I gave him credit for doing
a very clever thing, if he really did this to make a fool
of me.
Of course the news got up to Fish Creek that I was
entrenching myself, and the news soon got back to me
from the front that the General was ridiculing me for
doing it, saying there were no enemies within fifty miles
of me. As I had two hundred stand of rifles, and very
large quantities of powder and cartridges among my
stores, and the enemy, on their Indian ponies, could
have left one evening and struck me in the early
morning, I thought I was justified in taking care of my
post So affairs went on until about May 8th, when we
heard that the General was going to move on towards
Batoche. On the 9th we received news from the tele
graph operator at Clarke's Crossing that they had heard
the sound of cannon down the river, in the direction of
Batoche, during the day, so we knew that a fight had
been going on. I had been sending a patrol out every
morning about eight miles to the north, to the Spati-
naw, a conical hill about two hundred feet high, close
to the Hoodoo trail, from which, with powerful field
glasses, the men could watch the country for miles.
I was sound asleep in my tent about 4 a.m. the next
morning, May loth, when I was awakened by hearing a
voice saying to the sentry, " Which is Colonel Denison's
tent?" The sentry pointed it out, but I was up before

286 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
he had done it, and pulling on my jack boots,
which was all I had to do to be completely dressed,
I unhooked the tent door and said to the officer, "Come
in.'' As he bent his head to come in I saw a staff
officer's cap, and thought it must be Captain Freer, the
General's aide, but when he got in and stood up I saw
it was Lord Melgund.']' A second time I was startled in
the same way ; the remembrance of Colonel Dennis'
apparition at Bown's farm came at once to my mind.
I knew Lord Melgund was Chief of Staff, and that a
battle had been fought the day before, and it startled
me to see the Chief of Staff fifty-five miles to the rear
by the morning. All this went through my mind in an
instant, and I said, " What news have you from the
General ? " He lowered his voice so that the sentry
should not hear him, and said, " Well, it is not good."
"What!" said I, "surely he has not been defeated ? "
"No," he replied, "but he has had a check. He tried
to drive the enemy out but could not succeed, and he
has fallen back a little way and formed a defence with
his wagons, and there they are. Some thought he had
better retreat, but it was considered that that would
have a bad moral effect, and he has determined to stick
it out." He then said, " I want to send off some telegrams at
once." The operator was away, trying to mend the line
beyond us, but one of my sergeants was an excellent
operator, so I wakened him up and we went down to
the station. On the side of an old hayrack, leaning
against the back of the log shanty which constituted
Humboldt, with his cipher book before him. Lord

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 287
Melgund wrote out his dispatches. I walked up and
down the grass, and saw the sun rise on a lovely May
morning, everything looking beautiful, and I could not
help thinking of the anxiety this news would carry to
many a home in Manitoba and Ontario.
Lord Melgund came back to our camp where
breakfast had been prepared. He then slept till about
I p.m., when he had dinner, and I furnished him with a
fresh horse to ride on towards Qu'Appelle. He never
said a word about why he was sent down, but the
impression was that it was to get up some regulars from
Halifax. I did not see Lord Melgund again for fourteen years,
when, as Earl of Minto and Governor-General, he held
his first reception at Toronto, when he reminded me of
meeting the patrol of my men on their way to the
Spatinaw. He met them a few miles away from our
post in the early dawn. Lord Melgund was accom
panied by an orderly, the Hon. Mr. Fiennes, one of
French's scouts, a son of Lord Saye and Sele.
When the patrol met them, two men rode out rapidly
to each flank and surrounded them, much to the amuse
ment of Lord Melgund, who did not at first understand
what they were doing. They showed him the way
to our camp and then went on.
Lord Melgund told me that he was very much averse
to leaving the front, but that General Middleton thought
it necessary to send him, as he had important work for
him to do. Just at this serious crisis of the campaign^
the telegraph lines were constantly interrupted, and the
events were thickening. Lieut-Colonel Otter had been

288 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
defeated at Cut Knife on May 2nd, and for four days
the General was entrenched about a half a mile from the
enemy's advanced posts. During this period Humboldt
became the end of the telegraph line, and as I was in
command there, and the telegraph operator away for
some days trying to repair the line from Humboldt to
Clarke's Crossing, the whole work had to be done by
Sergeant Harry Wilson of the Body Guard, who was an
expert operator.
During those days, my time was principally spent in
the telegraph station. Despatches came pouring in from
all points, from General Strange, from Winnipeg, from
Battleford, from Qu'Appelle, Swift Current, etc., all
demanding attention from the General. It took about
two days to get despatches to the General at Batoche,
and a reply back. On May 9th, the first day of the
fighting at Batoche, I had sent Trooper Scholfield with
despatches to the General. He got into General
Middleton's entrenchment safely, and some hours after
he was sent back with a parcel of telegrams to bring to
me, and on his return he reported that he had been fired
at four times in getting away. A bullet was afterwards
found imbedded in his horse's neck.
We were, of course, anxious about the General's
position, and I asked Lord Melgund whether we should
not bring out all the troops we could hurry up, and
march to reinforce our comrades. He advised me to
wait, and if I found that at any time I could not get in
couriers to the camp and receive replies, that then it
would be best to telegraph to the Government that, as
senior officer near, I was going to order forward all the

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 289
troops that I could reach, and march to relieve
the General. Fortunately, I had not to take any
such responsibility.
I found, however, that many of the telegrams to the
General required immediate replies, and that great diffi
culty would be caused by waiting the two days or more
necessary to communicate with him. It was my habit
to sit at the desk close to the operator, who wrote the
despatches on separate sheets of paper and passed them
to me as fast as he could take them. I would read
them and if they could await action I would put them
aside to be sent by courier. If it was advisable to give
a reply at once, I would write it at the bottom of the
message. These replies always began "An answer
from the General cannot be had for two days. You had
better not wait. You had better do, etc., etc.," and I
would give directions. Then these would go to the
General with the others, and he would see exactly what
I had done. I wrote to the General and told him what
I was doing, and said I would continue in this course
unless he told me not to do so.
On May nth he wrote me thanking me warmly for
what I was doing.
It was a curious chance that the fact of my being left
to guard stores at a point in the line of communications
should have been the means of causing me to render
the General most important and responsible services.
When he with i,ooo men was entrenched himself at
Batoche, and the enemy as near to me as he was, it
then struck him that I was in a very exposed position,
and he at once sent me orders to bring up the I2th

290 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
and 35th under Lieut.-Colonel O'Brien from Qu'Appelle
to Humboldt, and to move the 91st Battalion under
Colonel Scott from Troy to Qu' Appelle. This, how
ever, took time, for Lieut-Colonel O'Brien had to march
all the way, some one hundred and fifty miles. I heard
afterwards that General Middleton had said more than
once, " I am anxious about Denison. He is in an ex
posed position. I wish O'Brien was up to reinforce
him." I knew then that he must have forgiven me for
entrenching my camp.
The first message I got from the General after Lord
Melgund's arrival was to bring up these reinforcements,
and to send on to the front by the Hoodoo or Batoche
trail as many supplies as I could get teams to take. I
managed to get fifty-four teams and sent 1 10,000 lbs. of
stores up with an escort of thirty-five men, under my
brother. Captain Clarence Denison. This was a good
illustration of the absolute necessity of strictly obeying
orders. My orders were to send them by the Batoche
or Hoodoo trail. As soon as the teamsters heard of it
they began to murmur. They came to me and told me
they could go by way of Clarke's Crossing and Ver
milion Lake and past Fish Creek with much larger
loads and very much faster, and that it would be safer
in getting in to the General. I told them I had orders
and they must be obeyed if the whole convoy stuck in
the mud. My officers came to urge me, and no one
could understand why the worst and most dangerous
road should be taken, and I think there were consider
able doubts for the time as to whether I exercised
enough discretion for a commanding officer.

WINNIPEG TO HUMBOLDT 291
The convoy started and before they had gone more
than about twenty-three miles it was found that the
horses could not possibly draw the loads, so that about
twenty-five per cent, was taken off each wagon and
piled around a tent so as to make a barricade, and a
small guard of a non-commissioned officer and four men
left in charge. The men had named our camp at
Humboldt, Fort Denison, and this little post they
named Fort Dunn ; it existed for some six or seven
days. Afterwards I discovered that the General
thought it possible that he might have to fall back, and
ifso he would have been obliged to fall back by this
trail, and he very wisely wished to have some food
upon it.
Had I disobeyed orders and had it turned out that
the General had to retreat, he would have found no food
to meet him as he expected, and the convoy would have
gone right into the enemy's hands. This is a good
example of the necessity of obeying orders, even in
details.

CHAPTER XXIII
The Battle of Batoche
Proposal to retreat — Protest of Dr. Orton — Colonel Arthur
Williams arrives — is placed under Lieut.-Colonel Van
Straubenzie — Militia officers decide to bring on general
action — General Middleton plans a combined movement —
Ludicrous failure to combine — Williams and Grasett
ordered out to skirmish — Williams leads a charge — Grena
diers follow suit — Lieut.-Colonel Houghton's story —
Gallant conduct of Williams — Complete victory — Williams
harshly treated — His illness and death — General Middleton
leaves Canada.
Before the convoy reached Batoche the four days^
fighting was over, and the rebels had been utterly
routed. Of course we heard a great deal of what had
taken place from numbers of those engaged, and after
I came home I took considerable pains to learn all I
could of the affair. No two people would give the same
account, but by comparing them all, and weighing the
evidence carefully, in which I have had some experience,
I came to the following conclusions as to what actually
occurred. When General Middleton approached Batoche on
May 9th, he found the rebels entrenched in rifle pits, at
the edge of a wood where they were completely covered.
At Fish Creek the General hesitated about allowing the

THE BATTLE OF BATOCHE 293
volunteers to endeavour to rush the position, fearing
heavy losses, and it would seem that there was not that
thorough confidence of the General in his raw troops, or
of the troops in him, which is so important a part in the
efficiency and power of an army. When they came to
Batoche the first day, I am inclined to believe this want
of confidence was increased, and the attack was made in
a half-hearted way, and finding the rebels holding out
firmly, Middleton fell back. It was pretty generally
understood that the army officers on the staff wished to
retreat, the militia officers did not. Dr. Orton, Surgeon
of one of the corps, was a member of Parliament, and
is said to have spoken very vehemently against the idea
of retreat. General Middleton, however, decided to
stay where he was and fight it out, and he deserves all
the credit for so doing, for the responsibility of deciding
was upon him.
They brought up the tents and baggage and camped,
as I have said, about half a mile away. The main
portion of the force was out skirmishing during the
greater part of the next day, the lOth, and retired at
evening into the zareba, suffering a few casualties during
the day. The next day the same thing was repeated
with more casualties. The rumour had also got about
among the officers that the General had sent Lord
Melgund to get up regulars from Halifax.
There were some strained relations in the camp from
various causes. Lieut.-Colonel Arthur Williams was
the senior officer in the camp next to the Major-
General. He was gazetted Lieut-Colonel shortly after
the Fenian Raid, in which he had served. He was an

294 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
excellent officer, the man whom I had thought for years
the best man to have been appointed to the command
of the Canadian militia. He arrived at the General's
camp on the Saskatchewan River with part of his regi
ment on the same vessel that brought Lieut-Colonel
Van Straubenzie to join the staff. According to the
Militia Act the General had no power to give any
officer a higher rank than that of Lieut.-Colonel, and
Colonel Williams was ten years senior to Colonel Van
Straubenzie and had brought with him from Ontario a
splendid regiment four hundred strong. Colonel
Williams was entitled to the command of the infantry
brigade and should have had it without question, but
Williams was a Canadian militiaman, while Colonel Van
Straubenzie had been in the Imperial service in some
junior position and, I understand, formerly knew
General Middleton. It seemed absurd to General
Middleton that a Canadian gentleman, who had never
been in the service, should have any rights against an
officer who had left the army, so he appointed Lieut.-
Colonel Van Straubenzie to the command of the
infantry brigade and put him over Williams' head.
Williams was too good a soldier to make any trouble
before an enemy, but had he lived to return to Ottawa
there is little doubt that General Middleton would have
been sent home within a week after Williams took his
seat in the House — for the Parliament of Canada
would never have allowed one of its employes to set its
law at defiance to do injustice to a Canadian simply to
favour an old comrade.
Lieut-Colonel Van Straubenzie was, I think, a good

THE BATTLE OF BATOCHE 295
officer and a gentlemanly man, and was of course not to
blame for the position in which he was placed. Lieut-
Colonels Houghton, Boulton and Grasett and Major
Dawson, of the Royal Grenadiers, as well as several
staff officers had also been in the Imperial service. The
transport officer, afterwards Lieut-Colonel Bedson, had
been a Sergeant in the Imperial service, and on that
account, and because he had lived some time in the
country, he was the General's most trusted adviser.
Before the third day's fighting at Batoche was over,
it seems clear from all I could gather at the time,
and by careful enquiry afterwards, that there were two
cliques or sets among the officers ; the General and some
of the old army men in one, and the Canadian militia
officers, who had brought their men upon the ground in
the other. The latter saw skirmishing going on, and no
hope of any result. They thought the General had no
confidence in them — they had very little in him. Their
comrades were being killed and wounded every day,
and they were indignant at the rumours that regulars
had been sent for from Halifax. On the night of the
I Ith Williams said to some of his comrades : " The
next time I am sent forward to skirmish, I will dash
right on with the bayonet and end this matter, and I
will want you to back me up," and this seems to have
been agreed upon, as the result proves.
The next morning the General arranged for a great
combined movement; he was to move out around to the
north-east of Batoche with one hundred and fifty
mounted men, one gun and the Catling gun, and when
he had got into action Colonel Straubenzie was to attack

J96 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the rifle pits to the south of Batoche. General Middle-
ton marched out Colonel Straubenzie had the remain
der of the force drawn up and ready to move. He
waited to hear the General engaged. The General, when
he got into position, fired one or two shots from his gun
and then listened for Colonel Straubenzie to open fire.
Colonel Straubenzie kept on listening to make sure the
General was engaged, and, not hearing any more firing,
he continued waiting. The General did the same thing
and, not understanding what had happened, he marched
back the three or four miles and found the main body
of his force drawn up, calmly awaiting events.
The story is that General Middleton's remarks were
of a sulphurous description, and when his mind was
unburdened by a flow of language. Colonel Van
Straubenzie asked if the men should go to their dinner.
The General replied : " They can go to their dinner or
their supper, or wherever you like," and other phrases.
The men got their dinner. The General walked out
towards the enemy's lines as if to reconnoitre, was
fired at, and had to take shelter in a rifle pit When he
came back he went to his lunch, and Lieut.-Colonel
Williams, with about eighty or ninety of his men, and
the Grenadiers about one hundred and eighty strong,
were ordered out to skirmish, as had been done for the
previous two days. They were to advance to the old
lines, and as much further as they could. Colonel
Williams was on the left of the line, the Grenadiers to
the right
Now, to understand thoroughly the exact state of
affairs in view of the subsequent attempts to falsify

THE BATTLE OF BATOCHE 297
history, I will state exactly the position of Middleton's
force at this time. The General, with Lieut-Colonel
Houghton, was at lunch. The 90th, the largest corps of
the command, were lying about the zareba resting. The
artillery were at the zareba, the horses unhitched.
Boulton's scouts had their horses on the picket line,
unsaddled and feeding ; the other two mounted corps
in the same position, or in other words two hundred
and fifty men were out in front of the enemy, while
the main body of the infantry, the artillery and the
mounted corps, in all about six hundred and fifty strong,
were about the camp as unprepared as they could well be.
Attempts have been made to detract from the credit
due to Williams by trying to spread the view that he
acted under the orders of the General and Colonel Van
Straubenzie in bringing on the general action. But who
ever heard of a General commencing an action with
one-fourth or one-third of his men, with only thirty
rounds of ammunition each, and with his artillery and
cavalry unharnessed and unsaddled ! I received, how
ever, some further very direct evidence on the point.
Lieut-Colonel Houghton, D.A.G. for the North-West
District, was second in command under General Middle-
ton by virtue of the Act which gives the D.A.G. com
mand of the militia in his district.
Lieut-Colonel Houghton was sent back to Winnipeg
a day or two after the fighting at Batoche. On his way
down he stopped at our camp, had his dinner with
us, and gave us his version of the last day's work
when it was fresh in his mind. He said that he and the
General were having lunch, when suddenly loud cheer-

298 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
ing was heard at the front The General said " What is
that? What can it be? Go and see, Houghton?"
Colonel Houghton told us that he ran over to the
corner of the entrenchment, got up on it and listened
for a little while. The cheering and yelling came from
the left, near the river, where Williams and his men
were stationed. He said the cheering was manifestly
the shout of men who were successful and it was mov
ing towards Batoche, showing that our men were
advancing. This took place through shrubbery so
Houghton could not see anything. He ran back to
General Middleton and said, " I think our fellows are
into them with the bayonet" The General jumped up
in excitement and said, " They will be all killed. Tell
them to bring my horse. Get the 90th out, Houghton,
at once and bring them down, we must support them."
The General got on his horse and galloped to the front
and immediately sent back for the artillery, who were
soon hitched up and on the gallop for the front Boul
ton's scouts were ordered out. I believe the other two
mounted corps did not wait for their horses or to saddle
them, but just picked up their rifles and ran down to
help their comrades. Captain French was one of the
foremost with his dismounted scouts, and was killed on
reaching the village.
In the meantime, Williams, carrying out what he had
planned, had no sooner got his men down in the old
position near the river, than he led a charge right at the
enemy. In a few minutes he had turned their main
line of rifle pits and then swung round towards his right
in the direction of Batoche. The Grenadiers under

THE BATTLE OF BATOCHE 299
Grasett immediately pushed on and carried the main
lines of pits in front of them and drove the enemy
through the shrubbery till they cleared them out of it
and they retired to the village. At the edge of the
shrubbery the men halted to get their breath, the Mid-
landers on the left, the Grenadiers to their right.
Colonel Williams went along the line and said to the
men, " Now, lads, I am the senior officer here, and I will
lead you and we will finish up this business at once.
Will you follow me?" "We will, we will," was the
reply, and he was to give the signal. He waited about
fifteen or twenty minutes. I think he knew the others
would be coming down to his assistance, and then he
gave the signal and called to them to follow him. I
have heard the story from men who followed close to
him. He had his revolver in one hand, his cap in the
other, and he ran about four hundred yards across the
open under the fire from the houses in the village,
straight at one of the central houses twenty yards ahead
of every one, and never looked back to see if his men
were following him, till he ran up to the side of the
house between the windows, and leaning close against
the wall, to be out of range of the windows, he looked
back and stood to get his breath.
His charge was well-timed. The reinforcements
came up just in time to take part in the final rush.
Then they all went on through the village and drove the
rebels for several miles in utter rout, and with heavy
losses, but from the time the General ordered up the
artillery, the whole force was out of hand and acted
practically without orders. The General saw he could

300 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
do nothing, ahd he turned to some one near him and
said, " D— n them, let them go, you can't stop them."
The late Major Kirwan was in the charge ; he had been
through the Franco-German war, and had considerable
experience in soldiering. He told me a day or two
afterwards that it was a most brilliant little fight, but
somewhat irregular.
That half-hour's work ended the rebellion, and the
losses were not very heavy. There was no more talk
about bringing up the regulars. Williams received a
good deal of credit in the newspaper reports, but, poor
fellow, he was in the bad books of the Headquarters
staff and the army clique after that. His officers, when
they came back, complained bitterly to me of the
nagging and insolence he had to submit to. His regi
ment was a provisional one, made up of a number of
companies from scattered rural battalions, so that there
was not the esprit de corps or cohesion there would have
been in an ordinary battalion, and when they came home
they were scattered in country places, and there was no
one to see justice done to Williams' memory.
I made numerous enquiries from the officers I met of
the Midland Battalion, and many of them seemed to
think that Williams was worried into the illness which
killed him. He was exposed to cold and wet, and run
down from hard work and poor food, and at the last
became so weak and ill that in spite of all he could do
he had to give up. He told his major, now Lieut-
Colonel Harry Smith, to take over the command, and
write to Lieut.-Colonel Van Straubenzie to report that
he had gone to the hospital on the steamer Northcote

THE BATTLE OF BATOCHE 301
lying at the wharf. He was assisted by his servant and
another to the boat, and put in bed. The next day a
letter came from Lieut-Colonel Van Straubenzie to the
effect that he had no right to leave the regiment with
out his permission, and that he must return at once.
He read the letter, which I believe was addressed to
Harry Smith, turned to his servant and said in a weak
voice, " I cannot answer that insolent letter." He tore
it through into two pieces and threw them on the floor,
and said, " But I must get up, and go back." He tried
to get up, his servant helping him, but fell back in a
faint, and in a day or two was dead.
In this way, far from his home and family, this gallant
officer, as true-hearted and loyal a gentleman as ever
lived, finished his career within a month of his having
won a campaign for his Queen and country. He won the
campaign, and that was his reward. Sir Fred Middle-
ton obtained promotion, the K.C.M.G., and $20,000.
A fine statue was erected in Port Hope in honour of
Colonel Williams, and his name will live in the history
of Canada and be affectionately remembered by the
Canadian people. Within a few years General Middle-
ton had to leave Canada under a cloud, through the
action of Parliament, which charged him with having
appropriated a large number of furs belonging to a half-
breed. The General was rather hardly treated in this
matter, for he was only acting in accordance with a
common practice in storming a place in the hands of an
enemy. In this case, however, it was pretty clearly
shown that the owner of these furs was not a rebel.

CHAPTER XXIV
Stories of the Camp
Dr. Baldwin — Appointed surgeon — Charles Mair — Liquor pro
hibited — Farrier sergeant — His slow race — His veterinary
supplies — Sergeant Macgregor as an expert — Incident in
Judge Barron's tent — Capture of Sioux Chief, White Cap
— Newspaper criticism — Salt pork and hard tack — Descrip
tion of prairie — 'The trumpet-major — Treatment of Indians
— Poundmaker — File Hill Indians — Attack on Pound-
maker' s reserve — Lieut.-Colonel O'Brien's gallant conduct
— " The Colonel's outfit " — WTiite Cap sent to his reserve —
His arrest — His release.
I NEED not refer to the further operations in pursuit
of Big Bear. His capture, and the surrender of Pound-
maker, ended the difficulty, and enabled the Govern
ment to bring the troops home, but I will mention a few
anecdotes coming more under my own notice. In the
North-West Territories in 1885, liquor was prohibited,
and it was illegal for any one to be found with any in
his possession. Being the Police Magistrate in Toronto,
continually enforcing laws, I had acquired a facility for
obeying them.
My surgeon, the late Dr. James B. Baldwin, was an
old friend of mine ; we were boys together, and he had
served through the Fenian Raid with me as an acting
cornet in the June affair of 1866. He was tall and thin
(he stood six feet six inches in his boots). I remember a

STORIES OF THE CAMP 303
blacksmith in Fort Erie, not knowing his name, describ
ing him to me as seven by three. I asked him why he
called him that ; his reply was, " Because he looks as if
he was seven feet high and about three inches broad."
Baldwin left us before our outpost duty in the fall of
1866. He began to study medicine when he was get
ting on a bit in years, and did not pass as doctor till he
was about forty years of age.
Some time, perhaps a year, before he passed he came
to me and said he expected to pass as doctor before
very long, and he hoped I would, as soon as he was
qualified, recommend him for appointment as surgeon
of my corps, which post was vacant at the time. I was
very fond of chaffing him, for he was an exceedingly
kind-hearted, good-natured fellow, and I said, " Certainly
I will, Jim, for you know if any of us get sick we can
easily send for a doctor." He laughed at my joke and
as soon as he was qualified I had him gazetted. He
made us an excellent surgeon during the campaign in
the North-West, looking after any men who were ill
with great care and kindness, and I think with much
ability. He was an extraordinary character ; he was showing
fresh sides of it every day. He had an innocent sim
plicity in some ways with streaks of remarkable shrewd
ness and ability running through it, so that you were
constantly taken by surprise. Charles Mair, our
Quartermaster, was a man of great ability, well read, a
keen judge of character, with a sound judgment, as
shown in his shrewd appreciation of the state of affairs
in Batoche for two years before the Rebellion.

304 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
These two chummed together a good deal during the
campaign. After the first few days Mair came to me
and said, " Denison, what sort of a fellow is Baldwin ? "
"A first-rate fellow," I said. Mair went on to say' that
he was the most extraordinary character he had ever
met From day to day Mair would say to me : " Bald
win is astonishing. I am seeing new phases every day.
I cannot make out whether he is exceedingly clever or
simple. I am getting more puzzled every day." They
had one thing they could agree upon, and that was that
stimulants in reason were a very good thing. So when
we were leaving Winnipeg for the prairies on the way
up, Mair, as Quartermaster, had been requested to get
a few things for the officers' mess. When the horses
were loaded in the train and we were going off, I was
watching the loading on of the stores, and I noticed a
wagon come up with a number of packages. I enquired
what they were and found they were some groceries
that Mair and Baldwin had ordered for the officers'
mess, and looking over them I found several cases of
liquor. I knew I was going where it was forbidden, so
I refused to allow it on the train and Mair had to go
and get his money refunded and the liquor went
back. Baldwin, however, had some liquor in his medical
stores, and as he had control of it the friendship between
him and Mair was cemented. After we got to Hum
boldt, of course there were no more supplies, and
whiskey or brandy, to those who cared for it, was worth
its weight in gold. All sorts of tricks and devices were
used all over the North-West to get liquor in. My

STORIES OF THE CAMP 305
farrier sergeant was a Frenchman — a Count, I heard, in
France. He was a curious specimen ; I think his mind
was always occupied in scheming, and he would lie with
such persistence and freedom that the front end of one
of his lies would not fit the back end.
As an illustration of this peculiarity I will mention
one incident. One lovely summer's evening just before
sundown, the farrier sergeant came over to where I
was sitting with a group of officers chatting, and asked
me if I would allow him and Sergeant Watson to take
their horses off the picket line to have a race, that they
had been arguing as to the relative speed of their
chargers and they wished to test it. I thought it would
help to amuse the men and I said, " Certainly, but there
must be two conditions ; you must race on the trail, for
I do not want you to break your necks or your horses'
legs by them stepping into badger holes or gopher
holes, and do not make it for too long a distance, for
there is no use riding the horses to death."
He replied, " Thank you. Colonel, the race is only to
be for about three-quarters of a mile, and we intend to
go slow." This absurdity slipped out before he thought
what he was saying, and amid the roars of laughter of
our group he went off to have the race.
He came to me one day with a requisition for some
horse medicines, for I had no veterinary surgeon, as ours
had left Canada just before we started. I looked over
the list of things ordered, and forwarded it to Colonel
Jackson at Winnipeg. The farrier sergeant told me
to mention a particular druggist in Winnipeg, who had
furnished us supplies before we left ; I did so. Before

306 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
the box, or large case of medicines, arrived I had a
slight suspicion in my mind that he might have men
tioned a particular druggist in order that he might send
a little liquor with the medicines.
When the box arrived, addressed to me and marked
veterinary supplies, I said : " Put that in my tent"
Major Dunn was with me. I opened it and found some
dirty-looking bottles marked colic drenches, regular
horse medicine to all appearance. I drew the cork of
one bottle, poured a little of the contents into a tin cup,
smelt it, tasted it very carefully and passed it to Major
Dunn. He tasted it, looked at me and said : " The
d — d thief." I ordered a parade of all the men, put
the farrier sergeant under arrest and the box in
front of the line of men. I took the bottles one by one,
opened them, generally by knocking the necks off,
poured a little into a tin cup and called out the men
whom I thought were experts and would know whiskey
and not object to it, and would hand them the cup and
ask them what it contained. They would say: "That
is whiskey, sir," and I would empty the bottle out upon
the ground. I went on for a number of the bottles,
calling up different men and giving them about a glass
each, so as to have evidence that it was whiskey. Among
others I called Sergeant Patrick Macgregor, who had
been in the 13th Hussars, and was a splendid swords
man, and an equally good judge of whiskey, from an
experience gained by drinking all he could get.
I poured out a fairly good glass for him, he drank it
solemnly and I said : " Well, Macgregor, what is it ? "
"Colonel," he replied, "if I am to take my solemn

STORIES OF THE CAMP 307
oath before a court, I would not feel safe to do it on
such a small taste as that." I poured out another good
glass and he drank it slowly, looking up now and again
and taking sips and evidently enjoying it, and everyone
laughing at his wise and solemn expression, until he
finished it. He then felt himself over the waist,
straightened himself up with an air of satisfaction and
said very seriously : " Yes, Colonel, that is whiskey, I
am ready to go before any court and swear to it And
what is more, it is devilish good whiskey."
I poured out eighteen bottles in this way and also a
gallon or two of alcohol which was in a tin case, and
when all that was out, all the medicines left in the box
could have been put into a teacup. The farrier sergeant
begged me to let him leave the corps and not to have
him tried for the fraud. I thought the simplest way to
deal with him was to let him go, so we got him into
plain clothes and started him back to the East.
The fame of this incident spread all through the
North-West Such a thing as spilling liquor was
unheard of, except by the Mounted Police, and they
were not keen to do it, and I am afraid my reputation
in all that country was not improved by the story. I
telegraphed to Colonel Jackson to stop the payment to
the druggist, and wrote a full report. I am afraid that
this sort of thing was done a good deal in ihe campaign,
and that I only let in one little ray of light. The result
of this was that I got the reputation of being very
severe, and one who would destroy liquor like a fanatic
if I heard of it.
A very amusing incident occurred through this

308 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
shortly after this affair. An old friend of mine, Jack
Barron, son of the late principal of Upper Canada
College, since member of the House of Commons, and
now a County Court Judge, came up as a correspondent
for one of the newspapers, and spent two or three days
with us. He had a tent with him which he pitched
close to our earth-work, and while with us he lived at
our mess, where he was a most welcome guest It
appears he had brought up a small quantity of whiskey,
which he had hidden in his tent. This was carefully
concealed from me, for they thought if I heard of it I
would spill it out
I suspected it, for I noticed that Mair and Baldwin
and one or two others had taken a fancy to Barron, and
sometimes went over to see him. One evening, half-
an-hour before dinner, I saw Mair going into the tent.
I walked across, and when I came to the tent door I
spoke to Barron and said, " May I come in." Just as I
was coming in I saw Mair hurriedly put a tin cup about
half full of something on the ground beside a pail half-
full of water, which stood close to him where he sat on
the grass. I spoke to them, sat down, and began
chatting on general subjects, quietly waiting to see how
long Mair would let the cup of whiskey and water stand
without drinking. I had taken a seat on the ground on
the other side of the tent In a little while Baldwin
came along humming a snatch of a song in great good
spirits. He saw me as he came in, and his face
dropped in a minute ; this amused me very much.
Baldwin lay down on the ground, took no interest in
the conversation, and looked very dismal and un-

STORIES OF THE CAMP 309
happy. I kept quietly waiting to see what Mair
would do.
After chatting away, and while he was talking, he
picked up the cup with a most nonchalant air, dipped
it down into the pail as if to dip up a drink of water,
and drank off the whiskey in the coolest way. I knew it
was whiskey, for the bottom of the cup was quite dry
as it turned towards me while he was drinking. By
this time I had seen what I wanted, so saying it was
near dinner time, I got up and went out A minute or
two after the bugle sounded, the other officers gathered,
and as we sat down to take our frugal meal of pork and
hard tack, I told the fellows of the joke of Mair pre
tending to dip the cup in the half-empty pail. There
were shouts of laughter over it when Mair, Baldwin
and Barron came up to the tent. They had just been
saying that I had noticed nothing and had no sus
picions. They got plenty of good-natured chaff over this.
A day or two after Batoche my patrol on the Spat
inaw Hill saw an Indian coming over to the hill, evi
dently desiring to get a view of the country from it
The men kept concealed till he came close, when they
took him prisoner, and in the evening brought him into
camp. He turned out to be Wahisca, brother of White
Cap, the well-known chief of the Sioux band of Indians,
which had been forced into the rebellion by Riel. We
gathered that White Cap and a portion of his band,
escaping from Batoche, were trying to get away to the
States. The next morning I sent Lieutenant Merritt and
Lieutenant Fleming with some twenty-five men to try

310 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
and capture the party. I gave the most careful instruc
tions that there should be no fighting if it could be
possibly avoided. I thought the Indians would be very
glad to surrender, and if we could secure them without
bloodshed all the better, even if it did not make as
good a newspaper paragraph. My orders were carried
out by Lieutenant Merritt with much ability. He
was two days following their trail, chasing them, and
at last caught up to them just before dusk. He
sent in a flag of truce, and the little band surrendered.
They all had supper together, off bear meat, for our
men had run out of food, and the next morning the
Indians were all brought into camp, where they were
kept as prisoners for eight weeks.
I had been able to keep our corps out of the papers
pretty well up to this time. Lieutenant Merritt thought
that the public would like to know that White Cap's
band, or at least he himself with part of it, had been
captured, and asked me if I would allow a short account
to be telegraphed to Toronto. I told him to write out a
short report of the facts and he could send it He
brought it to me and I had it sent down to the Mailoi
Toronto. The telegraph company at once appropriated
it and sent it as an associated press despatch all over
the continent. The despatch was a short, simple state
ment of the facts. There was nothing effusive or ela
borate about it, but it was the first time the Body Guard
had shown its nose, and of course some one had to hit it
and a Toronto paper knowing it had been sent down by
Lieutenant Merritt attacked him rather severely for
sending it.

WAHISCA AND HIS FAMILV.

STORIES OF THE CAMP 311
If it had been an uncommon thing for any news to be
sent down from the North-West by the corps engaged I
would not have been surprised, but the papers were filled
with letters, telegrams, etc., from every point, principally
telling what certain corps or officers were going to do
under certain contingencies, which might never arise,
and every week or so there were bulletins referring to
two young lieutenants, mentioning the condition of their
health, where they were, what they were doing, etc., but
no one objected to that. I told Merritt when this article
got back to camp that the best way to do was to say
nothing. For three months at Humboldt our food consisted
almost entirely of salt pork and hard tack. We were so
far from the railway base and transport so expensive,
that practically nothing could be got but the Govern
ment rations, and officers and men fed much the same.
At first the officers had a few canned things, which we
had brought up, and which were principally kept to
entertain guests, but these ran out after a while and we
had simply our rations. We had plenty of good tea
and sugar, and I found the food all right We had
canned corned beef, but very soon we all tired of that
and used only the salt pork. We had no bread or
potatoes. When the weather got very warm, in the end of June
and beginning of July, the thermometer was often over
eighty in the shade. The moment the weather began
to get warm I refrained from eating pork. I remember
one whole week eating nothing but hard tack soaked in
tea, for three meals a day. I was accustomed to walk

312 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
about the prairie with a cavalry forage cap with no
peak, in the middle ofthe day in the bright sun, looking
for strawberries. After the fight at Batoche we were
left with nothing special to do but eat our meals and
speculate on when we would receive orders to go
home. We drilled a couple of hours each morning, and
the rest of the day there was nothing to do. There was
not a house nearer to Humboldt than Clarke's crossing
some forty-five miles away. In other directions there
was no house for over fifty miles. The country around
Humboldt in this early summer was perfectly beautiful.
The ground was fairly carpeted with wild flowers of
every variety. The country on one side of us for twenty
miles was rolling prairie, v/ith clumps of trees dotted
about everywhere, with small lakes and ponds, the grass
in the open stretches clean and fairly short, so that
the whole place looked like an enormous old country
park. If two or three thousand acres had been fenced in
anywhere, and a house built in the middle, and a gravel
road made up to the front door, one would think it had
been a gentleman's country residence for ages. The
heat and brilliant sun could not keep me off the prairie.
Some of the other officers suffered a great deal from the
heat. One day at the table they were speaking of it,
Mair, especially, expressing his astonishment at my in
difference to the sun. Dr. Baldwin said, " I have noticed
the Colonel. The moment the weather got warm he
cut off his pork, while you have all been eating fat pork.
That is why he does not mind it while you do." And
he went on to tell us that fat was very heating to the

STORIES OF THE CAMP 313
blood, that in Arctic climates the people lived on
blubber and fat. I am satisfied it is the habit of Eng
lish officers retaining their custom of eating quantities
of meat, and drinking beer and spirits in the East
Indies, that is the cause of the breaking down in health
of so many of them. I could drink ale in winter time,
but I look upon drinking ale in really hot weather as
a species of slow poisoning.
On our way up to Winnipeg, my trumpeter was taken
ill, and had to be left in the hospital at that place, and
I had been unable to bring another with me. I was
therefore obliged to enquire for another in Winnipeg.
I was applied to by a retired Imperial officer, a Major
B  , a thorough gentleman, who had seen a great
deal of campaigning, and had four medals for service
in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny. He was anxious
to go to the front in any capacity, and offered to go
as my trumpeter. He knew all the calls thoroughly,
so I enrolled him and took him on. He was put in
a tent with a few other gentlemen, who were in the
ranks, one of whom was my cous'in, and was as com
fortable as the rest of us.
When Colonel O'Brien's regiment came up to Hum
boldt, Major B  came to me the following day and
said, " Colonel, I wish to lay a matter before you. The
Bugle Major of the infantry came to call upon me
yesterday. He is a boy about twelve or thirteen years
of age. He asked me my rank and my pay, and when
I told him that I was trumpeter, and that my pay was
fifty cents per day, he said, looking up at me with a
very superior air, ' I am a Bugle Major and my pay is

314 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
eighty cents a day.' To look at him. Colonel, the little
imp, you would take him for a bugle minor." I said,
" All right, B  , I shall put you in orders at once as
Trumpet Major, and you shall have the eighty cents
a day." We had many long talks on military matters. He
was an accomplished gentleman and an excellent trum
peter. We corresponded afterwards for some years.
It will be readily understood that it was a matter of
great importance that the rebellion should not spread
from the French half-breeds to the Indians. Riel had
practically forced White Cap, and his band of Sioux,
into alliance with him, by going down to his reserve
and compelling him to go to Batoche. Big Bear had
also become actively engaged in the outbreak. Pound-
maker endeavoured to keep his band quiet, and the
Government gave instructions that everything possible
should be done to keep the Indians friendly, and to
keep them on their reserves. The greatest danger of
all was due to the natural fear that Indians would have
at seeing large forces of armed men marching through
the country and close to their reserves.
The Government issued a proclamation saying that
all those bands of Indians which remained quietly upon ¦
their reserves, or who at once went back to them,
would be protected, and if they had already committed
any overt acts would be pardoned if they obeyed the
proclamation. When Colonel O'Brien and I sent out
the force to intercept the carts, which were thought to
be carrying supplies to Riel, as already mentioned, it
was necessary to march through the settlement of the

STORIES OF THE CAMP 815
File Hill Indians, and Lieut-Colonel Tyrwhitt, who com
manded the party, was instructed to take every precau
tion not to alarm the Indians. When he came near their
reserve, therefore, he sent in an intrepreter and explained
what he was doing, and asked if they had any objection
to his marching through their little village. The chiefs
said that the women and children would be frightened,
and asked Colonel Tyrwhitt to make a detour around
it, which he did. He came back the same way.
A short time after that, at Battleford, Lieut.-Colonel
Otter was, I believe, much urged by some of his officers
to march out and attack Poundmaker, who, with his band,
was upon his reserve about thirty-five miles west of Bat
tleford. General Middleton refused permission to Lieut.-
Colonel Otter to attack, but, after further pressing, said
that Lieut-Colonel Otter was on the spot, and must take
the responsibility of acting as circumstances would direct.
This is as near as I could gather as to what passed.
The result was that an attack was made upon Pound-
maker. After several hours fighting, in which our men
suffered the loss of eight men killed and fifteen
wounded, they were outflanked and obliged to retreat to
Battleford. This news in some mysterious way was signalled to
the File Hill Indians, who had already been alarmed by
the apparently unnecessary march of Colonel Tyrwhitt's
column through their reserve. They became much
more alarmed, and at once went on the war path, seized
some guns and horses and cattle from some settlers, and
moved down into a coulee, or ravine, where they could
defend themselves and began to make rifle pits. Lieut-

316 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Colonel O'Brien was at once urged by his officers
and men to go out and attack them. He would have
been justified, as they had left their reserves, had
pillaged one or two houses for arms and were entrench
ing. He knew the policy of the Government He was
satisfied that the Indians were simply afraid, and that
fright and nothing else was the matter with them. He
determined, therefore, to see if he could not reassure
them. He sent a half breed interpreter to arrange for a
conference. The chiefs refused to come near Qu'
Appelle, and Colonel O'Brien agreed to go out and see
them. He went alone with the interpreter. He left his
sword and pistol behind and rode out some miles un
armed to the house where the conference was held. He
reasoned with them, assured them that the soldiers did
not want to quarrel with them, and that if they went
back to their reserve, and returned the things that they
had taken, they would not be interfered with. He suc
ceeded in arranging this all satisfactorily and probably
prevented an Indian outbreak. It was found out after
wards that the Indians suspecting treachery, were am
bushed all about the house in which the conference was
held, in order to defend their chiefs.
This act of Colonel O'Brien's was one of the finest
things done by any officer in the North-West It re
quired the highest courage, both physical and moral.
His men and some of his officers were much annoyed
with him. They thought he had lost a chance to kill
some Indians, and enable his subordinates to figure as
heroes in a newspaper article. They said he had no
"sand," that he should have given them a chance to

STORIES OF THE CAMP 817
have a fight, and this was used against him by some in
his next election for the House of Commons. He was
one of the officers who was thinking all the time of his
duty to his country. The Canadian Militia should be
proud of him.
White Cap and a portion of his band were in our
hands at Humboldt for eight weeks as prisoners.
Wahisca, White Cap's brother, whom we all called Moo-
sook, seemed to act as chief aide-de-camp or chief staff
officer for White Cap. It was very curious the way in
which White Cap, then an old man of seventy-two, pre
served a certain kind of dignity. When he wished to
speak to me about anything he would send Wahisca to
me to ask for an interview, and then at the appointed
time he would come across to my tent dressed up, wear
ing a great cap of feathers, with Wahisca and an inter
preter in attendance, and would discuss matters with
every formality. I found a tendency in the supply
officers to consider that anything was good enough to
issue to Indians. I did not believe in any such prin
ciple, so every forenoon I made it my duty to go over to
the Indian tepees and call Wahisca, who would put an
empty bag over his shoulder and follow me across to
the stores, where I personally saw the food issued to
him. There were some women and little children
among them, and I wished them to have good food.
My brother officers seeing me walking over every
morning with Wahisca following a couple of paces in
rear, used to say : " There goes the Colonel with his
outfit," and Wahisca got the name of " the Colonel's
outfit" The word outfit in the North-West was the

318 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
most comprehensive word used. A man with a train of
carts had an " outfit," a man with a horse and dog had
an "outfit." I heard one man referring to General
Middleton and his co.lumn, speaking of the force as
General Middleton and his " outfit."
My Sergeant-Major, George Watson, a tall, powerful
man, had worn up on the North Shore trip a pair of
woollen drawers, of the most brilliant shade of scarlet
Soon after he got up to Humboldt, the weather being
warmer, he threw them away and Wahisca pounced
upon them, put them on over his trousers and tucked
them into his boots. He wore a grey woollen shirt, and
a gray round felt hat with a narrow rim, very old and
battered, and with his scarlet legs he was a most strik
ing and picturesque object. No one could fail to have
his attention attracted to my " outfit."
General Middleton ordered me to gather all the
information possible about White Cap, and especially
on the point as to whether he had been forced to join
Riel, and was to blame for his action in the Rebellion.
I made all the enquiries possible from the settlers and
all who knew anything about the matter, and reported
to the General, who, when we were about coming home,
ordered me to release White Cap and his people and
tell them to go back to their reserve. I gave them a
supply of provisions and released them. I was much
struck with the grateful feelings shown by these poor
people to us all for the kind treatment they received at
our hands. When Wahisca said good-bye to us the tears
were running down his cheeks, which astonished me very
much, knowing the ordinary stoicism of the Indian.

.STORIES OF THE CAMP 319
We were much interested in these people. They
were pagan Indians, and had been engaged in the fight
where Custar and his men were all killed, but they were
truthful and honest, and the most remarkable thing that
we noticed about them was the extraordinary good
conduct of the children. They played about all day
together, and we never heard them cry or use an angry
word to each other, but they were always kindly and
cheerful. After we had come back to Toronto I heard
that the legal authorities in Regina had sent out and
arrested White Cap, and had taken the poor old man to
Regina to be tried. I wrote at once to Sir Alexander
Campbell, Minister of Justice, a vehement letter, pro
testing against this, saying that as General Middleton
had ordered his release upon my report, he should have
been left upon his reserve. Sir Alexander Campbell
ordered a nolle prosequi to be entered, and White Cap
was sent home again to his reserve.
Poundmaker was tried and convicted on evidence
that, in any ordinary trial would have ensured his
acquittal without the jury leaving the box, but the
prejudice against the Indians in the North-West was
so great that he could not get a fair trial. He was
sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. I wrote
to Sir Alexander Campbell, and drew his attention to
the great injustice that had been done. I received a
letter from him shortly after, saying he would let
Poundmaker out as soon as spring came, and that he
should be well treated and have a comfortable winter.
This promise was faithfully kept

CHAPTER XXV
Return to Winnipeg
Merritt' s transportation company — Mock trial — The foot cavalry —
Fort Qu'Appelle — Horses called in by trumpet — Arrive in
Winnipeg — Railway superintendent outfianked — Scenes in
Winnipeg — Arrival in Toronto — Enthusiastic reception.
When the campaign was all over, when Big Bear was
captured, as well as Riel and Poundmaker, we thought
we should get our orders to go home, but for some rea
son they were delayed. During the last few days
before we left, the transport teams that had been work
ing beyond us, began to stream down past us at the rate
of about fifty a day. They were going down empty. I
telegraphed the General about keeping some of them to
take back our stores. He sent me positive orders that I
was only to take so many wagons — I think five — and
the infantry a proportionate amount. The General did
not make any difference for cavalry, and we had the
utmost difficulty to get our stores down, for we had to
take some oats with us as well as food. The men were
limited to a certain weight of kit and the officers to a
very limited amount of baggage. The men's kits were
weighed and they were ordered to take out what they
could best spare to reduce what their horses were to
carry to the proper limit. When we left, a great
pile of underclothing was abandoned on the prairie.

Major Dunn.

Lieut.-Col. G. T. Denison. Captain Denison.

Lieut. Menltt.

Quartermaster Charles Mair. Lieut. Fleming-. Surg^eon Baldwin.
OFFICERS OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S BODY GUARD, HUMBOLDT, iSS.s.

RETURN TO WINNIPEG 321
Lieutenant Merritt, the Adjutant, had bought an
Indian pony, and had been able to buy one of the Hud
son's Bay carts in use in that country. He called it the
"North-West Lightning Express and Transport Com
pany " and carried down some surplus baggage for some
ofthe officers. Dr. Baldwin had managed to capture a
wild duck and had it in a coop made of a biscuit box.
He was to pay two dollars for the conveyance of the
bird as his share of the expense of buying the cart and
harness. They brought the duck down about half way
and Baldwin objected to the way in which it was being
treated, and was able then to get one of the teamsters to
find room for it for the rest of the way. Merritt is some
what of a wag, and he delighted in teasing Baldwin.
Baldwin offered one dollar, but refused any more. Mer
ritt did not care a straw about it except for mischief, so
on the train coming to Toronto when we had not much
to do, Baldwin agreed that the whole matter should be
left to the arbitration of Major Dunn and myself, and we
amused ourselves all one forenoon on the train having a
mock trial. We had counsel and witnesses, and argued
and discussed the matter in every way.
When the discussion was finished, Dunn and I con
sulted privately, and I said: "Now we must decide
this so that neither side gets any advantage," and our
decision was that Baldwin was to pay Merritt one dollar
only for the services, but that the arbitrators fees, which
we fixed at two dollars, were to be paid in equal shares
by the litigants, the result being that Baldwin had to
pay two dollars, which was all Merritt wanted, and
Merritt got nothing, which was quite satisfactory to

322 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Baldwin, while Dunn and I gave the two dollars to the
servant who looked after the car for the officers, which
was satisfactory to him, so that everyone was satisfied
and all the officers got an object lesson on the folly of
going to law.
If General Middleton had allowed us the use of some
of the empty teams that went down by hundreds, that
famous trial would never have taken place.
We left Humboldt on July 9th, on a dull morning.
The column consisted of the Body Guard and the
provisional battalion, made up from the 12th York
Rangers and the 35th Simcoe Foresters, under the com
mand of Lieut-Colonel W. E. O'Brien. These two corps
marched so well that I dubbed them my "foot cavalry."
We left Humboldt at 8 a.m. on July 9th, and arrived
at Fort Qu'Appelle at 11 a.m. on the 13th; a distance
of about one hundred and forty miles, in four days and
three hours. I was astonished day after day to see how
those men marched. Of course it was in lovely weather,
over excellent roads. There was no enemy to fear,
and they were allowed to march in the easiest way.
At Qu'Appelle the people of the little village knew
we were coming and had got a permit from the Lieut-
Governor, to get in a couple of casks of beer, and with
that and some bread and cheese, they entertained the
force with warm-hearted hospitality. We had not had
any bread or cheese for many weeks, and of course, no
beer, and there were speeches of welcome to which we
had to reply. We all highly appreciated the kindness
shown to us.
Lieut-Colonel Dunn and I went down to our camp as

RETURN TO WINNIPEG 823
soon as we could get away, in order to send the few
men in charge of the camp to the village to get their
share of the refreshments. Major B  , the trumpeter,
came with us. While at Humboldt we used to let our
horses pasture on the prairie around us, and after a few
days they learned the call for " feed," and would trot in
to the picket lines when the trumpet sounded. We
always brought them in in that way. At Qu'Appelle
during the day, the horses had been given one feed of
oats on the picket lines and had been turned out to
pasture. There were only two or three men in camp, so
I thought I would try the call for " feed " on the horses
and see if they would come in to the new quarters. The
call was sounded, and the horses, who were scattered for
a mile away, turned towards camp and trotted in to
their places on the lines where they were fastened one
after the other and fed with oats. It was a remarkable
instance of the intelligence of these animals.
We left Troy by the railway on July 14th. We
arrived at Winnipeg in two trains. I went on with the
infantry in the first train, as the General had ordered me
to bring my whole command down together, and the
Body Guard followed in a few hours in the other train.
When the Body Guard arrived at 8.30 p.m., on the
15th, it was raining heavily, and I left the men and
horses on the train waiting for the rain to cease. In
the morning it was still pouring, and the railway
authorities sent me orders to unload the men and
horses. I waited, and a second order came.
I remembered an anecdote my father had told me in
my childhood. He was then a young man about thirty.

324 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
was one of the aldermen for St Patrick's ward in
Toronto, and, as such, took his turn as magistrate in the
Police Court. An English regular regiment was sta
tioned in Toronto at the time. The colonel of this
regiment, an old veteran of the French war, was rather
easy with his men, and very much liked by them.
The men were a wild lot, and they were continually
irritating the citizens in small ways. Complaints came
in to the magistrates, and it was decided that some one
should be deputed to interview the colonel and en
deavour to get his assistance in putting down the
annoyance. My father was deputed to see the colonel.
He went, and explained matters to him. The colonel
expressed his regret, assumed a tone of great anger
towards his men, put on his forage cap and said to my
father, " Come with me." He took him into the men's
quarters, told them that a magistrate had complained
about them, scolded and swore at them furiously, said
he would chain them up like dogs, etc., and would not
let my father go till he had taken him around all the
barrack rooms and given them all a most violent going
over. My father said he would never be caught that way
again. He saw by the expression on the men's faces
that they understood the colonel thoroughly, and that
the whole performance was a trick of the colonel to
stop complaints, and he got away as quickly as he
could, often afterwards telling the story as a good joke
on himself
I went down to the superintendent, and asked him if
he would just come up and see what we had better do.

RETURN TO WINNIPEG 325
With a little difficulty I got him into the train, where
the men were comfortably settled in the colonist cars,
and pointing to the men, who were warm and dry, I
turned to the windows and pointed to the flat mud
outside, swimming in water, with the rain pouring in
torrents, and asked him if he would turn the men out to
pitch tents in the slush. He looked at the men, and at
the mud, and then at me, and laughed and said, " Is
that what you brought me here for ? Well, stay where
you are," and he went out as quickly as he could,
followed by the applause of the men. We received
orders at 3 p.m. to go on by train for home.
Winnipeg was an interesting place that night of July
I5tli. Several thousand men arrived during the day,
and there was quite a reception given them by the city,
several arches being erected and the place decorated.
The troops were all sun-burned and ragged, with the
exception of the Montreal Garrison Artillery, which
arrived after the difficulty was over, and never left the
railway, but had comfortable quarters at the barracks in
Regina. When I arrived at the station in Winnipeg,
one of the first men I saw was the late Lieut.-Colonel
Oswald of that regiment, in full uniform, with gold lace
and gold belts, sabretache, etc., and a pair of spotless,
white kid gloves. I was in my stable jacket and forage
cap, with my clothes worn and patched, and showing
signs of four months' roughing-it I could not help
chaffing Oswald on his splendour, for he reminded me
of the certain lord who came to ask Hotspur for his
prisoners at Holmedon, as Shakespeare describes him
in Henry IV.

326 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
In 1884 I was in Montreal and was invited to lunch
at the St James Club by the late Lieut-Colonel
Walker, M.P., for London, Ont, and Lieut-Colonel of
the 7th Battalion. The party consisted besides of
Lieut-Colonel Oswald, Lieut-Colonel Worsley and Mr.
(now Sir) John Bourinot, Clerk of the Commons. Os
wald at once commenced chaffing the two infantry men.
Walker and Worsley. He kept at it continually, dis
cussing the importance and value and precedence of
garrison artillery over infantry. I did not interfere or
say a word, and still the chaffing went on. At last
Oswald appealed to me to back him up on the
superiority of the artillery. I thought he had been
rubbing them pretty hard, so I replied with an air of
careless indifference, " Well, Oswald, when a man occu
pies the exalted position I do, as a Colonel of Cavalry,
and from that height looks down upon the other corps
far beneath, it is like being on a mountain, you cannot
distinguish the difference between the relative heights
of the little hills below." We all had a laugh over it,
and did not argue any further on that point. The
esprit de corps, which leads men to consider their own
service, their own brigade, their own regiment, the best
of all, is universal among soldiers.
The vacant lots in Winnipeg were covered with
water, and the infantry regiments were sent to camp
on them, but the tents and baggage were piled up and
the men got into vacant buildings and in the doorways
of the shops. The taverns were left open by order
of the mayor all night, and the police were told not
to interfere with the men. I never saw such a scene

RETURN TO WINNIPEG 327
as Winnipeg displayed that night The streets were
crowded with men of various regiments, all mingled
together in the highest good humour, a great many
good-naturedly drunk and singing and shouting. One
man got up on one of the arches, and amused a large
crowd in a comic speech which he addressed to them on
the campaign, etc.
One group of men, well-filled with liquor, were pass
ing a vacant lot in which they saw a young calf. One
man suggested that he did not believe any one had
thought of asking the calf to have a drink. It was
decided that it was a shame to leave the calf out when
everyone in sight was " full," so they led the calf down
to Clougher's restaurant, bought a John Collins for it,
put it in a bowl, gave it to the calf, and then took the
calf again to the field. On the way back they met a
policeman standing at the corner of the street, and they
went to him and offered him a drink. He refused, they
consulted together, then raised him on their shoulders
and carried him also to Clougher's, got a drink for him,
held it to his lips to let him drink it, for they had heard
the police were not to interfere with them. He got his
drink, and they then carried him back to his beat and
left him there. I did not hear of any mischief or
injury being done, only harmless fun.
A private in the 65th, a French Canadian regiment,
was walking down a rather quiet street about midnight,
with as much liquor as he could carry, when from the
opposite direction a private of an Ontario battalion
approached, also carrying all he could. They were both
tacking from side to side of the plank sidewalk. The

328 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Ontario man saw that there might be a collision so
he halted and with a polite air said, " Might I have
one plank?" The swaggering little French Canadian
stepped aside to let him pass, and said, with an air of
drunken gravity, " Yes sare, you may have von plank,
but remembaire, I belong to de Sixty-five," and he
straightened himself up, threw back his shoulders, and
walked on with as much dignity as a drunken man
could put on.
We left Troy station on July 14th, the men and
officers in colonist sleeping cars ; we left Winnipeg on
the i6th, and we arrived in Toronto on the morning of
July 23rd, being nine days on the train. On the
evening of the 22nd I received several telegrams from
Mr. Barlow Cumberland, Chairman of the Reception
Committee of the citizens, and from the Mayor, expres
sing the wish of the citizens to give us a reception and
desiring me to keep my men together for a few hours in
order to make a public entry into the city, with our
comrades of the Queen's Own and the Grenadiers, who
were to arrive shortly after us. I was averse to doing
this and tried to get out of it, and only acceded to the
request when I heard that a very large sum had been
expended in decorating the city, and that one or two
arches had been erected specially in honour of our corps.
I told my officers of what was going on, and I re
member saying, "We will have a great reception
to-morrow and get to our homes. The next morning
everybody will be at work falsifying history." It turned
out as I predicted. I was very glad I had agreed to
march through the city, for it was a very curious and

RETURN TO WINNIPEG 320
interesting study. I was in command of the force, and
rode at the head of the column, and had an excellent
opportunity of watching and studying the people. We
marched through the streets for about four miles, and
there must have been from 100,000 to 125,000 out to
see us. What struck me most was the extraordinary
enthusiasm of the people. We had only done our dut}',
we had been successful in what we were sent out to do,
but some checks had been sustained and the enemy was
weak in numbers, resources and everything. The hard
ships and distances marched and privations had been
great, but if we had been returning from a second
Waterloo, concluding a long and anxious war, we could
not have been received with greater warmth.
I repeatedly saw both men and women cheering
wildly, with the tears running down their cheeks with
excitement It was a most interesting study.

CHAPTER XXVI
General Middleton
His rewards — None for others — Sis recommendations — Injustice
of them — Sir Adolphe Caron' s comments — Merritt recom
mended — General Middleton's memo — My explanation —
General Middleton's second memo — I withdraw my letter —
Presentation of medals — Meet General Middleton in
London.
When the affair was all over General Middleton
received the cross of Knight Commander of St. Michael
and St. George, promotion to the rank of Major-General,
and the Canadian Parliament voted him $20,000, as a
reward for his services. Some thought that a few other
officers would receive promotions, but no recognition
whatever was given to any, with the exception of the
war medal, which every officer and man received.
Two or three years passed by and no promotions
were made, no reward of any kind was given to the offi
cers who had served in the campaign. It was a matter of
little moment to me. I had served in the Fenian Raid
of 1866, and had received my Lieut-Colonelcy at that
time, as I was about entitled to it irrespective of the
services in the raid. Nineteen years had passed, and I
had become so well up among the Lieut-Colonels, as to
be senior to all with whom I was likely to come in con
tact in case of being on service again. I was, therefore,

GENERAL MIDDLETON 331
somewhat indifferent so long as no one was gazetted
over my head, and as General Middleton had written,
thanking me warmly for my services, and as I had heard
he had expressed to one of his staff officers the highest
satisfaction with the manner in which I had performed
my duty, I never dreamt that he would do me an in
justice, and attempt to put other men over me.
On May nth, 1885, while he was camped in front
of Batoche, he wrote me : " Many thanks for your letter
and despatches, and for all the good work you are doing,
and for the assistance you are giving me." On May
15th he writes again, "Thanks for your letter and tele
grams, and for all the trouble you are taking for me.
You will have heard of our crowning success in getting
Riel." And months after the affair was over he referred
to having every reason to be satisfied with the manner
in which I had commanded my corps, and with the
assistance I had given him in forwarding his correspon
dence. At last General Middleton got into trouble over the
taking of the furs, and the matter was investigated by a
Committee of Parliament, with the result that he was
obliged to retire from the command of the militia and
return to England. He wrote a farewell address to the
people of Canada, and in it he stated that he had recom
mended a number of Lieut.-Colonels to be given the
Brevet rank of full Colonel. Some of these had entered
the force after I had risen to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel,
all of them were my juniors ; many were recommended
for C. M. G.'s, but my name was omitted. I did not
care about the C. M. G.'s. Those who had been in

332 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
action were very welcome to them ; but, I think, it
would have been a great injustice to me to have passed
a number of juniors over my head, some of whom had
made grave mistakes.
Then we learned for the first time why no promotions
or rewards were given. When General Middleton's
address was published at the time of his departure. Sir
Adolphe Caron, Minister of Militia, was interviewed, and
his opinion asked in reference to the address. The
interview appeared in the Toronto " Empire " of
August 29th, 1890. In it Sir Adolphe is reported to
have said, speaking of the rewards recommended : " It
is not within the province of any minister or ministry
to take the initiative in suggesting honours for Her
Majesty's subjects. All such suggestions must emanate
from the Queen herself Now, if we had been notified
that a certain number of C. M. G.'s would be bestowed
upon officers who served in the rebellion, it would be
our duty to select for such honours, those whose ser
vices entitled them to receive them, but even in that
case we could not have followed General Middleton's
list, in that he omitted from it several officers, like
Colonel George Denison, and others, who would thus
have had officers many years their juniors promoted
over their heads. No, his list was faulty, and could not
have been followed in any event"
This let the light in upon the whole affair and let me
know how unfairly General Middleton had endeavoured
to treat me. I was sorry that my comrades did not
receive any rewards, but I could not help feeling that
Sir Adolphe Caron had done but simple justice in

GENERAL MIDDLETON 333
stopping what would have been a great wrong to me.
I have never been able to find out why General Middle-
ton treated me in this way. I had done him good and
loyal service, obeyed his orders zealously and never
given him the slighest trouble. I have sometimes
thought that it had become a tradition of the Depart
ment to hit me on the head whenever I came in sight.
This may be fancy or over sensitiveness, but I have
noticed a great many things to lead me to believe, that
it has been a persistent policy, and it all dates from the
publication of my " History of Cavalry " ; before that I
was, sometimes, fairly and politely treated.
I would have resigned at once, twenty years ago, but
that I have been in the militia force all my life, with
only one object, viz., to be ready to defend my country
in case of need. I was ready to give my time and spend
my money freely, and I wanted nothing. There was no
office in the militia, in the permanent staff, that I would
have looked at Since 1879 I have been in comfortable
financial circumstances, quite independent of any such
consideration. I would have refused every position
from Major-General commanding, downwards. It
would take a great deal more than a position, such as
General commanding, to induce me to leave my native
city, my comfortable home, with its spacious grounds
and the old trees under which I played as a child, to go
and live in Ottawa. Holding these views, wanting
nothing, interfering with no one, I sometimes thought
they might have treated me civilly and fairly.
In December, 1885, long after the General's recom
mendations had been put in, I was asked by Lieutenant

334 WLDIERING IN CANADA
Merritt, my adjutant, to recommend him for promotion
to the rank of captain. I did not know of any reason
why I should not make the recommendation, and bring
to the notice of the Major-General, the good service
Merritt had done. I consequently wrote the following
letter : — Toronto, December 28th, 1885.
Sir, — I have the honour to recommend Lieutenant William Hamil
ton Merritt to be granted the rank of Captain in the Militia in
recognition of his services in the North-West Rebellion.
In consequence of the absence of Lieut.-Colonel Fred C. Denison,
on seryice in the Soudan, Captain and Adjutant Clarence Denison
was assigned to command " A " troop ofthe Governor General's
Body Guard, and Lieutenant Merritt vs^as requested by me to act as
adjutant. He was acting adjutant during the whole campaign, and
performed his duties in the most energetic and efficient manner.
For over two months I was in command of a brigade, and, as acting
adjutant of my corps. Lieutenant Merritt did the duties of Brigade
Major as well.
Shortly after the Battle of Batoche, I sent Lieutenant Merritt, in
command ofa detachment ofthe Body Guard, to pursue and capture
the Sioux Chief, White Cap and a portion of his band. This duty
was performed by Mr. Merritt in a most creditable manner, his
energy and persistence in the pursuit being equalled by the tact
with which he secured their surrender without loss of life. For all
these reasons, I strongly recommend his promotion.
I have the honour to be, sir.
Your obedient servant,
George T. Denison,
Lieut.-Colonel Commanding G. G. B. G.
To the Adjutant General of Militia.
It will be seen that I used the word brigade to indi
cate the force I commanded, viz., the York and Simcoe
Battalion, and my own corps. At times I had also in

GENERAL MIDDLETON 335
addition, under my command, the Permanent Cavalry
Corps, the Winnipeg Cavalry, and at one time for two
days the 92nd Battalion. In issuing all the necessary
orders, Lieutenant Merritt performed the duties usually
done by a Brigade-Major. I may mention that this was
a common use of the term " brigade " in our force, indi
cating two or more corps brigaded under one com
mander. I was surprised a few days after to find my
letter returned with the following remark on the margin
in General Middleton's handwriting. January ist., 1886.
In the first place, it is not within the province of a subordinate
officer to recommend another officer for promotion. In the next
place, what brigade did Lieut.-Colonel Denison command ? I know
of none, (Sgd.) Fred Middleton, Major General.
As this asked a direct question, and was sent to me I
concluded he wanted my explanation. I sent the fol
lowing letter ; — Toronto, January 7th, 1886.
Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your memo
enclosing remarks of the Major-General Commanding the Militia
on my recommendation of Lieutenant Merritt for promotion. I see
the Major-General censures me for recommending Mr. Merritt
for promotion, and says he is not aware of my commanding a
brigade. In reference to this I wish respectfully to call the Major-General's
attention to the fact, that it will be twenty-nine years on the 15th
insL, since I was first placed in command of my corps, and that
ever since then I have made recommendations for promotion of my
officers, without ever being found fault with. Since I came down
from the North-West I recommended the promotion of Lieutenant

336 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Fleming and Assistant Surgeon Baldwin, and both were promoted
without any fault being found with me for recommending them.
However, now that I know the views of the Major-General, I shall
not offend again, I shall make no more recommendations.
The Major-General's remark about my commanding a brigade,
intimates that my statement was not true. The Major-General
will remember that for about two months I was in command of the
Governor-General's Body Guard and the York and Simcoe Battalion,
and that his orders to these corps passed through me. On being
ordered by him to take the force to Winnipeg, I asked if we should
go independently, but I was ordered to take the whole force down
together. I may have been technically wrong in calling a force
consisting of a regiment of infantry and a squadron of cavalry, a
brigade, but it has always been customary with us in this country, to
speak of such a mixed force as a, brigade, nor do I know now any
other technical name that I could have correctly applied to such a
force as I commanded. I certainly had no intention of deceiving
the Major-General or of stating what was not true.
I may perhaps have been too zealous in looking after the interests
of my subordinate officers, who had served me well and faithfully,
but I did it from the best motives. As for myself, I have neither
asked nor looked for any favour for a great many years.
On January i6th, 1886, the Deputy Adjutant-General,
came to my house and read me a memorandum, which
was as follows : — D. A. G. 2nd Dist. January 12th, 1886.
Be good enough to read the accompanying remarks to Lieut.-
Colonel G. T. Denison, and return the whole correspondence to me
after calling upon him to withdraw this letter,
D. A. G. No 2.
Remarks : —
The letter of Lieut.-Colonel G. T. Denison, commanding the
Governor-General's Body Guard in answer to my memo of the 4th
inst., is, in my opinion, a most improper one, and had it been
addressed to me by an officer of the regular force I should have

GENERAL MIDDLETON 337
placed him under arrest. As it is, I point out for Lieut.-Colonel
Denison's information what I consider so improper in his communi
cation, which I hope he will withdraw.
I did not censure Lieut-Colonel Denison for recommending Lieu
tenant Merritt for promotion, unless the pointing out ofa mistake to
a subordinate officer by a superior, is to be considered as a censure.
As regards promotion of Lieutenant Fleming and Assistant Surgeon
Baldwin, I know nothing, having been away from headquarters
when the recommendation came in, but in the case of Lieutenant
Merritt, whose services I have no doubt were excellent, Lieut.-
Colonel Denison steps in, and putting himself in my place specifies a
certain reward for one of his officers in recognition of his services in
the North-West Rebellion. I would here ask Lieut.-Colonel Deni
son if I were to recommend Lieutenant Merritt for promotion on
account of his services in command of a troop of cavalry belonging
to a squadron guarding my communications, and a depot where not
a shot was fired in anger, or an enemy within fifty or sixty miles,
what reward should I give to those officers who were constantly in
presence of the enemy, under fire and wounded ?
It would have been quite within the province of Lieut.-Colonel
Denison to have brought forward Lieutenant Merritt's services, and
I should gladly forward them, but it is not for hira to name the re
ward. Lieut.-Colonel Denison goes on to state " The Major-
General's remarks about my commanding a brigade intimate that
my statement was not true." This is a most extraordinary state
ment for hira to make. I am not in the habit of accusing my
officers of telling untruths. My intention in making the remark I
did was to show Lieut.-Colonel Denison that he was mistaken in his
idea of what a brigade was. A brigade of infantry or a brigade of
artillery are well understood in the Imperial service to be certain
bodies of infantry or certain bodies of artillery, and in the drill-book
it is laid down that a brigade of infantry consists generally of three
regiments of infantry. Certainly Lieut-Colonel Denison was techni
cally wrong in calling a battalion of infantry and a squadron of
cavalry a brigade. In the Royal warrant for pay, page 58, it is laid
down that a regimental officer in the case of active operations to
command a separate column of mixed troops, not less than five
hundred strong, may be granted a special rate of pay of 5s. a day
in addition to the regimental pay. Now Lieut-Colonel Denison's

338 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
command did not, I think amount to five hundred men, nor could he
be said to be appointed in case of active operations. In any case it
was quite unnecessary to state that he had no intention of deceiving
me or of stating what was not true, as I never dreamed or hinted at
such a thing. I am the more sorry that I should feel it necessary to
write as above, as though like other corps, the Governor General's
Body Guard was not fortunate enough to be actually in the front
line during the campaign, still, it had arduous and disagreeable
duties to perform, which it did well, and I had every reason to be
satisfied with the manner in which Lieut.-Colonel Denison com
manded it, and with the assistance he gave me in forwarding my
correspondence. (Sgd.) Fred Middleton, Major-General.
Having read me the above remarks, the D. A. G.
handed me a formal letter calling upon me to withdraw
my letter. I sat down at my library table at once and
wrote the following reply :
Sir, — In reply to your letter of the isth inst., in reference to the
Major-General's remarks on my communication of January 7th, 1886,
respecting the promotion of Lieutenant Merritt, I have the honour
to state that having heard you read to me the Major-General's
remarks in which he states that he had no intention of censuring
me, or of intimating that I had stated" what was not true, I have
great pleasure in withdrawing my letter of the 7th inst.
I have, etc.
This ended the controversy, but it seemed to me as if
the General tried very hard to pick a quarrel with me.
However, I accepted his apology and withdrew my
letter, and gentle peace once more waved her wings
over the scene.
In the spring of 1886, shortly after this little inter
change of compliments, some of the officers of the
Royal Grenadiers, I believe, suggested that the medals

GENERAL MIDDLETON 339
that were being given to us should be presented on
May J 2th, the anniversary of Batoche, by Lady Mid
dleton. I was notified to turn out my corps with the
others on that day, to have our medals presented. It
was, of course, an optional parade, so I was not obliged
to turn out I therefore declined, because I thought
that Mrs. Robinson, the wife of the Lieutenant-Gov
ernor of the Province, was the proper person to do it,
and I wished to have it done on the Queen's Birthday,
as it would be a public holiday and would not interfere
with the men's business.
On May 12th the infantry turned out for Lady Mid
dleton to present the medals. They were rather late in
parading, and there were a large number to receive
them. Lady Middleton pinned a few on the officers
and the first that came up, and then she had to get the
assistance of some lady friends, and a great many were
just handed out to the men in the cases as they were
received. A day or two after this was over I called at Govern
ment House to see Mrs. Robinson, whom I had known
all my life, and I asked her if she would kindly present
the medals to my officers and men. She seemed very
pleased, and said, " You dear, good fellow, of course I
will. I did not think you would forget me," and then
she said : " Do you know that the other corps never even
asked John (her husband) to be present He was sorry
not to have seen them get their medals."
On May 24th, 1886, therefore, in the Queen's Park,
Mrs. John Beverley. Robinson presented the medals
to my men. The Lieutenant-Governor made them a

340 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
complimentary speech, and expressed his regret that he
had not been able to see the medals presented to our
infantry comrades. Mrs. Robinson, with that charming
tact for which during her life she was noted all over
Ontario, pinned the medal on each man's breast herself,
and did so with a kindly word for every one. Many of
the men she knew, or their families, and for all she had
a special remark, which each one cherished. One
officer was so pleased with the remark she made to
him, that he went straight to the telegraph office and
telegraphed it to his wife. It was Charles Mair, to
whom she said, " It gives me the greatest pleasure to
pin this medal on the breast of our own Canadian poet
the author of Tecumseh."
I was not thrown into contact with General Middle-
ton during his subsequent stay in Canada. I saw him
again in 1897, not many months before his death, at
luncheon at Lady Wolseley's. He seemed well and in
good spirits, but very indignant at the way in which
every one was paying attention to the visitors from the
outer Empire, particularly at the great deference shown
to the Indian dignitaries, who, when he was in India, he
said, had to pay deference to him. I made the remark
that it was the Colonial year, and that we were having
our turn, that next year it would be somebody else.
A gentleman present remarked, " I should think it was
the Colonial year : I was at the British Empire League
ball the other night, and I was cut by Lady Victoria
 in favour of a Trinidad nigger." General Mid
dleton then told about his being at some entertainment
where some third rate Indian dignitary was present.

GENERAL MIDDLETON 341
who wanted to get rid of his outer coat or cloak.
When a lady said to him, " Sir Frederick, won't you
take his Highness' coat ? " " Certainly not, Madame,"
said General Middieton, and he seemed very indignant
that anyone should have made such a suggestion to
him.

CHAPTER XXVII
The Jubilee of 1887
Medals presented at Newmarket — Princess Louise' visit to Toronto
— Precautions — Fenian designs thwarted — Prince George
— Lord Carnarvon — Interview with him — Prince George's
second visit — J go to England — Visit Lord Wolseley at
Haslemere — He takes me to Jubilee review — Gathering of
royalties — Introduced to Duke of Cambridge — His soldierly
manner.
In 1886 military matters were very quiet after the
excitement of the active operations of the year before.
The Body Guard put in their annual drill during the
last few days of June. On July ist I went with the
Lieutenant-Governor to Newmarket, where he presented
the medals to the 12th Battalion, who had been for
most of the time under my command during the opera
tions in the North-West Rebellion.
In 1887 I went to England to see the Jubilee cele
bration, and to have three months' holiday. Before
giving one or two incidents connected with my visit to
the old country on that occasion, I will go back to
mention a matter which happened in 1883. On
September 12th, of that year, the Marquis of Lome,
whose term as Governor-General had nearly expired,
and her Royal Highness the Princess Louise, arrived in
Toronto in the morning for the purpose of visiting the

THE JUBILEE OF 1887 343
exhibition, and of receiving the farewell addresses from
the city. As a member of the Police Commissioners,
with the Mayor and the County Judge, I was personally
uneasy as to the danger of some Fenian outrage upon
the Princess, or Prince George of Wales (the Duke of
York), who was with tl^e party. Not long before we
had been obliged to send twenty-five of our police to
Ottawa as a guard against apprehended danger.
I therefore made careful arrangements with the Chief
of Police, and instructed him to have a large number of
policemen in plain clothes in the crowd. We placed
the guard of honour, so as to guard one side of the
passage from the train to the carriage, and a strong
force of police on the other, who were directed not to
face the Princess or Prince George, but to face the
crowd, as if asking them to keep back. On the far side
of the carriage a number of policemen in plain clothes
were stationed.
The party arrived and went to the Queen's hotel,
where we had also taken precautions. As soon as they
had gone in Colonel Sir Francis de Winton at once
sent for Major Draper, the Chief of Police, and told him
that the Government had received positive information
from their secret service in the States (I afterwards
thought from the well-known Le Caron) that three
Fenians had been sent from New York for the purpose
of assassinating the Princess Louise. The Chief of
Police, Major Draper, told Sir Francis de Winton the
precautions I had taken and he said it was fortunate,
and he told the Chief to let me know what they had
heard and to use every possible care. The Princess

344 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Louise did not know of the danger, nor, I believe, did
Prince George, so we had to take our precautions so as
not to attract attention.
I picked out a number of the most active and power
ful of the aldermen and directors of the exhibition
association, all of whom wore. badges, and told them we
were anxious and that every man must be on the alert,
and that no stranger without a badge was to be allowed
in the group of officials following the Governor-Gen
eral's party. We had a large force of detectives and
policemen in plain clothes scattered among the enor
mous crowds through whom we had to pass, and as we
passed, these men backed out and went on ahead to
take up fresh positions. We had four policemen in
front to clear the way, but the Princess did not like to
see them there and asked to have them taken away.
She was unconscious of any danger. We formed our
group around the party in the shape of a horse shoe. I
took the front place on one end and Major Draper on
the other and behind us came in file the picked alder
men and directors, and behind the party a large group
of officials, all warned to keep strangers out, and they
were all on the alert.
We thought the Princess would like to see the
pictures, so we had the picture gallery entirely cleared
and policemen at the door. When we reached there the
party came in with all the officials, and I told Major
Draper to take charge of the door and allow no one
else in. After we had been there a little while, and
Colonel de Winton and I were taking our breath after
the anxious strain we had been under, Major Draper

THE JUBILEE OF 1887 345
came to me and said that Colonel Gzowski was at the
door wishing to get in. I went to the door and let
Colonel Gzowski in. He said to me, " Denison, the
Earl and Countess of Carnarvon are here." I said to
the Chief, " Let them in, too," and I walked back to
Colonel de Winton to talk over our further movements.
It will be remembered that I had been unsuccessful
in my efforts seven years before to obtain an interview
with Lord Carnarvon, and that I had been much
worried and annoyed about it. Colonel Gzowski came
over to me and said he wanted to introduce me to Lord
Carnarvon, and he brought him over and introduced
him to me. I bowed to him stiffly, when he said he
knew Archdeacon Denison, and he was glad to meet
me, or something to that effect I said, " My Lord, if
you desired to make my acquaintance you had an
opportunity seven years ago, and you did not avail
yourself of it." He said he did not know what I
referred to. I told him I had taken a letter of intro
duction from Lord Dufferin to him in 1876, and that I
had left it with his secretary, with a request for an
interview, and that I had not received a reply. Lord
Carnarvon seemed very sorry to hear that I had been
treated in that way, and assured me he was not to
blame, and that he regretted very much it had occurred.
We had a short chat, and I met him again, two or three
days after, at dinner at Sir Casimir Gzowski's, where we
had further conversation. I am sure he personally
would never willingly have had any one treated other
wise than with kindness and courtesy.
When we left the picture gallery the same arrange-

346 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
ments were carried out for the protection of the Prince
and Princess, and to our great relief we got them safely
back to the hotel. The newspapers next day com
mented harshly on the officiousness of the directors and
aldermen who clustered around the royal party as if
there was no one in the world who wished to see them
but themselves, and regret was expressed that the self
ishness of these men had prevented the people from
having a good view of the visitors.
We had been afraid of a pistol shot or a knife thrust,
and were watching for that, but about eight months
after we heard positively from Fenian sources in New
York, that three men had come to Toronto, that they
had no intention of shooting the Princess, but that they
were prepared to throw vitriol in her face. The men
reported, when they went back, that they were unable
to get near the Princess because there was such a large
crowd of officials who kept about her. I noticed that
Prince George, then a lad of eighteen, never left the
Princess' side for one instant I fancy Colonel de
Winton had instructed him to that effect, so that we
could guard both at the same time. We were very
thankful that our precautions had been successful.
On September 24th, 1883, I received the following
letter from Capt Durrant :
Citadel, Quebec, September 21st, 1883.
Dear Colonel Denison,— I hope to arrive with Prince George
at Toronto at about 11.20 by train on Tuesday next. Will you
kindly meet me as I wish to take Prince George over by steamer at
once to Niagara (Clifton House), where I propose remaining two
days, then one day at Niagara town, and back by steamer
to Toronto. We shall have Carpenter travelling with us, but I '

THE JUBILEE OF 1887 347
would ask you to have another reliable man who could be at
Niagara, and give me information of anything that was likely to be
mischievious. Yours very truly, F. Durrant.
I told the Mayor of it, and we went down together
and met His Royal Highness and Captain Durrant and
spent the few hours they had in the city with them,
and saw them off for the Falls, sending Detective John
Cuddy, of our force, with thein.
I went to England in the end of May, 1887, for the
Jubilee. I was fortunate enough to meet the Duke of
Connaught at dinner at Lord Salisbury's. After dinner
His Royal Highness came over and spoke to me, and
asked me if I had a seat in the Abbey for the celebra
tion. I said I had not, and never expected to get one.
He said of course I ought to have one. Whether he
took any action or not I cannot say, but I do know
that I received two tickets a couple of days after, and
my wife and I saw the brilliant scene from capital seats
over the west door.
In June, 1887, I went down for a couple of days with
Lord Wolseley to Haslemere Manor, where he was then
living in a charming old house built about the year
1550, with very pretty grounds about it The weather
was perfect, and riding about the country I found the
scenery some of the prettiest in England. Lord Wolse
ley asked me if I would like to see the Jubilee review
in honour of the visiting royalties, which was to take
place at Aldershot in a week or so, and offered to
provide me with a horse for the purpose. I said I
should like very much to see it We came back to

348 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
London and nothing more was said about it. I did not
hear anything further for some days, and should not
have been at all surprised if Lord Wolseley, in the
great rush of business which devolved upon him at that
particular time, had forgotten all about it A day or
two before the review, however, I received a letter
giving me full instructions as to the hour and the
station, platform, etc., where I was to meet him on the
morning of the day. I never supposed for a moment
that I should be able to do more than ride about with
the ordinary public outside of the lines, and went down
in plain clothes, as I would have gone to ride in the
park. As soon as the train arrived at Farnborough station.
Lord Wolseley hurried me out, called for my horse,
which a trooper of the Royal Horse Artillery led up at
once, and told me to keep with the group of the staff,
not to get separated, but to ride up the lines and down
with them, and not to get too far away from him. He
told the Royal Artillery trooper that he was to act as
my orderly, to ride with the other six orderlies who
were in attendance on the Royal party, till the field day
was over, and then he was to show me the way to the
Headquarters mess of the Artillery, where I was to
lunch. Then Lord Wolseley left me, to go and help the
Duke of Cambridge to look after the Kings and Crown
Princes, etc. In a few minutes they were all mounted
and ready to start off for Aldershot. I understood
there were four Kings, seven Crown Princes, and about
ten or fifteen other royalties, and about an equal number
of officials and staff. The brother of the King of Siam

THE JUBILEE OF 1887 349
was there, with a couple of foreign office officials in
plain clothes with him, and I fell in with them and rode
up and down the lines during the inspection, and kept
with the party all day, for there were some very ex
tended manoeuvres after the review, the regular force
making an attack upon a position held by a number of
militia battalions.
Once, as we were galloping from one point to another,
I happened to come near Prince George, the Duke of
York. He looked over at me, then looked again,
earnestly, as we were galloping along, and waved his
hand at me in a very friendly way, saying, " How are you,
how are you ? " I took off my hat to him in return and
was much surprised that he should have remembered
me after four or five years had elapsed.
I had been feeling all the time as if I were somewhat
of an intruder in such a distinguished gathering, and,
naturally, kept as much out of the way as possible, on
the outskirts of the group. Towards the end of the day
we were all standing upon a hill, commanding a splen
did view of the turning movement of one or two
brigades of infantry in the valley below. I noticed
Lord Wolseley coming through the group looking about,
at last he saw me at the edge of it, and beckoned and
called to me. I rode over, and he said, " Come with me,
the Duke wishes to see you." I had to go to where the
Duke of Cambridge was sitting on his horse, with the
Prince of Wales, and other Royal personages around
them. When I came up, Lord Wolseley introduced me
to him. I took off my hat and bowed to him. He
spurred his horse towards me, put out his hand and

350 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
shook hands with me, and said, " How do you do
Colonel Denison ? You are a very keen cavalry soldier,
and I have read your books. I know all about you.
What do you think of our cavalry ? " I said, " I think
they are the finest in Europe, sir ; certainly the finest I
have seen." " Which regiment do you like best," said
he. I replied, " Where they are all so good it is difficult
to draw comparisons, but if there is any difference, I
think the 5th Lancers the smartest regiment I have
seen here to-day." " I think you are right," he said, " It
is a very smart regiment."
I had noticed that the Horse Artillery had only four
guns to the battery. I knew they formerly had six. I
mentioned this to the Duke. He said : " I do not
wonder you noticed it, the Government have cut them
down from motives of economy." " But, sir," said I, " I
thought we were short of guns in proportion to the
other arms, as compared with other armies." "Of
course we are," said he. I went on to say I could not
understand it, that infantry might be improvised in a
short time, cavalry took much longer, artillery longer
still, and Horse Artillery the longest of all, and it
seemed incomprehensible to me that the economy
should strike in the very worst place. This pleased the
Duke, and feeling that he had a sympathetic listener he
went on for some time to tell me what difficulties he
had, until he suddenly remembered the Kings around
him, and he said : " I am glad to have met you Colonel
Denison. I must just speak to the King of Denmark,"
and he shook hands with me and said : " Good-bye,"
and I rode back.

THE JUBILEE OF 1887 351
The Duke of Cambridge has a very gruff, blunt way
of speaking, and glared at me almost when I came up,
as if he were trying to look right through me, and then
spoke to me very sternly, but it was only a mannerism.
I thought him a straightforward, kind-hearted man, and
I do not wonder that he is a great favourite with the
army. Telling this anecdote when I came home to a
friend of mine his remark was, "that was a strong hand
the Duke had when you came up — four kings and a
knave. It is a very hard hand to beat."
I lunched with the Royal Artillery mess, and met
some most interesting officers, and afterwards went down
to the station, where the party were all gathered to go
back to London in a special train. Lord Wolseley
came to me and told me to wait for a minute, that if
the Duke of Cambridge went up to London in the
Prince of Wales carriage, he would take me with him in
the headquarters saloon carriage. This was carried out,
and I met the senior officers of the staff. The whole
day was an interesting experience. What has puzzled
me ever since, has been why Lord Wolseley, with so
much on his hands, should have taken the trouble to
bother with me as he did. It shows what a loyal, true-
hearted friend he is.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Jubilee of 1897
Newspaper report — Jubilee contingent — Visit to England —
Lord Methuen — Lord Roberts — British Empire League —
German-Belgian treaties denounced — Retired by time limit
— Appointed Hon. Lieut.-Colonel Governor General's Body
Guard — Age limit — Comments.
In 1889 two troops were added to my corps, making
it a regiment, and each year since our annual drill has
been performed in the most quiet and unobtrusive
manner possible, and for several years nothing occurred
of any interest
In the spring of 1897, one morning at breakfast my
wife read out of the paper, an item telegraphed from
Montreal, stating, positively, that I had been chosen to
command the Canadian contingent to the Jubilee cele
bration in England, and she asked me if it was true.
My eldest son was present and also asked me. I said,
" No, it is not true." They remarked that it was stated
very confidently. I then said, " You can be absolutely
certain of two things : 1st That under no possible cir
cumstances would the Department at Ottawa choose
me, and, 2nd, that if such a thing could happen I would
not accept it, but," I added, " this is to be kept secret, as
it would look foolish for a man to refuse what will never
be offered to him."

THE JUBILEE OF 1897 353
I had been empowered to go to England by the
Imperial Federation League in 1890, and again in 1894,
to agitate for the abrogation of the German-Belgian
treaties, I was sure there would be another deputa
tion sent that year to urge the same thing, and as
Chairman of that deputation I would desire to be quite
free of all Governmental control, and to have all my
time at my own disposal for helping on that work. I
considered this much more important than marching
through the streets in a show parade, for which I had
always had an aversion. All these thoughts, however, I
kept to myself
A large number of additional officers were sent over
by the Government, but no suggestion was ever made to
include me — although I was senior to any of them — and
I am sure that had I desired to go I should certainly
not have been permitted. I went therefore on my own
account, and I think I was able to do a little work in
the direction of getting rid of the treaties I have spoken
of, and to my great gratification the notice to denounce
them was given before I left England. I saw a great
deal of all the Colonial Premiers, and discussed matters
with one or two of the Imperial Cabinet Ministers.
I have mentioned being in England, in 1894, on
Imperial Federation business. A deputation from the
Canadian League were endeavouring to resuscitate the
old League, or start a new one. I was dining at Lord
Salisbury's one evening, when General Lord Methuen
and Field Marshal Lord Roberts were both present I
had met Lord Methuen many years before, and he
introduced me to Lord Roberts, who received me very
23

354 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
kindly ; he said he had both my books, and had read
them with much interest, and said he would like to
have a long chat with me. We arranged to breakfast
together at the Senior United Service Club a couple of
days after, and Colonel Nicholson, Lord Roberts' staff
officer joined us. After breakfast. Lord Roberts went
with me at my request to the conference of July 20th,
1894, at Sir John Lubbock's, for which he had received
an invitation, and there the British JEmpire League was
founded. When I saw Sir John Lubbock (now Lord
Avebury) in 1897, almost the first thing he mentioned
to me was the excellent service Lord Roberts had
rendered towards the cause of the League.
Lord Roberts was appointed to the command of the
whole of the contingents for the Jubilee. I arrived in
London a couple of days after the Canadian contingent,
and naturally went up to Chelsea barracks to see my
comrades. I met Lieut-Colonel Evans, who commanded
the Canadian cavalry of the contingent, and he told me
that Lord Roberts had come down to inspect all the
force, and when he came to the Canadian cavalry he
asked : " Is Colonel Denison here ? " Colonel Evans
said : " No, sir." " Is he not coming ? " said Lord
Roberts. " I think not" said Colonel Evans. " I had
hoped to have seen him," replied Lord Roberts. Hear
ing this I called on his Lordship and saw him two or
three times during my visit I was pleased to think he
had not forgotten me. We discussed at some length
the question of the precarious food supply of the
Mother Country in case of war.
In 1897, a general order provided that all Lieut-

THE JUBILEE OF 1897 355
Colonels over five years in command, should be retired
on the same day of the month, in the year of 1898, as
that on which they had been appointed. So, on June
14th, 1898, I was placed on the reserve list of officers,
having sent in my resignation shortly before my time
was up. An order was issued in 1898 that the officers
of regiments could suggest Hon. Lieut-Colonels for their
regiments. A number were appointed. When I was
retired, my brother officers unanimously recommended
me as Hon. Lieut-Colonel of the Body Guard. This
was pigeon holed, as usual, for about six months. I
heard a rumour that there was a scheme on foot to pre
vent my getting the appointment, but whether that be
so or not I was, on February ist, 1899, gazetted Hon.
Lieut-Colonel of my old corps in which I had served
for over forty-three years.
On November 9th, 1899, I received a notification from
the Major-General commanding, that, having attained
the age limit I would be placed on the retired list, this
has been done, and so the military side of my life ends.
In looking back over the forty-five years which have
elapsed since I first entered the Canadian Militia, I do
so with great satisfaction. I was fortunate enough to
be the senior cavalry officer in the only two campaigns
in which, during that period, Canada required the ser
vices of her sons, and was able to do my duty so as to
satisfy those under whom I served. I have made great
sacrifices of time, energy and money in this work, but
have done so willingly, as a duty I owed to my country,
and to the memory of my people who had made still
greater sacrifices in the past for the same idea of

356 SOLDIERING IN CANADA
Imperial unity. If at times I have not received en
couragement, civility or fairness from those placed over
me, it has been a matter of no moment, for I was able
to get along without such encouragement and have been
able to continue to give my best services to Canada.
I also look back with pleasant recollections to the
loyal, hearty and friendly support I have invariably
received from the officers and men who have served
under me. It has been a great pleasure to have been
surrounded by men of patriotism and loyalty — men will
ing to make sacrifices for their sovereign and their coun
try, and to serve in a force where there could be no
reward, no recompense except the consciousness of a
duty cheerfully undertaken. The circumstances ana
conditions naturally drew to the ranks of the volunteers
the manly, unselfish men, inspired by the highest public
spirit and, during my long service, I have made many
friends in all ranks, whose friendship and good will I
value most highly.
As to the force generally we have every reason to feel
pleased at the progress it has made during the last fifty
years. It is a great step from the secluded drillings of
my corps in 1849, to the scene in this city in 1899, when
the first Colonial Contingent to leave Canada to fight in
an Imperial quarrel, marched through streets profusely
decorated with flags and bunting, and crowded with
scores of thousands of cheering citizens. These men
were on their way to South Africa to fight side by side
with the regular troops for our common Empire. The
dream of our United Empire Loyalist fathers is being
realized for a representation from our Canadian Army

THE JUBILEE OF 1897 357
has taken its place in the ranks of the defenders of the
Imperial cause.
We have every reason to hope that this war will con
solidate and cement the British possessions into a firm
and united Empire, and that, on its conclusion our mili
tary forces will be larger, better organized, more fully
equipped, and more efficiently officered than ever
before ; that it will be a force which will be able to hold
its own with the troops from any part of the Empire.
This I trust will be followed by a complete federation
of all the colonies with the Mother Country with equal
rights, equal status, and an equal proportionate voice in
governing a great and powerful Empire. Then the
word " Colonist " will be obsolete, and English, Irish,
Scotch, Canadians, Australians, etc., will be all Britons
on a equal footing. Then the desire of the United
Empire Loyalists of 1776 will be fulfilled, and the
British Empire will be a consolidated and compact
power, great enough to preserve peace, and strong
enough to guard its interests in the most remote corners
of the world.

INDEX

Acland, Sir Thomas Dyke, i66.
Akers, Captain, R.E,, disobeys orders,
I02 ; Effect of, io8,
Alexander II., The Emperor. Presen
ted to, 219, 222, 223, 226; Accepts
dedication ot "History of Cavalry,"
241.
Alg-oma, Election in, 188,
Alps, Passage of, 278, 279.
American Revolution, i, 3 ; Captain
Lippincott's service in, 15,
Archibald, Lieut.-Gov., 177, 178.
Avebury, Lord (Sir John Lubbock), 354.
Baker, Colonel Valentine, 161, 162,
Baldwin, Dr. J, B., 302 ; His character,
303; Anecodotes of, 308, 309, 312;
His arbitration with Merritt, 321.
Barron, Judge, 308 ; Incident in his
tent, 309,
Batoche, 284 ; Battle at, 285, 288 ; Ac
count of battle, 292, et seq.
Beale, Captain, executed, 59.
Baxter, Alderman, no.
Beauregard, General Georg^e, 66, 67.
Beauvoir, visit to, 70.
Bedson, Lieut.-Col., 295.
Big Bear, Indian Chief, 302, 314, 320.
Bismarck, 74, 223.
Black Creek District, map of, 130, 131.
Body Guard, The Governor-General's,
organized, 22, 29 ; Title given, 85,
86; At Niagara Frontier, 93 ; Rapid
march, 97, 98, 114, 116, ; Sham
fight, 18s, ; N. W. Rebellion,. 262
et seq.
Booker, Lieut,-Col., 100, 102.
Boronzoflf, General, 208,
Bosworth, Thom.is, publishes " Mod
em Cavalry," 154, 155, 156.
Bower, Lieut.-Col., 166,
Boyd, Captain, clever escape of, 81, 82,

Breckenridge, General, J. C, 58, 84.
British Empire League, 354.
Brix, Colonel, Translates *' History of
Cavalry," 248, 249, 252,
Brock, Major-General Sir Isaac, 7, 8 ;
Prorogues House, 14 j Captures
Detroit, 15 ; Killed, 15, 16, 18.
Brown-Dorion Government, 41.
Brown, Hon. George, 42, 176, 179, 188.
Bryson, Captain, 106,
Buena Vista, Battle of, 70.
Butler, General Sir W. F., 128, 129, 130,
Button Family, The, 33.
Button, Lieut.-Col. Wm., 33.
Cambridge, H.R.H., The Duke of, 116,
134; At Aldershot, 349, 350, 351.
Cameron, Lieut.-Col. J. Hillyard, 93.
Cameron, Mrs. J. Hillyard, Si.
Cameron, Trooper, amusing incident,
43, 44'
Campbell, Sir Alex., 319.
Campbell, Lieut.-Col., 246, 247, 248.
*' Canada First," Organization, 174.
CanniiF, Dr., 4.
Carnarvon, The Earl of, 196, 199, 200,
237. 345.
Cci^olinef The steamer, 26, 27.
Caron, Sir Adolphe, 256, ^2^-
Cartier, Sir George, 172, 173, 175, 177,
178, 179, 186.
Chalons, Visit to, 157, 158.
Chamberlain's office. Lord, 237.
Chateauguay, Battle of, 9.
Chippewa, a6, 90, 91 ; Creek, 92.
Chrysler's farm, Battle of, 9, 17,
Church parade list, 267, 268.
Clark, Mr., 206, 231.
Clark, Captain Charles, 40.
Cleary, W. W., 60, 6x, 62.
Coates, Sophia, 24.
Coates, Wm. J., 24.

360

SOLDIERING IN CANADA

Cobb, Howell, Hon., 70,
Connaught, H.R.H., The Duke ot, 347.
Crimean War, 11, 30, 33, 47.
Cumberland, F. Barlow, 328.
Cumberland, Lieut.-Col. F, W., 242.
Cut Knife Creek, Fight at, 288, 315.
Czarovitch, The, 220 ; Orders trans
lation of '* Modern Cavalry," 221,

Dagmar, The Princess,* 220,
Davis, The Hon. Jefferson, 58 ; His
opinion of Lieutenant Davis, 65 ;
Released and arrives at Toronto,
68, 69 ; Speech at Niagara, 70 ; Visit
him at Beauvoir, 70, 71, 81.
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson, 72, 73, 74.
Davis, Lieutenant S. B., 60, 61, 62, 64,
6s-
De La Hooke, Dr., 124.
Denison, Lieut.-Col. Clarence, 265, 290,
Denison, Lieutenant Edwin P., 120, 124,
I2S.
Denison, Captain Egerton, 257 ; Turned
off the OceaniKhigf 258; Joins
Voyageurs, 258 ; Death, 2.^9.
Denison, Esther Borden, Tablet in
Memory of Brock, 16.
Denison, Lieut.-Col. Fred. C, 88, 93, 95 ;
At Thorold, 120; Goes to England,
15s, 158, 168 ; A.D.C. to Lord Wol
seley, 175, 179, 180 ; At Sham Fight,
181, 183, 185 ; Attends to Law Office,
193, 198 ; Commands Voyageurs,
255- ^S^* 257. 258; At Kirbekan,
259 ; Lord Wolseley's tribute, 259,
260,
Denison, Lieut.-Col. George T., of Belle
vue, serves in War ot 1812, 13, 16,
17, 20, 21 ; Serves in Rebellion, 23,
24 ; Leaves Cavalry, 29,
Denison, Colonel George T., of Rus
holme, serves in RebeUion, 24, 25,
27 ; in Active Force, 38, 53, 57 ; Fen
ian Raid, 97.
Denison, Henry T., 202, 211, 236.
Denison, Lieut-Col, Richard, 26, 29,

Denison, Lieut.-Col. Robert B., 17, 35 ;
Raises Garrison Artillery, 36, 37 ;
Commands at Clifton, 92 ; Niagara
Camp, iSi, 184, 185 ; Sends oider
from General Luard, 252, 253, 254 ;
Memorandum from General Middle-
ton, 335 ; As D,A.G. reads me.
General Middleton's remarks, 336,
337. 338.
Denison, Major Septimus, 255, 257.
Denison, Thomas, 25.
Dennis, Lieut. -Col. J. Stoughton, 33, 35;
Character, 89 ; Fenian Raid, 90,
loi ; Defeated at Fort Erie, loi,
102 ; Failure at Fort Garry, 103,
286.
Dewson, Major, 13, 25.
Derby, The Earl of, 196, 199.
Detroit, Capture of, 8, 1$, 18.
Dillon, Viscount, 78,
Dixon, B. Homer, 195,
Djounkovski, General, 207.
Donaldson, LIeut.-Col. John A., 36.
Donelly, Dr., Fenian Surgeon, 106, 107,
Doty, Jack, 144.
" Double ShufHe," The, 41, 42.
Draper, Major, 343, 344.
Drew, Captain, 27.
Drummond, Lieut.-Gen., 17.
Duck Lake, Fight at, 264.
Duncombe, Dr., 26.
Dunn, Lieut.-Col. Orlando, 38, 42;
Fenian Raid, 125 ; North-West, 306 ;
Acts as Arbitrator, 321, 322.
Durie, Lieut.-Col., 88, 89.
Durrant, Captain, 347.
Dyde, Colonel, A.D.C, 186, 187, 188.
Early, General Jubal A., 58, 59, 65;
His Advance on Washington, 66 ;
Extreme Views, 66, 67; At Church,
69; Opinion of Joseph E, Johnston,
72. 75-
Elgin, The Earl of, 31, 32, 33.
Empress of Russia, 219; Presented to,
220, 221, 223 ; Raises Patriotic Fund,
229 ; Sends thanks, 230.

INDEX

361

"Esprit de Corps,'' Instances of, 267,
326.
Evans, Lieut.-Col., 354.
False Alarm prevented, 121, 122.
Farrier-Sergeant, 305.
Faverot de Kirbreck, Baron, 251.
Fenian Raid, 1S66— 11, 52. 83 ; Want of
Preparation, 84, 85; Warn Author
ities, 86, 87 ; Fenians cross, 88 ; No
Maps, 90; Troops sent, 90, 91, 93,
94, 95 ; Rapid March of Body
Guard, 97 ; Queen's Own and 13th
Batt. defeated, 100, loi ; Fight in
Fort Erie, loi, 102; Body Guard
occupies Fort Erie, 104, 105, 106 ;
Account of Raid published, 108,
109; Capture of Fugitive Fenians,
iiz, 113, 114; False Alarm, 115;
Fenian picnic, 121,
Fenian designs against H.R.H. the
Princess Louise, 343, 344, 345.
Fenian at Moville, 168.
Fish Creek, Battle of, 282, 284.
Fisher, Lieutenant Edwin, 29.
Fitzgibbon, Colonel, 17, 24.
Fleming, Lieutenant Frank, 283, 309.
Fort Erie, Raid at, 86, 87, 88, 106, 107,
108 ; Description of, 127,
Fort Q'Appelle, 282, 322.
Foster, Cornet Edward, 35.
Foster, W. A., 177.
Gaines Mill, Battle of, 79.
Gaines, General, 74.
Gallows Hill, Skirmish at, 10, 24.
Gendarmes, Interview with, 157, 15S,
German-Belgian Treaties, 353.
Gillmor, Lieut.-Col., 89, 182,
"Globe," The Toronto, 49, 50.
Gordon, General John B., 76.
Gorloff, General, 190, 191, 201, 203, 204,
207, 212, 241,
Gortchakoff, Prince, 216, 223, 224,
Grasett, Lieut.-Col., 295, 299,
Guides, The Royal, 85, 86.
Gzowski, Colonel Sir Casimir, 345.

Haliburton, Robert Grant, 177*
Havelock, Sir Henry, 140, 141 ; Anec
dotes, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145,
147; His eccentric character, 148,
149 ; Tel el Kebir, 149 ; Incident in
Hyde Park, 150, 151, 152; Anecdote
of, 164,
Head, Sir Edmund W., 35, 39, 40, 41,
43. 44. 48.
Head, Sir Francis Bond, 10, zz^ 26,
Helm, Major, 67, 69.
Herbert, Sir Robert, 197, 201.
Heyden, Count, 201, 203, 204, 207, 229,
230, 241.
Holnstein, Count, 249, 250.
Hoodoo Trail, 290,
Hooker, Major-General 64, 65.
Hoste, Lieut.-Col., 109, m, 119.
Hotchkiss, Major, 75.
Houghton, Lieut.-Col., 295, 297, 298.
Humboldt, 283, 288, 311, 312, 322.
Huntingdon, Adventure in, 144, 145, 146,
Hussars, The 13th, 133, 134.
Huysshe, Captain, History, 174.
Imperial Federation League, 353.
Irish Republic, 84.

Jack boots, Value ot, 116,
Jackfish Bay, 272, 276, 277,
Jackson, Lieut.-Col., z8i, 282, 305, 307.
Jackson, General Stonewall, 66, 75, 78.
James, Sergeant, 95, 112, 113.
Jenyns, Colonel, 133, 139, 140, 161, 171,
Johnston, General Albert S., 72.
Johnston, General Joseph E., 66, 71, 72.
Kaministiquia River, 177,
Kempson, Dr., 106, 109,
King, Captain, 100.
Kirkpatrick, John C, 99, 132.
Knight, Captain, 281.
Lansdowne, The Marquis of, 255, 256,
282.
Law Business, Destruction of, 138, 13^,

362

SOLDIERING IN CANADA

Lee, General Robert E., 65, 66, 74;
Letter from him, 75 ; His appear
ance, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80 ; Projected
Visit to Toronto, 81.
Lee, General Fitzhugh, 75.
Leontieff, General A., 207, 228,
Lincoln, Abraham, 64.
Lindsay, Major-Geiieral, 57.
Lippincott, Esther Borden, 15,
Lippincott, Captain Richard, 15.
Liquor forbidden in the North-West,
304. 305-
Lisgar, Lord, 177, 179.
Loftus, Lord Augustus, 196, 199, 217.
Lome, The Marquis of, 342.
Louise, H.R.H. The Princess, 211, 342,
343. 346.
Lowry, Colonel R, W., 115, 171.
Luard, General, 246, 247, 248, 252, 253,
254, 261,
Lundy's Lane, Battle of, 9, 21.
McClellan, General G. B., 79.
McCutcheon, Lieutenant Peter, 35.
Macdonald, Sir John A., 41, 86, 87, 107.
Macdonell, Lieut..Col., D.A.G., 32.
Macdonell, Colonel George, 9, 17; Cap
tures Ogdensburg, 18.
MacDougall, Lieut.-Governor, 103.
MacDougall, Colonel, P.L., 52, 53 ;
Warned ot Raid, 86, 87, 89, 126, 173.
Maps, Want of, 90, 99,
McGregor, Sergeant Patrick, 306, 307.
McKenzie, Hon. Alex., 188, i8g, 196,
197, 240.
McLeod, Lieut.-Col. Norman, 33, 35.
McMahon, Father, captured, 107.
MacMillan & Co., publish " History ot
Cavalry," 239, 242.
MacNab, Sir Allan, 27.
Macpherson, Sir David, 261, 263.
Magpie River, 270.
Magruder, General, 78, 79.
Mair, Charles, 103, 174, 262, 263; Writes
" Tecumseh," 264 ; Acts as Quarter
Master, 266, 304, 308, 309, 312; Re
ceives Medal, 340.

Manchester, The Duke of, 166, 167.
Mason, Hon. J. M., 52, 67, 69.
Mechanicsville, Battle of, 78, 79,
Melgund, Lord, 258 ; Arrives at Hum
boldt, 286; Goes to Ottawa, 287,
288, 293.
Merritt, Lieutenant W. Hamilton, 275 ;
Captures White Cap, 309, 310, 311 ;
Arbitration, 321 ; Recommended,
336.
Methuen, Lord, 353,
Michel, Field Marshal Sir John, 67;
Anecdotes of, 134, 135, 136, 141,
Michigan^ U.S, steamer, 100, 105.
Middleton, Major-General, 261, 284, 285
287, 288, 289, 290 ; Hesitates at,
Batoche, 293 ; Combined movement,
295, 296, 301 ; Orders White Cap's
Release, 318 ; Refuses Teams, 320,
322 ; His Rewards, 330 ; Recom
mendations, 331, 332 ; Memo., 335 ;
Reply to him, 336; His 2nd Memo.
and Remarks, 337, 338 ; Meet him
in London, 340. 341.
Miloutin, General, Minister of War, 207.
" Modern Cavalry," 153. 154; Bosworth
publishes it, 155, 156; Translated,
'59. 165. 166.
Monthly Meetings, 44.
Monck, Lord, 187.
Moore, Lieut-Col., 184.
Montrose Bridge, 132,
Moorhouse, Sergeant-Major, 39,
Morgan, Henry J., 177.
Morrison, Colonel, 17,
Mourmelon, 158, 160.
Moville, Incident at, 168.
Napier, Major-General, 90, 91, 92, 97,
126 ; Recommendation, 171,
National Club, Dinner at, 242,
Navy Island, Siege of, 10, 26, 27.
Niagara Falls, 27.
Nicholas, The Grand Duke, 189, 207 ;
Interview with, 208, 209, 210, 227,
Nicholas I., The Emperor, 205, 231 ;
Anecdotes of, 231, 232, 233, 334.

INDEX

863

Nicholson, Colonel, 354,
North-West Rebellion, 1885, 11, 31, 261.
Northumberland, The Duke of, 155-
O'Brien, Lieut.-Col. W. E., 290, 314,
315. 316, 317, 322.
Ogdensburg, Capture of, 9, 18.
O'Hara, James, 259.
Old Fort, Toronto, 24,
Orton, Dr., 293.
Oswald, Lieut.-Col., 335, 326.
Otter, Lieut. Col,, 287, 315.
Paget, Lord George, 161, 163.
Pavilion Hotel, 26.
Peacocke, Colonel George, 57 ; Sent to
Niagara Frontier, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95 ;
Halts at Bown's Farm, g6, 97, 98 ;
No proper map, 99 ; His plans up
set by Dennis and Ahers, 102, 103 ;
Incidents, 104, log, 108, 109, 140.
Pendleton, General, 80.
Pennisular War, 8, 18,
Plattsburg, Battle of, 18.
Porter, Count Heyden's, 203, 212, 213.
Poundmaker, 302, 314 ; Tried, 319 ;
Pardoned, 319, 320,
Powell, Colonel Walker, 244, 245.
Prescott, Fight at, 10,
Presentation of Medals, 339,' 340.
Prevost, Sir George, 7, 8, 17, 18.
Prince, Colonel, 28,
Prince of Wales' Visit, 48, 49.
Proctor, General, 18,
Q'Appelle, 282, 322, 323.
Queen's Light Dragoons, 29.
Queen's Own, The, 88, 89, 90, 101, 265.
Queenston Heights, Battle of, 8, 9, 15,
73.
Railway Carriage incident, 251.
Reception at Toronto of N, W. Force,
328, 329,
Reconnoissance of Niagara Frontier,
140,
Red River Expedition, 11, 174.

Review at Toronto, 1863, 57.
Ridgeway, Battle of, 100,
Riel, 103, 177, 178, 320,
Roberts, Field-Marshal Lord, 353, 354.
Robertson-Ross, Colonel, 181.
Robinson, Major-General C. W., 36.
Robinson, Hon. J, B., 188.
Robinson, Mrs. J, B., 339, 340,
Rottenburg, Baron de, 36, 37, 40.
Royal Grenadiers, 265, 296 299,
Royal Military College, 188.
Russian Lady, interview with, 211, 212.
Sackett's Harbour, attack on, 18.
Saddlery, 53, 54.
Salaberry, Colonel de, 9, 17.
Salisbury, The Marquis of, 200, 217 ;
Presents me at Court, 237.
Sandwich, Village of, 15,
Shenchine, Captain, 205, 220, 221, 222.
Schlosser, Fort, 26, 27.
Scholfield, Trooper, 288.
Schultz, Sir John, 103, 177.
Scoble, Lieut.-Col., 175.
Scotland, ViUage of, 10, 26,
Scott, Thomas, shot, 103.
Scott, General Winfield, Anecdotes of,
72, 73. 74.
Sewell, Colonel, 187.
Sham Fight at Niagara, 182, 183, 184,
i8s.
Shenandoah Valley, 66, 68,
Sherman, General W. T., 67.
Shortiss, Thomas, 36,
Simcoe, Governor, 3, 4.
Skinner, Lieut.-Col., 183, 184.
Slidell, Hon. Mr., 52, 67.
Smith, Sergeant Charles, 38, 39.
Smith, Professor Goldwin, 195.
Smith, Lieut.-Col. Harry, 300, 301.
Smyth, Major-General Sir ScIby, 196,
197 ; His letter, 198, 199, 200 ; Re
fuses to order books, 240 ; His
Annual Report, 242, 243, 24*1, 246.
Somerville, Alex., His account of the
Fenian Raid, 117, 118.
South African War, 165, 166.
Soudan Expedition, 253, et seq.'

364

SOLDIERING IN CANADA

Stanhope, Hon. Philip, 218, 223.
Stansbury, Joseph, 154,
Stanton, U.S. Secretary of War, 64.
Stewart, General Herbert, 149.
Stisted, Major-General, 139, 140,
St. James* Palace, Levee at, 238,
Straubenzie, Lieut,-Col, Van, 294, 295,
296, 297, 301,
Tach^, Archbishop. 177, 178,
Tangate, Mrs,, 205, 206, 209, 210, 222,
230, 231.
Tecumseh, 15, 18 ; Mair writes dram.-i,
264,
Temperance, Views on, 128,
Tennyson, Lady, 3.
Thompson, Miss Elizabeth, 129, 130.
Thompson, Samuel, 48.
Thompson, Trooper, 126.
Thorold Camp, 119.
Todleben, General, 208.
Toronto Field Battery, 35,
Trent Affair, 11, 50, 52, 67,
Turnbull, Lieut. -Col., 281, 282, 283.
Tyrwhitt, Lieut.-Col. Richard, 282, 315.
U. E, Loyalists, i^ as, 3, 15, 16, 24, 356,
357.
United Service Club, 135.
Vance, James J., 194, 195.
Von Nagel, Colonel Baron, 249, 250.
Voyageurs, The Canadian, 255, 256.
Wahisca, 309, 317,
Walking, Bet on, 143,
Warsaw, 235,

Waterloo Campaign, 13, 25 ; Visit to
Waterloo, 160, 161.
WeUesley, Colonel The Hon, Fred.,
199, 217.
Wilkes, Commodore, 52,
Whiskey Parade, 306, 307,
White Cap, Chief, 309, 314, 317, 31S, 319,
WiUiams. Licut-Col, Arthur, M.P.,
248, 261, 276, 277 ; At Batoche,
293 ; Brings on Action, 295, 296,
297 ; Gallant Charge, 298, 299 ;
Wins Battle, 300 ; His Death, 300.
Williams, Sergeant Greorge, 95.
Winder, Captain, 69.
Windsor, Fight at 28.
Winnipeg, Camp at, 280, 323, 324, 323 ;
Scenes in, 325, 327, 328.
Winton, Sir Francis de, 343, 344, 346.
Wirtemburg, The Queen of, 206.
Wolseley, Field-Marshal Lord, 78, 107,
108; Commands at Thorold, 119;
Visits Fort Erie, 126 ; Anecdotes of,
130. 131. 132. 133. 140. 148 ; Letter
of recommendation from, 170, 171 ;
Commands Red River Expedition,
^74. "7S. '79. ^80, igo, 199 ; Coron
ation Medal, 252 ; Asks for Voya
gers, 256, 257, 259, 260; Visit hiin
at Haslemere, 347; Takes r e to
Aldershot Review, 348, -^40. 350, 351,
Xylander, General Emil Von, 159. 249.
York, H.R.H. The Duke of, 343. 344,
346, 349.
York, 20 ; Captured, 21.
York Volunteers, 13, 15, 16.

b

III

p. '
I 1 I
'/ ¦

if't "

¦'SiPf.'V;