Battle of Ridgeway
THE 13TH BATTALION Volunteer Militia (that was later known as the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry) had its first experience with combat at the Battle of Ridgeway near the town of Fort Erie on June 2, 1866. The recruits were shipped by cattle train, without food or water in searing heat, to take on the Civil War battlehardened American Irish, who were trying to wreak havoc with the British in North America to help the independence movement in Ireland. “It’s known that some (Canadian soldiers) drank water by scooping it out of roadside ditches, drinking out of their hats,” says RHLI information officer Captain Tim Fletcher. “The water likely would have been contaminated with farm run-off and other things ... there was also malaria in the area.”
Significance
NO 13TH BATTALION soldiers died on the battlefield; several were wounded and recovered. But four fell ill and died over the following weeks — with Private James Henry Morrison being the first to succumb. As part of Royal Hamilton Light Infantry 150th anniversary ceremonies in 2012, Morrison was honoured in a graveside ceremony at St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Burlington. He was acknowledged as being the first RHLI fatality, the first of an estimated 1,100 battle deaths to follow over the next one-and-a-half centuries in various military engagements.
Fenian Raids
THE FENIANS were a group of expatriate Irish who believed that invading Canada would force Britain to send troops to Upper Canada and make independence for the Irish easier back home. On June 1, 1866, a force of Fenians crossed the Niagara River and took control of Fort Erie. This led to the mobilization of the 13th Battalion in Hamilton, Toronto’s Queen’s Own Rifles, the 19th and 20th Battalions in Niagara, the militia companies in York and Caledonia, the Dunnville Naval Brigade and British regulars under Colonel George Peacock for an ensuing battle at nearby Ridgeway on June 2. The Fenians routed the inexperienced Canadians but within a short time returned to the U.S., fearing the arrival of British reinforcements.