On Common Ground. Richard D. Merritt
Note his silver earrings or ear bobs and the many trade silver brooches on his shirt. Library and Archives Canada, C-123832.
In 1809 Norton undertook an odyssey to the land of his Cherokee ancestors in the southern United States where he became acquainted with relatives of this father. He also recorded the legends and lore of the Cherokees as well as their modern adaptation to the incursions of the Europeans.
Back in the Grand Valley, Norton resumed the military leadership[50] of the Six Nations, a position he held throughout the War of 1812; after Tecumseh’s death in 1813 he also led His Majesty’s Western Native Allies. In addition to Detroit, Norton fought at every major battle but one in the Niagara Peninsula. His military acumen and leadership skills, particularly at Queenston Heights, received glowing praise from British Army generals, and yet the Indian Department, increasingly alarmed at his growing stature, continued their attempt to undermine his integrity and authority among the Natives. By early 1814, however, commander-in-chief Sir George Prevost proclaimed that therein Norton was to be the sole leader and dispenser of gifts among the Six Nations and Thames allies until the end of the war[51] — an unprecedented acknowledgement of Norton’s abilities and accomplishments and a total repudiation of William Claus and the Indian Department.
Shortly after the war, Norton with his wife and young son returned to Britain where he was welcomed as a hero — gazetted a brevet major in the British Army, granted a lifetime pension, and awarded personal gifts from the Prince Regent (future George IV) himself. While in Britain he completed his monumental journal dedicated to Northumberland, who was to arrange to have this important work published in Britain. Unfortunately the Duke died shortly thereafter and the manuscript sat on a library shelf nearly forgotten until after the Second World War when it was discovered and eventually published by the Champlain Society.[52] The journal consists of three sections. The first describes his trip to the land of his Cherokee ancestors in which he records details of Cherokee mythology, history, customs, social conditions, and even sports — the accuracy of which has been confirmed by later historians and ethnologists. The second section is devoted to the history of the original five Iroquois nations and contains much heretofore unknown information which had been collected by Brant but subsequently lost and hence is of enormous scholarly importance. The final section is Norton’s personal and amazingly accurate narrative recollection of the War of 1812. As such the journal is certainly the most important and by far the most detailed account of the War of 1812 from a Native perspective and is arguably the most comprehensive personal account of the war from the British side as well.
Back on the Grand River again, Norton managed a large farm, constantly extolling to his neighbours the rewards of good agricultural practices and the virtues of good “Christian living.” He was also indefatigable in promoting the war claims of his fellow Native war veterans and their families.
In 1823 he became involved in a duel over alleged infidelities by his wife. His protagonist was killed: rather than sully his wife’s reputation Norton pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was assessed a fine. Greatly shaken, Norton settled his affairs and headed south again, never to return to British North America which he had so strenuously helped to preserve. In 2011 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated Norton as a National Historic Person.
St.Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux
St.Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux was born in Quebec in 1758. As early as 1770 his father was trading with Natives at the mouth of the St. John’s Creek, later known as the Humber River on Lake Ontario. Soon Jean-Baptiste was carrying on this trade and serving as an Indian Department interpreter with the Mohawk and Mississauga tribes. By 1792 he had established a store on the Humber. The following year he welcomed the Simcoes, who arrived to explore and proclaim the site as the future capital of the province. As such, Rousseaux is considered one of the founders of the city of Toronto.[53] A restless but enterprising soul, he later moved to the Head of the Lake (present day Hamilton Harbour) establishing a general store and later an inn, blacksmith shop, and extensive grist and sawmills at Ancaster. Meanwhile, he continued as an interpreter and respected adviser on Native affairs, hence his appointment at Fort George. Prior to the War of 1812 he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the militia. Present at the Battle of Queenston Heights, one month later he contracted pleurisy, and despite the efforts of his friend and physician Doctor Kerr, he died at Fort George (possibly in the commodious house) and was buried with full military honours in St. Mark’s churchyard.[54]
Many visitors would have been welcomed to the commodious house. The Superintendant General, Sir John Johnson, who occasionally toured the Department’s sites, would have expected special attention. Commissioned officers of the Indian Department and veterans of the American Revolutionary War probably dropped in for a little refreshment and camaraderie in the common rooms.
The transfer of Springfield from the Russells to the Indian Department was not quite as smooth as originally planned. Apparently when the Russells departed for York, several army officers took up residence in the vacant premises and were quite incensed when forced to give up their commodious dwelling to officials of the Department.[55] This underscored the ongoing friction between the officers of the British Army, who were primarily from the privileged class in Britain, and the officers and men of the Department, who had spent their entire adult life in North America. Moreover, many of the latter had married into Native families and were much more sympathetic to the First Nations’ cultures and perspectives.
Departmental officials also had to deal with other intruders. Townsfolk who regarded the military reserve as their commons were helping themselves to the extensive gardens and orchards on the premises, hence they were told explicitly that “Towns people can have nothing to do with it (any) more than the King can interfere with their property without previous consent.”[56]
One gentleman who was welcome was the garrison’s commissariat officer. With no space for his offices in the new fort, he was permitted to use one of the outbuildings on the estate.
Although some of the buildings of the Indian Department were destroyed by the bombardment of Fort George in May 1813 and the subsequent occupation by the Americans, a post war map (1817) of the military reserve[57] indicates a building very near the site of the original commodious dwelling’s stable, so it may have survived the war, at least in part. It is labeled “Commandant Quarters,” which makes sense as it is halfway between the crumbling but still occupied Fort George and Navy Hall to the east and the new Butler’s Barracks complex being built to the west. The twenty-one-year lease had expired and the much diminished Indian Department no longer had any need for the building and was gradually transferring its properties back to the British Army.
In 1970 an extensive archaeological excavation of the site was undertaken.[58] It found evidence of a frame building on a stone foundation with cellars dating from the early nineteenth century. The foundations indicated that a number of additions were made to the structure. David McConnell in his exhaustive review of the known references to the Commandant’s Quarters[59] confirmed from military reports that indeed repairs and additions had been undertaken in 1817, 1819, and again in 1823. However, E.W. Durnford of the Royal Engineers concluded in his report of 1823 that “[t]his is a very old house to which additions have been made from time to time,”[60] which certainly suggests a much earlier origin.[61]
In 1823 the commandant moved to the more comfortable Commanding Engineer’s Quarters near the Niagara River while the more junior Commanding Engineer took up quarters periodically on the Commons. On occasion, the premises were also rented out. The first tenant in the 1830s was “Mr. Powell,”[62] who presumably was John Powell (1809–1881). John was the grandson of two influential personages: William Dummer Powell, the Chief Justice of the province, and Major General Aeneas Shaw, one time Queens Ranger and later Adjuvant General of the Provincial Staff in the War of 1812. John grew up in the home built by his father overlooking the military reserve. The property, later known as Brockamour (see chapter 21) was sold out of the family in 1836. This may have prompted John and his young family to temporarily rent the quarters on the military reserve. In late 1837, however, John was in Toronto where he became embroiled in the rebellion of 1837. He supposedly killed one of the rebels and sounded the alarm of a threatened rebel attack on the city. For his heroism he was elected Mayor of Toronto at age twenty-eight. John later returned to Niagara, became registrar of