Four Years on the Great Lakes, 1813-1816. Don Bamford
and harbour are often inter-changed, as are Surprise and Surprize, and Sackets and Sacketts, for example. There are other peculiarities as well. On one occasion, he uses the more contemporary spelling jail instead of his usual archaic gaol. It should further be noted that the spelling Sackets has been used in the rest of the manuscript, save for those instances whether other authors or artists are quoted and have used one of the several alternate spellings. In this presentation of Wing-field’s journal, intended for the general reader, the general spelling, with the exception of words mentioned in this section, has been updated and made consistent.
Page One from Wingfield’s sixty-eight page journal. The handwritten notes have become faded and discoloured, yet are still quite legible. The adventurous spirit and the national pride of the author can be felt in his descriptive phraseology.
The general sentence structure has been preserved and it is noted that writing style, grammar, punctuation, and spelling have evolved a considerable degree in the intervening 179 years. We have made some adjustments to the punctuation throughout the text to help the reader work through Wingfield’s long, complex and often convoluted sentence structure. While these peculiarities can add interest to the text, we have replaced the archaic “long s” — usually printed as fs — with the customary ss as used in contemporary spelling. It is interesting to note the ongoing discussion, especially in genealogical circles, about what to do with the transliteration of the handwritten symbol that looks like the letter f without its right-hand cross bar. The symbol does not seem to have a modern-day font equivalent in word processing software. As many of Wingfield’s sentences were, by today’s standards, very long, a change of topic, usually marked by a colon or semi-colon in the original, is in this version marked by a period with a new sentence following.
Readers of the original document would find inconsistencies with the spellings related to the Mackinac, as pronounced Mackinaw, usually in American quarters. The first name, given by the Native people, and taken over by the French was Missilimackinac. The fort was located at what is now St. Ignace, but was moved to what is now Mackinaw City. When the British arrived, they changed the name to Michilimackinac and moved the fort to the island. The name was too long, so the British or Americans changed the name to Mackinac, which is today the name one will find on most contemporary maps. But Mackinac is often pronounced Mackinaw, as noted — hence, the potential for confusion.
More bewilderment abounds: In the same part of Lake Huron, there is Mackinaw State Forest, Mackinaw City, Colonial Michilimackinac, and of course, the Straits of Mackinac. The common usage today is Mackinac, but in 1813, Michilimackinac was used most often. The spelling Michi-lamackinac has also been seen. Most historians write Mackinac in reference to historic times. Wingfield also spells Manitoulin as Manatoulin; (it is also seen spelled Manitoolin by Wingfield’s colleague, Owen.) Wing-field also spelled Nottawasaga as Nottawaysagua.
An 1872 oil painting of Fort Mackinac by Seth Eastman.
At times, Wingfield played fast and loose with the use of capital letters. In fact, at times it was difficult to determine whether he intended to use the upper case or lower form. Such was the custom of the time. Other handwritten documents of the era show the same overuse. In those many instances, common usage for today has been applied. If any mistakes have occurred in the transcription, it has been unintentional and the authors apologize. Other historians, amateur or professional, will be able to refer to the typescript knowing it is essentially identical to the manuscript as Wingfield wrote it. All of the authors’ notes are shown inside square brackets, not to be confused with Wingfield’s words, which are in the regular font.
The * found in the journal manuscript indicates the starting page number in the original hand-written document, which occupies sixty-eight foolscap pages. These, and the numerals for endnotes, along with the alterations as outlined above are the only additions that have been made to the journal. Finally, the names of ships have been italicized in all places to be consistent with contemporary practice. The journal has been divided quite arbitrarily into six sections based on the different locations and the times that Wingfield served in that placement.
While the sixty-eight-page journal has been our main source for this history, countless additional documents have been used to expand and expound upon the matters raised by Wingfield in his writings. We have done our best to document all sources and have written extensive additional notes to supplement the text. Every attempt has been made to be accurate and to acknowledge the multitude of sources for our research. While it is not any excuse that we claim only to be mere amateur historians, for those who would find fault, or, for any errors we have committed, we most humbly apologize for any offence we might have created. Any such errors brought to our attention or the publisher’s will be corrected for future editions.
PART ONE THE JOURNAL OF DAVID WINGFIELD
Four Years on the Lakes of Canada, in 1813, 1814, 1815 and 1816, By a Naval Officer Under the Command of the Sir James Lucas Yeo Kt, Commodore and Commander of H.M. Ships and Vessels of War Employed on the Lakes. Also Nine Months as Prisoner of War in the United States of America.
CHAPTER ONE JOINING THE LAKE SERVICE Arrival and Adventures on Lake Ontario
The Lake Service, from the smallness of the scale of the naval operations, created little or no public attention, during the stupendous scenes then acting throughout Europe, in which the military movements under the Duke of Wellington was the Polar Star that attracted all attention, and the navy had sunk into comparative insignificance. But now and then a gallant and daring action forces itself upon public admiration, sufficient to show that supineness was no part of the character of British seamen, but that the harvest had been reaped by the gallant heroes, whose repeated victories over our combined enemies, will be read with admiration in the pages of the history of England’s naval warriors — and the gleanings were too trifling in the public estimation to attract any particular notice from their countrymen, though if each engagement was well known it would be found equally deserving of applause with those upon a larger scale.
It is, therefore, no wonder that so little should be known of the Lake Service, or even of the true situation of the Lakes themselves with their importance in an American war. The number of years that have elapsed between the American Revolution and the last war had caused them to be viewed, both by England and America, [as] merely expansive sheets of water, and only useful as a communication and transit of merchandise between the diff erent settlements on their respective borders, as those settlements rose into some importance.
The American war had not been long commenced before a new light seemed to break upon our rulers, which set forth these lakes as necessary to be occupied by a superior naval force to what the enemy had upon them, our naval superiority being absolutely necessary to the keeping of the Upper, and a large portion of, if not the whole, of the Lower Provinces of Canada appended to the British Crown.
This necessity being made obvious, it was immediately acted upon and Sir James Lucas Yeo, with officers, and 500 able seamen was ordered upon the Service: the Americans had been unaccountably inferior in not taking naval occupation of these lakes, as from* [their more readily available] resources they might easily have done; and by so doing have put it out of the power of the British government to regain the advantage, not, at least, without a very great expenditure of blood, and treasure, as the sequel will surely prove.
The vague idea we had of the Service, and the force being commanded by so gallant an officer as Sir James Yeo, made us look back upon it as pregnant with danger; but headed by an officer of our Commodore’s known bravery, made