Four Years on the Great Lakes, 1813-1816. Don Bamford
Dunlop, Dr. William “Tiger”: Physician, author, woodsman, soldier, politician, and raconteur, was fondly known as “The Warden of the Forests,” in his role with the Canada Company.26
Le Couteur, Lieutenant John: A member of the 104th Foot, he came to Canada on June 21, 1812, where he served the entire war years and took part personally in the Great March. He was born the same year as Wingfield, but took the army route rather than the naval one for his military career.
Livingston, Robert: Employed by the army, he was a tough and active courier for the Indian Department.
McDouall (also spelled MacDowell), Lieutenant Colonel Robert: A member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, he was commander at Fort Mackinac in 1814.
McLean, Lieutenant Hector, RN: He was in charge of the Drummond (transport) when captured by the Americans at the same time as Wing-field was taken on the Confiance.
Mulcaster, Captain Sir William Rowe, RN: He joined the Royal Navy in 1793, at the age of eight, and served with Yeo in other theatres, including the Battle of Cayenne, with the Portuguese in 1809. He came to Canada with Yeo, and was knighted for his bravery at the battle known as the Burlington Races.27 He was wounded in the attack on Oswego, and was sent to England to recuperate. He died in 1837.
Prevost, Sir George: Governor general and commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s forces in the Canadas, 1811–15. He was recalled to England in 1815.
Vincent, Brigadier General John: Commander of the British forces in the Niagara Frontier during 1813.
Worsley, Lieutenant Miller, RN: Master of the Nancy at Nottawasaga, who scuttled her rather than let her fall into American hands.28Yeo, Sir James Lucas, RN: Joined the navy in 1793 and was knighted for his success at the Battle of Cayenne, French Guiana, in 1809. He also received a knight’s commandery of St. Benito d’Avis from the prince regent of Portugal, being the only Protestant ever so honoured. He was made commander-in-chief of the British naval forces on the Great Lakes in 1813. He served there from May 5, 1813, until March 1815. He continued on active service in the Royal Navy until his death in 1818, at the age of thirty-six.
For the American side:
Armstrong, John: The American secretary of war, 1813–14.
Chauncey, Commodore Isaac, USN: Commander of naval forces on the Great Lakes throughout the war.
Clay, Henry: Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1811.
Dearborn, Major General Henry: Governor of Michigan Territory, commander of the Army of the Northwest from April to August, 1812.
Gregory, Lieutenant Francis, USN: Continued in the navy, reaching the rank of admiral in 1862. He died at age seventy-six.
Harrison, William Henry: Commander of the Army of the Northwest from September 1812.
Macdonough, Commodore Thomas: Led the United States naval forces at Lake Champlain.
Madison, James: President of the United States of America, 1809–17.
Perry, Captain Oliver Hazard:29 Was in command of naval forces on Lake Erie, 1813. He defeated the British at Put-in-Bay.
Sinclair, Captain Arthur: Commodore Chauncey’s flag captain in the battle known as the Burlington Races, September 13, 1813.
Wilkinson, Major General James: Led the Army of the North. He led the American forces from Sackets Harbor down the St. Lawrence River to attack Montreal in October 1813. He suffered defeat at Chrysler’s Farm.
Woolsey, Master Commandant Melancthon Taylor: Led American naval forces in several actions on Lake Ontario in 1813. He continued in command of the Lake forces at Sackets Harbor until 1824.
The Early Career of David Wingfield
David Wingfield entered the Royal Navy November 23, 1806, as second-class volunteer on board the Ruby (64)30 with captains John Draper, Robert Hall, and Robert Williams. A year later, he accompanied the Ruby expedition of 1807 to Copenhagen during the Napoleonic Wars, and was often in action with the Danish gun-boats in the Little Belt, an area within the sea around Denmark. After serving for a few weeks in the Downs in the Agincourt (64), under Captain William Kent, he removed as midshipman31 in March 1810, to the Fylla (20) under Captain Edward Rodney, on the Guernsey station. He was subsequently, in June 1811, present in an unsuccessful boat attack made on two French man-of-war brigs under covering fire from the Firm gun-brig; which vessel, after running aground, was burnt by her own crew to avoid her supplies being taken and used by the enemy. While attached next, from August 1811 until March 1813, to the Diadem (64) under Captain John Phillimore, Wingfield cruised in the North Sea, visited Lisbon, Portugal, and was actively employed in cooperation with the patriots of the north coast of Spain. On leaving the Diadem, he joined the Lake Service of Canada.
This history of Wingfield’s early service was gleaned from A Naval Biographical Dictionary, published in London in 1894 by John Murray. In addition, his service record, which can be seen in the manuscript room of the British Museum, summarizes his early service as: 1806–10 in the North and Baltic seas; 1810–11 off the French coast; 1811–13 off the north coast of Spain. The record notes that he “Passed, February 1813.” The reference “passed” most likely refers to his success with the written examination required to attain the rank of midshipman, which he carried at that time.
More information about Wingfield’s early life and family may be found in Part III: The Biography of David Wingfield.
Notes Regarding the Transcription of the Journal
David Wingfield wrote his story in 1828, twelve years after he left Canada, while, we presume, a resident in Gloucester. His manuscript is presented in a fair copperplate hand, not written by quill pen but probably a dip pen, a fairly recent invention, probably manufactured in nearby Birmingham, which had become the world capital of metal-pen nib production by the 1850s. The journal is generally quite legible. In the transcription, where something is illegible, the reader will find brackets around the number of words, which could not be deciphered, e.g. “(four illegible),” or we have substituted “(undecipherable)” when a word, or a portion of a word could not be discerned. In a few cases, we have entered, in square parentheses, what we believe Wingfield intended. The transcription was completed from a photocopy of the fragile original document, which has now been withdrawn from circulation at Library and Archives Canada for conservation reasons.
Don Bamford, commenting about the copying task, says, “My flat-bed scanner gave up in disgust early on. It was just not up to the task of reading the manuscript. My biological-optical scanner and cognitive-recognition equipment was nearly eighty-eight years old before I even touched the keyboard. However, as I worked on, I tried not to put anything into the manuscript or to take anything out of it. There were only two places (as I recall) where Wingfield had repeated himself, and they were obvious. In one instance one word had been repeated, in another case, a phrase had been repeated. I have deleted both.” From Don’s experience of writing longhand extensively, he knows what happens when one gets tired. At times, Wingfield’s handwriting had become quite small and harder to read.
Wingfield frequently used a squiggle followed by the letter c. The context suggests that he meant et cetera, thus, given the challenge for the modern day computer to reproduce Wingfield’s squiggle, we have substituted all references with “etc.” He also used the letter p followed by a word, such as week, diem, or cent meaning “per week,” “per diem,” and “percent.” This usage has been updated in the transcription. These idiosyncrasies added some difficulties to an otherwise easy transliteration. It should also be noted that Wingfield was not