HISTORY OF FORT MALDEN OR FORT AMHERSTBURG BY FRANCIS CLEARY1 INTRODUCTORY A paper on the history of Fort Malden would hardly be complete without a short account of the place where it was originally built. Amherstburg has been called a town for more than a hundred years and is therefore nearly as old as the original fort. It is today and has been for many years a unique town in some respects, the situation is beautiful overlooking the entrance to the Detroit River and affording its inhabitants a daily panorama during the season of navigation on account of the immense numbers of freighters, passenger boats and vessels of every description passing its doors. The name of the town is decidedly English whilst in another respect it is characteristic of a town in the Province of Quebec. It has a considerable French population and the streets are narrow like those in lower Quebec. As showing the military spirit which must have prevailed when the town was laid out and testifying the loyalty of its inhabitants, the streets running parallel to the river are named Dalhousie, Ramsay, Bathhurst, Apsley, Seymour, King, George, Brock, Kempt and Wolfe, while those running from the river are Richmond, Murray, Gore, Sherbrooke and Simcoe. After the evacuation of Detroit in 1796 many of the British, civil and military, removed to Amherstburg. On April 7th, 1817, a Provincial Statute was passed, entitled "An Act to establish a Police in the Towns of York, Sandwich, and Amherstburg." On 16th March, 1831, another Act was passed "An act to establish a Market and to establish Wharfage Fees in the Town of Amherstburg." In 1850 it was described in part as follows, "There are six churches, one steam saw and two steam gristmills, carding and woolen factory, soap and candle factory, two asheries, two breweries, two tanneries and a foundry, has a Collector of Customs and Inspector of flour and pork, a market place and town hall. It contains 1,000 inhabitants, has a weekly newspaper and a daily post." The Amherstburg of to-day is an up-to-date town. It was incorporated January 7th, 1878 and now has a population of about 3,500. It contains a fine town hall and Customs House, is provided with waterworks, electric lights and well paved streets. On the 24th of August, 1908, Earl Grey, Governor General of Canada, visited Amherstburg and was shown the remains of the Fort Malden. 'Read at the midwinter meeting, Flint, 1910, by Francis Cleary, Windsor, Ont. As is well known he has evinced great interest in the preservation and restoration of the historical landmarks of this country and on that occasion he expressed a hope that something would be done in that respect for Fort Malden. Some years after the fort ceased to be occupied by the military, the buildings thereon were used as a lunatic asylum and continued to be so used from 1859 to 1872, when the inmates were removed to the present lunatic asylum at London, Ont. Many of Amherstburg's population are mariners and a few are masters and mates of the large freighters which pass so constantly by its doors. The Detroit River is the greatest commercial artery on the earth. Its tonnage of merchandise is almost double that of London and New York combined. In 1907 the net tons of merchandise carried was 67,292,504. Call an average carload thirty tons and a train twenty-five such loads this amount of tonnage would require 89,723 such trains to handle it, and these trains would extend in line 18,711 miles. The Thames River at London and the New York Harbor are the greatest commercial waterways on earth next to the Detroit River, but their united tonnage in and out must be doubled to match that which passed over this great link between the lakes. During the season of navigation of 1907, say April to December, 275 days, 23,701 boats went up and down the river, more than eighty-six every twenty-four hours for the whole period. That is an average of 3.58 per hour night and day. In August, 1907, 3,710 vessels passed the river, up and down, five per hour, one every twelve minutes. May 1st, 1907, the "W. G. Kerr" of the Western Transport Company of Tonawanda cleared from Duluth with the largest grain cargo ever carried by a vessel on the Great Lakes, it consisting of 440,000 bushels of wheat or 13,200 tons. The "Kerr" is 605 feet in length and brought this cargo to Buffalo. How many cars would it take to transport this cargo? say wheat is sixty pounds to the bushel, it would equal 26,400,000 lbs. An ordinary railway car carries thirty tons or 60,000 pounds, this would give 440 cars, each car is say forty feet long or eleven trains: 440 cars by forty feet equals 17,600 feet plus 880 feet for space between cars, this equals 18,480 feet which divided by 5,280 feet in a mile makes three and a half miles. Before leaving Amherstburg let me say something about the great work going on in the immediate vicinity namely "The Livingstone Channel, Detroit River." For more than a third of a century the United States Government has been striving to provide a channel in the lower Detroit River that would prove equal to the constantly increasing demands of marine interests on the Great Lakes. The conquest of the Lime Kiln Crossing some fourteen miles below Detroit and the most troublesome spot on the inland seas has kept government engineers busy for years. Now the most perplexing problem of removing this hindrance is well along toward a solution. The change is being brought about through one of the most remarkable engineering feats on record which involves nothing less than the construction of the greatest cofferdam the world has ever known, the pumping out of an area of more than a mile in length and about one-third of a mile in width, and cutting "in the dry" from the limestone rock forming the river bottom a course 300 feet in width and a mile in length that will, when completed accommodate the largest vessels on the Great Lakes. The present is the first undertaking in the lower Detroit River where American money has been spent in American waters. Work has been in progress for thirty-four years lying wholly within Canadian waters. In 1874 there was a depth of twelve and a half feet to fifteen feet of water over the Lime-Kiln Crossing that formed a barrier between the lower and upper lakes; the depth of water has now been increased at this crossing to twenty-one feet and is still inadequate. The United States Government decided lately to end the trouble and provide a new channel to the west of the present one which would be sufficient for all time, giving a course for downward boats and permitting up-bound crafts to use the present one. "Using Stoney Island as a starting point the contractors began constructing the largest cofferdam ever undertaken, an area of 2,800 feet in length and with an average width of 1,600 feet was enclosed by wall some forty feet through at the base reaching two feet above the surface of the river. Two twelve-inch centrifugal pumps, each with a capacity of 6,000,000 gals. of water every twenty-four hours, and a battery of fifty air lifts with a combined capacity of 50,000,000 gals. of water daily were started and the float inside the cofferdam began to recede and within ten days 130 acres of river bed was exposed so completely that it was possible to walk dry shod over the entire area. For a distance of approximately one mile it will be necessary to hew a course 300 feet wide with an average depth through the solid rock of nineteen feet, this will cost $1,000,000 alone when the last of the rock has been removed a task that will require two years of working day and night, the end walls will be cut away and the water let into the channel the side walls of the cofferdam being left intact as a guide for vessel men. The new channel named after William Livingstone, President of the Lake Carriers' Association, will be some fourteen miles in length and will cost when completed $2,000,000. It will give a course with an average depth of twenty-two feet from mean level." NOTE.-Extract from "The Technical World" Magazine, April, 1909, by Len G. Shaw. The townships of Anderson and Malden embrace the Southwest por 3 tion of the county of Essex, an area of about seventy-five miles square, forming a parallelogram something over six miles across (west to east), and approaching twelve miles from north to south. The northern and eastern boundaries are the townships of Sandwich and Colchester, on the southern and western limits, are the waters of Lake Erie and the River Detroit. The original French settlement on the Canadian side of the river extended southward to the neighborhood of the river Canard. When the British Government made a treaty with the Indians of western Canada in 1780, it was stipulated that several defined tracts should be reserved in perpetuity for their use, one so reserved being a strip lying south of the River Canard extending along the Detroit River front six miles, and inland to the distance of about seven. This was the origin of the old Indian reserve now constituting the township of Anderson. Sometime previous to these events a number of United Empire Loyalists, ex-members of Butler's regiment of "Rangers" formed a settlement in the vicinity of the present town of Amherstburg. Among the settlers were the Caldwells' Elliotts, Gordons, McGregors, and two men who had served the King for some years. These were Capt. Mills, R. N. and Major Reynolds. A son of the latter was the first councillor for the district. Mr. Francis Caldwell, returned by the country to the 12th Canadian Parliament in 1834 was a son of Col. Caldwell one of the pioneers of Malden. Captain Caldwell had command of the company of "Butler's Rangers" in the war of 1812. Another prominent member of the band of settlers was the "Renegade" Simon Girty. This man was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, in January, 1744. He was taken away by the Senecas who adopted him and gave him the name of Katepacomen. In 1764 at the close of the Pontiac war he was delivered over to the whites by the tribe which had adopted him. Afterwards he settled near Pittsburg. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war he was an officer of the militia stationed at Fort Pitt, but in 1777 he deserted to the British. He was present at the defeat of Gen. St. Clair in 1791, but in 1795 when Gen. Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians in the northwest he removed to Canada and settled on the Detroit River. Two incidents in connection with his career show the character of the man; one was, saving the life of Simon Kenton in 1778. Kenton was a scout in Col. Bowman's expedition against the Indians on the Miami. He endeavored to steal some horses from the Indians and was captured. They determined he should die. Girty was present when Kenton was brought in and asked his name. On learning it he found that they had been old friends, in fact boon companions. 'See note in Vol. XVI, this series, p. 115, second edition. 'See Life of Girty, Vol. VII, this series, pp. 123-129. Girty begged for the life of his friend. A long debate ensued but in the end Girty's request was granted. The other act displays the fiendish part of his character. Girty in company with the Wyandotte and Shawnee Indians had so harrassed the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia that in 1782 a force of volunteers under command of Col. William Crawford was sent against them. They fought a battle with the savages and subsequently Crawford was taken captive. On 11th of June preparations were made for burning him. He was stripped naked and beaten with clubs. With his hands firmly tied behind his back, he was fastened to a stake. The pile was fired. Girty took no part in this proceeding but sat quietly on his horse at a long distance, observing them with malignant satisfaction. For more than two hours did the gallant soldier survive at that flame-girded stake and during the latter half of that time he was put to every torture which savage ingenuity could devise, and hellish vengeance execute. In the extremity of his agony he caught the eye of Girty, and he is reported to have exclaimed, "Girty, Girty, shoot me through the heart. Do not refuse me. Quick, quick." And it is said the monster merely replied "Don't you see I have no gun, Colonel?" Then burst into a loud laugh and turned away. Crawford said no more, in a little while the vital spark had fled. The tract of land in Malden on which Girty settled at the close of the war was a grant from the British Government. It consisted of 160 acres. He remained in possession of this property until his death which occurred in 1815 or 18165 and was buried on his own farm. In 1838 the land was purchased by the Mickle family. Girty's grave was found to be in a neglected condition, the fence had nearly all rotted away and the grave was covered with weeds. During the war of 1812, Girty, who was then over sixty years of age, was frequently in Amherstburg, and it is said that he was a friend of Tecumseh. Some of his descendants attained prominence in municipal politics in the country and others are scattered over the United States and Canada. FORT MALDEN OR AMHERSTBURG At last Canadians are awakening to the importance and necessity of making an effort to preserve and restore the historical battlefields and other landmarks of this country. This is seen in the great interest shown in the recent proposal of his Excellency, Earl Grey, for the conversion into a park and the restoration of the battlefields of the Plains of Abraham and of St. Foye at Quebec. It is an opportune time to draw the attention of the Government and of others in the immediate localities to do something to reclaim and preserve the old forts and hisGirty died Feb. 18, 1818. See Butterfield's History of the Girtys, p. 322. · |