A New Scottish Colony in Canada

A Scottish Colony

By Carl Grame Stewart

Copyright © 2017 Carl Grame Stewart

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Scotland, The Battle Of Culloden And Failure Of Bonny Prince Charlie

2. Clarence Bruce Stewart, Descendent Of The Brave Stewarts Of Appin Who Fought At The Battle Of Culloden

3. The Decision

4. Planning The Trip

5. The Voyage To Canada

6. The Trip Up The Ottawa River

7. Up The Rideau River To Perth

8. Choosing A New Chief

9. The Big House

10. The Welcome Trunks

11. Wilber's Confession

12. Peter Pringle Arrives In Perth

13. Wilber's Sin In Kingston

14. Planning The First Sawmill In Perth

15. The First Sawmill In The Settlement Of Perth

16. The First Court Held In The Settlement Of Perth

17. Thomas Grenville Comes To Perth

18. The First Distillery In Perth

19. Getting The Necessary Copper

20. Robert Roberts And Iron Ore

21. The Invasion Of The Army

INTRODUCTION

Canada is a large country. In fact, it is one of the largest countries in the world, and yet its written history is piecemeal at the very best and downright faulty in the least. The majority of Canadian history has been written by all kinds of historians. There was the British telling the Canadian story to British readers. There was Americans telling the Canadian story to Americans and the rest of the world. Alternatively, written by displaced Americans, better known as United Empire Loyalist stock whose ancestors were taken in by early Canadian politicians while the American government was shouting, Take our disloyal Americans, Please.

Most students during the pre-nineties were told that Canadian History was a boring subject. They were subjected to teachers who spent more time teaching American history and less time with the history of the Canada.

It has even been suggested that Canadian History is non-existent in terms of pure history. Almost every Canadian History text seems to deal strictly with nation building. The words seem to be confined to the handful of politicians who were power-hungry, grasping, often alcoholic, rich kids from Britain whose family unloaded them to the colonies, and many were downright dishonest.

In the town in this story, a history book was published by people who now live there, but have few if any real roots in that area. This little book, and I mean it is little suggests that the town simply came into being in 1816. In another more scholarly text, an Historian suggests that a petition be sent to the Lieutenant Governor in the hope that the government of Upper Canada could construct a better road to the town. The petition was signed by 5,000 people and dated 1815. If there was no town prior to 1816, then where did they get 5,000 signatures?

It would be practically impossible to write a complete Canadian History because it would be positively overwhelming in size and since we have such poor records from which to draw the real facts, it would also be inaccurate.

What most Historians seem to forget or they simply do not know is that Canada during its beginnings was every bit as regional as it is today. To lump Upper Canada as one homogeneous landmass may very well be convenient for locating politics, but it simply did not do the job for what took place settlement by settlement. In the late 1700s and up to the mid-1800s, each settlement was a world unto itself. Yes, Britain was engaged in immigration, but once the poor devils were dropped off, they seemed to be forgotten by the politicians who were only interested in getting them here in the first place for the sole purposes of cash. While it was convenient for the government, but was nearly a disaster for those settlers who were dropped off at Prescott Harbour and had to make their way to the town of Perth. Once on the road they were largely never heard from again until the mid-1800s and then only when they did or said something significant enough for some Historian to find it important.

In doing research on the fur trade out of Fort Edmonton, Historians simply say that furs were transported by York Boats to the Trading Post on Hudson Bay. That is such an over-simplification it is overwhelming. So much of Canadian History has been over-simplified that few actually understand what took place in those years long ago. The introduction of the North West Mounted Police into Western Canada is glossed over as the Long Trek, but if looked into, it shows political bungling from the onset. To simply say that a group of people rode west from Fort Gary to Fort Whoop-up is another over-simplification of real events.

One of the aspects of Canadian History that continues to amaze local people is the use of the term for the Ottawa Valley. I doubt if many Historians actually know what or where the Ottawa Valley is. Some locate it as north of the Ottawa River and west of the St. Lawrence. Others are less particular when they say it is all the area that drains into the Ottawa River. There is no consensus from one Historian to another.

After reading as many so-called good history books and then reading the accounts of local Women's Institutes, there appears to be a vast difference of opinion as to what took place when settlements began to spring up all over Canada.

In many books there is the continuing lament over the differences between Upper and Lower Canada. Yes, there were differences. One was on the south side of the Ottawa River and the other was on the north side of the Ottawa River. Any other differences tended to be in the minds of the leaders of the day, much the way it is today.

If you lived in Pembroke, Ontario, you didn't look across the river and consider those poor devils as second-class citizens. They did not look at people from Pembroke and think the kinds of things that we find in History books about Canada. These people co-existed, traded, married and lived with one another. The differences existed only in the minds of those who wanted power.

It is power that has made the writing of Canadian History as disjointed as it is. Each side thinking that the other side was, wealthier or poorer, bigger or smaller, better or worse, English or French and the list goes on and on.

Instead of listing the differences, our Historians would have been wiser to list our similarities. The kinds of hardships that had to be endured and the things that had to be done to survive. During the early years of settlement of Canada, and it does not matter where in Canada you consider, the day-to-day main topic was survival. It was not a matter of who was going to speak on your behalf in government; it was the number of mouths to feed, and how that was going to be accomplished. Yes, there were political aspects to settlement life, but surviving came first and in many respects, still does today.

The final tone of Historians that seems to surprise most readers is the fact that leaders were set on a course of looking after the downtrodden. What a lot of bunk. It was bunk then and it is still bunk today. The higher people go in terms of power, the less they think of the downtrodden. The wealthier the leaders became in Canada the less they thought of the downtrodden.

Survival was left totally to those who formed the settlements that created what we know today as Canada. These were the people who had to cultivate the land after they had cleared it. Grow the crops, not for export, but to feed their families. Build their homes from the very timber they cleared from the land. Try to educate their children from what they could remember of their school since none was available in remote settlements. Hold prayer meetings with a travelling clergy since until the settlements were secure, no clergy would set up a church. They had to perform labour on share basis and help one another since there was no ready labour pool. Since there was no real currency, they had to barter their products for the products of others. There was no politics since the settlement was controlled by the strongest will in the community based on survival.

The Historians fail to mention that many of the great accomplishments of Canadians were folly to the extreme. The Rideau Canal for example was so costly that the chief engineer, Colonel John By was recalled to England in disgrace to explain himself to the British Parliament. The Canal has been nothing more than a tourist feature of Ontario ever since. The formation of the Northwest Mounted Police was an exercise in extremely bad planning from the very start. If it had not been for a half-breed in Fort Benton, Montana on the American side, the whole expedition would have died of starvation. This was simply because they were lost following maps made by the likes of Richardson and Palliser. These so-called mapmakers were paid a horrendous amount of money; produced rubbish maps, and almost caused the death of the Northwest Mounted Police. This police expedition was sent to lay siege to Fort Whoop Up. A trading post that was abandoned long before the Northwest Mounted Police arrived.

The time has come that some solid History was written about the people who carved their lives out of the bush called Canada. These people literally carved their lives because in the new settlements of Canada, if you were lazy, idle or shiftless, you died. That is precisely why the politicians that one reads about in our present History books did not go to the settlements, it meant hard work, every day, every week all year long.

It is high time that the native people had their true story told. If it had not been for the native people, most, if not all those who came to Canada would have died of starvation. The reported cases of scurvy in the New World were due to the leaders not following the instructions of the native people. It is about time the truth about the bloodthirsty Iroquois was told. These were farmers and most of the time they lived on the American side of the St. Lawrence River and wintered in Pennsylvania in caves at Spruce Springs. The tale about Ste. Marie among the Hurons where the Indians were supposed to have burned down the mission and slaughtered everyone inside is categorically incorrect. When in fact the Indians were sick and tired of being told that their religion was of no value and the white visitors had all the answers. There is little mention of the fact that from the very beginning the Indians were considered savages simply because they did not look and act like Europeans. It is this utter contempt for the Indians that led many to be slaughtered just because they were there. Samuel De Champlain took great delight in using a musket to fight Iroquois who had only bows and arrows with which to fight gunpowder. When he was shot in the leg by an Indian, the shooter was considered bloodthirsty and a savage.

The records of the exploits of fur trading companies such as the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company are always full of adventure and daring. What they do not reveal is the fact that the men of these same companies treated Indians with manipulative practices, indifference and dishonesty. The fort at Edmonton shows that the white people built a window on the outside of the fort, so trading could be done without the Indians being allowed into the fortification. Little or nothing is written about the Europeans who killed great herds of buffalo and then could not understand why the Plains Indians were starving to death before their very eyes.

There is very little written about the starvation of both Indians and settlers in the Red River Settlements when Lord Selkirk was back in Upper Canada telling everyone just how wonderful his settlement was and well it was doing. There is very little written about the inter-marriage between Europeans and native women creating the Métis children. These people did not get recognition until 1992.

The Historians only briefly touch upon the fact that with epidemic proportions the coming of the white people to Canada nearly wiped out most of the Indians. The same Indians who were told the white man would buy their land when the Indians did not own it, but simply had the use of it. Treaties were made to legally take the land that did not belong to the Indians.

The History of Canada fails to mention in any detail the contribution by women. It is hard to understand how a country could grow to such proportions and not give women the respect and recognition they so rightly deserve. While the men were toiling to open up the land, grow crops and bring in a harvest, the women were working every bit as hard. The women tended the vegetable gardens, collected the honey, herbs and berries. These fastidious females were the very people who cared for the sheep, carded the wool, which would be spun into yarn and later woven into cloth to clothe the men History are quick to mention. Historians make mention of several Roman Catholic nuns who left everything they had back in Europe to come to Canada to save the Indians and give them religion. These learned men of letters also mention women as either women of the street in Fort York or the wives of noted leaders.

There is also little mention of the various organizations such a Freemasons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Independent Order of Foresters, the Orange Lodge, Knights of Columbus and sundry other organizations which promoted fellowship and mutual trust. Organizations such as these kept many settlers on a straight path toward bettering their lives. It was in organizations such as mentioned that settlers became important people, which did nothing, more than elevate their self-esteem in a life that offered very little except day-to-day hard work.

The Historians talk about land claims given to the military people in chunks so large even by today's standards. They do not mention that it was always the high-ranking officers that received the land grants and the lowly foot soldier was given the offer of working the land for the officers. It amounted to a life similar to being in the army; only in this case, the foot soldier was not issued a uniform to let him stand out from the crowd.

There is little mention of the slavery that existed in this FREE LAND and it was not until well into the 1800s that slavery was abolished and only after several women's groups petitioned for that abolition.

In the early days, the people who came to this land to settle it had a difficult time surviving, but survive they did. That kind of strength is what makes Canada the great country is it today. That is the kind of strength that has given us the reputation of getting things done when others either cannot or will not.

It is high time the true story of Canada was told by writers, not Historians. Writers should tell the story and do so without subjective editorializing. The story should be told because this is probably one of the greatest sagas in the known world. Canadian History is not boring. It is dynamic, earthy, and contains some of the greatest personal efforts by a group of people who were starving in Europe, were forbidden many of the freedoms that came with living in Canada and left their homeland to come to an unexplored wilderness to create the greatest country in the world. The country of Canada and this is one of the stories.

CHAPTER ONE

SCOTLAND, THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN AND FAILURE OF BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE

There is an old Roman military saying that goes something like this: to avoid disaster in battle, try to be as organized as possible. That might just sound a bit over-simplified, but the fact remains, if you are disorganized, you will fail.

However, when the Scottish Highlanders were fighting the Hanoverian British between January 17th and the 16th of April 1746, organization was like a feather in the harsh Scottish winds. From a modern military standpoint, the Scottish was acting like a bull in a china shop.

The Scottish, faithful to Bonny Prince CHARLIE were under the leadership of a very knowledgeable Lord George Murray. At the battle of Falkirk, outside of Perth were simply unbeatable. It was following that battle that things began going badly, mainly because they grew disorganized.

Also adding to the woes of the Scottish was the arrival of the Duke of Cumberland, the son of George II of England. He added a youthful caliber of leadership, which was necessary to rally the disheartened English troops following a defeat such as they experience at Falkirk.

At Falkirk, the Scottish fighters were more accustomed to the Northern Scottish winters. Since they had the climate on their side, they simply overwhelmed the unprepared British troops.

However, the Battle of Culloden was an entirely different matter. Spring had come to the Scottish Highlands and with it came warmer temperatures.

The arrival of the Duke of Cumberland added new life to the British troops. The strength of the troops had been bolstered by an increase in manpower. Cumberland had also enlisted the aid of Scottish lowlanders to further swell their ranks. Finally, they also recruited the assistance of those Scottish clans that were not loyal to Charles II. All in all, an impressive army that was not going to let the event at Falkirk happen again.

The Duke of Cumberland deployed his troops in a manner quite unfamiliar to the normal manner the way Scottish warfare waged.

This tactic proved to be the undoing of the Scottish troops because they had never fought in this manner before. He also deployed the toughest of his troops in the front to wear the Scottish down. He had fifteen regular battalions of Hanoverian infantry troops. Instead of simply lining them all up in one straight line in the normal warfare methods used in those days, he deployed them in three lines of six, six and three.

The first line was made up by Clan Cholmondely, Clan Campbell, Clan Munro, the Barrel Regiment, Clan Price, and The Sempill Regiment commanded by the Earl of Albermarle. If one were to do a comparison of strength of armies, this front line would rank high as some of the toughest fighting men ever assembled in one line of attack.

The second line under Major-General Huske were Clan Howard, Clan Flemming, Bligh's, Sempills Second, Ligonier’s, and Wolfe (the same Wolfe who would later become the victorious leader at the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec in a battle between the French and the English). This second line was ready to take over when the front line had worn down the Scottish strike. By using the second line, the English would have fresh troops to take over from the pounding of the front line. The Scottish did smash the first line, but used a great deal of energy doing so. They had also lost a great many men in the first wave. The troops the tired Scottish faced in the second line had already seen the Scottish begin to tire, and they came at them with great force.

The third line was led by Brigadier Morduant and were the Pultnewy's Battereau and two Blakney's regiments. These were the equivalent of an English goon squad. They finished off the Scottish beyond any kind of hope. Usually, when