Amelia Harris   Women and War

Amelia Harris tells of an atrocity A Canadian woman remembers the destruction of her widowed mother's farm by American soldiers in 1814. EDITOR'S NOTE: The following has been copied directly from original writings, all spelling and punctuation appears as therein.   In May of 1814 we had several days of heavy fog. On the 18th, I think, the fog lifted. We saw seven or eight ships under the American flag anchored off Ryerse with a small number of small Boats floating by the side of each ship. As the fog cleared away they hoisted sail and dropped down three miles below us, opposite Port Dover. On the following morning, the 25th of May, as my Mother and myself were at breakfast, the Dogs made an unusual barking. I went to the door to discover the cause. When I looked up I saw the hillside and the fields as the eye could reach covered with American soldiers. They had landed at Patterson's Creek. Burnt the Mills and village of Port Dover and then marched to Ryerse. Two men stepped from the ranks, selected some large chips, came into the room where we were standing and took coals from the hearth, without speaking. My mother knew instinctively what they were going to do. She went out and asked to see the commanding officer, a gentleman rode up to her and said he was the person she asked for. She entreated him to spare her property and said that she was a widow with a young family. He answered her civilly & respectfully and regretted that his orders were to Burn, but that He would spare the house, which he did, & said in justification that the Buildings were used as barracks and the mill furnished flour for British Troops. Very soon we saw a column of dark smoke arise from every Building and what at early morn had been a prosperous homestead, at noon there remained only smouldering ruins. The following day Col. Talbot and the Militia under his command marched to Fort Norfolk. The Americans were then safe on board their own ships & well on their way to their own shores. My Father had been dead less than two years, & little remained of all his labours, excepting the orchards and cultivated fields. It would not be easy to describe my mother's feelings as she looked at the desolation around her.