Recollections & Extracts From The Journals Of Miss Anne Prevost Anne Prevost - Biography Women and War

Part 10: The province is called to arms; Anne's nineteenth birthday We heard on the 9th November, that General Wilkinson had passed Prescott with 8000 men: all the Province was called to arms. My Father established his Head Quarters at La Chine. Sad and most anxious were the few days that intervened between the arrival of this news and the 15th, when we had the happiness of hearing that the Enemy had been defeated by Colonel Morrison! Well do I remember that day. Mrs. Brenton and her daughter dined with us. Just after the cloth was removed an unusually loud ringing of the door bell startled us all–I ran into the passage and met Mr. Molson, the proprietor of the Steamboat with a packet of letters in his hand, and heard the joyful news "Colonel Morrison has beaten the Americans and taken 400 prisoners!" This brilliant affair put us in high spirits and seemed almost to put an end to anxiety. 1st January,1814. My Birthday, which made me nineteen, was on a Saturday, and therefore the dance which was to celebrate it did not take place till the following Tuesday. But we had a dinner party on the 1st, and I liked it better than the dance. On the 7th January a grand Ball and supper was given by the Officers of the Garrison to my Father. I was to open the Ball with Colonel Morrison. Dear Colonel Morrison!–more interesting and agreeable than ever–our victorious hero!