Tag Archives: Fort George

Joseph Clement UE
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Clement UE, 1st Regiment Lincoln Militia (1790-1867)

Joseph Clement was born in Niagara Township on the 24 Aug 1790. He was the son of United Empire Loyalists, James Clement and Catherine (neé) Crysler, daughter of Loyalist, Adam Chrysler. James appeared on the muster of the Lincoln militia as early as 1797 according to A Holden papers at the Mayholme Library. The History of that Branch of the Crysler Family who Settled in the Township of Niagara by John M Crysler indicates that James was a despatch carrier and held the rank of Lieutenant during the War of 1812.

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1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

Walter B Dittrick UE
Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia

Walter Dittrick was born on the 31 May 1793 on the family farmstead, 12 Mile Creek St. Catharines, Upper Canada as recorded in the family bible (St. Catharines Public Library, Special Collections). He was the fourth son of Sergeant Jacob Dittrick, former Butler’s Ranger, and Margaret Pickard. She was the daughter of William Pickard who along with two of his sons were also members of Captain Bernard Frey’s Company of Butler’s Rangers.

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Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia

James Dittrick UE
Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia.

Captain James Dittrick, commanded the Flank Company in Colonel Robert Nellis’s 4th Regiment Lincoln Militia. Of all five brothers who served in the flank companies of the Lincoln Militia during the War, James’s career is the most thoroughly documented. His “Reminisces of the early years of settlement in Niagara and St. Catharines” was published in the “Loyalist Narratives” compiled by British author George Coventry in 1860 and reprinted many times since; most recently by the Champlain Society. He was also interviewed by Benson Lossing who reported this meeting in the Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812 published in 1869. Being a contemporary, and neighbour of William Hamilton Merritt, he is mentioned several times (often competitively) in the Biography of the Honouable William Hamilton Merritt, authored by Merritt’s younger son. James is also recorded in the ”Merritt Papers” preserved by the Archives of Ontario.

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Flank Company
4th Regiment Lincoln Militia.

Jacob Dittrick UE
Flank Company
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

Jacob Dittrick was born on the 12 Mile Creek at the family’s farmstead on the 12 Feb 1791 in St. Catharines. He was the son of Sergeant Jacob Dittrick of Captain Walter Butler’s Company (and later Captain Peter Hare’s Company) Butlers Rangers. Before the Revolutionary War Jacob senior was a Ranger in John Butler’s Colonial Indian Department, living along the Mohawk River in New York where their farm of several generations was located. Writing in the Loyalist Reminisces published in 1861 brother James reported the farm was situated 30 miles east of Utica New York.

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Flank Company
1st Regiment Lincoln Militia

William Brown Bradley
104th Regiment of Foot

William Brown Bradley and his twin brother Lewis Turner
Bradley  were born in Savannah, Georgia c1771. Their father, Richard Bradley, died c1780-81. During the Revolutionary War he was employed by the  Commissariat, a non-uniformed civilian body. Their mother was Sarah Turner, daughter of Lewis and Jeston Turner of Whitemarsh Island, Georgia.

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104th Regiment of Foot

Henry Rammage
Royal Artillery

The 41st came to Canada in 1799, serving both Upper and Lower Canada prior to the war. They arrived on the western front, at Amherstburg, in 1805. By then, their reputation  as an effective fighting force had been well established. General Brock noted the men to be “fit and well informed” and mentioned their “high state of discipline.” When war broke out they had already spent thirteen years in North America and they were expecting to return home to Britain on a rotation transfer. Instead, the marching orders were altered; remain fast and defend the Motherland’s colony.
A small guard detachment stationed at Fort Malden fired the opening shots of the war, their target General Hull’s men at the River Canard bridge. The date was July 16, 1812. The heroic stand became a rallying cry as the Regiment stepped up its war rehearsal manoeuvers.

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Royal Artillery

James Vrooman
Glengarry Light Infantry

James Vrooman was the son of Adam, a Captain in Butler’s Rangers who was granted crown land in Queenston. He was the second youngest of seven children and youngest of five sons. His eldest brother was Solomon Secord Vrooman who was in the Lincoln Militia & who inherited his father’s land. He was born on 22 Apr 1794.

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Glengarry Light Infantry

Titus Williams
Flank Company
2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia

Colonel Titus Williams, born Long Island, 22 November, 1790, son of Captain Jonathan Williams, of the British Army. Received Ensign’s Commission in the 2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia. Volunteered on 27 June 1812, the day of the war’s outbreak, appointed Lieut., in Left Flank Company. Commanded a detachment of Norfolk men at Detroit. Became Captain and Adjutant of the 2nd Regiment Norfolk Militia at Detroit some time later. Was afterwards captured by Americans on Niagara River, sentenced to be executed, but was liberated in May, 1814. Immediately appointed Adjutant of the 4th Regiments Norfolk Militia and was at Lundy’s Lane. Then placed in command of the 103rd Regulars at Dover and Ryerse.

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