The man elected as top general of the Hunter army at the Cleveland convention in September, 1838, Lucius Verus Bierce, decided it was his turn to try and win the western front—after three spectacular failures by other commanders in the opening months of 1838. He gathered an army of Hunters and Patriots south of Detroit in late November of 1838.
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US General Hugh Brady—the man who had muted the Hunter armies before by confiscating their weapons—dealt the same blow to Bierce’s army. On November 24, Brady captured a ship carrying 250 weapons bound for the raiders.
Because of their limited weaponry, Bierce hesitated to press on with the attack. However, a group of eager Patriots, led by self-appointed general William Putnam, refused to back down.
Raiders Land and Attack Windsor
In the predawn darkness of December 4, Putnam and 165 raiders commandeered the steamboat Champlain at its moorings in Detroit. They sailed the short gap across the Detroit River and landed in the farmland south of colonial Windsor (then a village of about 300).According to William Lyon Mackenzie, Bierce’s only role in the battle was to read a proclamation on the Canadian shore that stated: “Soldiers! The time has arrived that calls for action—the blood of our slaughtered countrymen cries aloud for revenge. The spirits of Lount, and Matthews, and Moreau, are yet unavenged. The murdered heroes of Prescott lie in an unhallowed grave in the land of tyranny. The manes of the ill-fated Caroline's crew can only be appeased by the blood of the murderers. Arouse, then, soldiers of Canada! Let us avenge their wrongs! Let us march to victory or death and ever, as we meet the tyrant foe, let our war cry be: ' Remember Prescott’."
With Putnam in charge, the raiders marched quickly to Windsor and attacked the militia barracks. Deciding to burn it down, they burst into the nearest house, owned by a black man named Mills, to get embers from the fire. They invited him to join their cause. He refused, proclaimed three cheers for the queen, and was immediately shot dead.
With the barracks aflame, Putnam’s men shot militiamen as they fled, killing at least two. Two others died in the flames. Next they set a small steamer on fire in the Windsor docks. A local surgeon, Dr. John J. Hume, heard of the attack and rode into the fray to tend to the wounded. The raiders killed him, too.
Militia repel attackers
A company of Canadian militia, followed the flames and encountered the raider army in an orchard on the edge of town. Though just 60 in number, the well trained militia attacked from two sides and quickly routed the marauders, who stampeded back to the Champlain in a panic. Twenty-two raiders died in the assault and retreat, including Putnam.The militia commander was John Prince. Due to his effective leadership in repelling earlier Patriot assaults at Fighting Island, Pelee Island and Bois Blanc Island, he’d been promoted to colonel. At some point in the nine months since his last encounter with the raiders, Prince’s ego and patriotic fervor turned him into a demon.
His first order that day was to have five captured raiders summarily shot. The order was carried out despite objections from some of Prince’s junior officers.
By the early afternoon, the full militia force of 400, backed by a regiment of regulars, had secured the river from Windsor south many miles and captured more raiders. Prince, still in a bloodthirsty mood, ordered seven more shot in front of the burned-out barracks. This time, a group of Windsor citizens persuaded him to have mercy.
At the end of the day, 46 prisoners where chained and sent on a journey to London, Ontario, to face the Queen’s justice.
Prince’s battlefield executions did not go unchallenged. Local citizen’s complained to the government. Prince faced a court martial for his actions, but was exonerated. The Upper Canada government, which abhorred his methods, liked the results. The Hunter assaults ceased.
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