On December 4, 1838, a band of about 160 Hunters and Patriots
crossed from Detroit in the predawn darkness and took over the village of Windsor in western Upper Canada. They were ultimately chased out by the local
militia.
When the local militia commander, Colonel John Prince arrived
with four more companies of defenders, nothing remained of the battle but smoke
and casualties. Upon hearing details of the attack, Colonel Prince began a
ruthless campaign of summary justice, executing five prisoners.
What follows is evidence given at an inquiry into the battle
and later repeated in the British House of Lords (documented in Hansard), with
additional details below added by Windsor resident William Baby and an Patriot
General Donald McLeod.
“Adjutant Cheeseman, of the Second Essex [militia]...brought
up a prisoner whom he had taken. He surrendered him to Col. Prince, who ordered
him to be shot upon the spot, and it was done accordingly.”
Later, other militiamen brought forward three other wounded
prisoners. Again Colonel Prince ordered them shot. In one case, a militia
officer attempted to intercede.
“At this moment Col. William Elliott, of the Second Essex,
who chanced to be near at hand, exclaimed, ‘Damn you, you cowardly rascals, are
you going to murder your prisoner?’ This exclamation for one instant retarded
the fire of the party, but in the next the prisoner was brought to the ground;
he sprang again to his feet and ran around the corner of a fence, where he was
met by a person coming from an opposite direction and shot through the head.
From papers found upon his person it appeared his name was [Uri] Bennett. It is
to be regretted that this painful affair took place in our most public street,
and in the presence of several ladies and children, who had been attracted to
the doors and windows by the strange events of the morning, but who little
expected to witness so awful a tragedy.
“Another brigand named Dennison, also wounded and unarmed,
was taken after the action and brought in during the course of the morning.
Charles Elliott, Esq., who happened to be present when the prisoner was about
to be shot by Col. Prince's orders, entreated that he might be saved to be
dealt with according to the laws of the country; but Col. Prince's reply was,
‘Damn the rascal, shoot him,’ and it was done accordingly.”
“When Col. Prince reached Windsor, he was informed that one
of the brigands was lying wounded in the house of Mr. Wm. Johnson. The man,
whose leg had been shattered by a musket ball, had been found by Francois Baby,
Esq., after the action, and by his orders was removed to Mr. Johnson's, with a
promise of surgical assistance. Col. Prince gave the order for his execution,
and he was dragged out of the house and shot accordingly.”
McLeod names the fourth executed prisoner as Stephen Miller.
The defenders captured another wounded raider near the river
shore. The man appealed for mercy, to which his captor, Captain Broderick,
replied, “You have fallen into the hands of a British officer.” Any quarter
given by Broderick evaporated after he left that prisoner under
guard in a windmill.
“Col. Prince...continued his march to the Windmills and...fell in with Broderick's prisoner. He ordered the man to be taken from the guard
and to be shot upon the spot, which was done accordingly.”
“The Prince of monsters,” as Donald McLeod later called him,
seemed prepared to shoot every prisoner he encountered that day. The serial
executions ended only when Colonel Prince was shamed by his Native Canadian
allies, according to Baby.
“The Indians had taken seven prisoners, and one or two of
them proposed that they should be shot; but one of their chiefs said, ‘No, we
are Christians, we will not murder them—we will deliver them to our officers,
to be treated as they think proper.’ They were then brought to Col. Prince, who
had now commenced his return to Sandwich. When he had arrived opposite the
burning barracks he ordered the wagon in which the prisoners had been placed to
be wheeled off the road.
“As soon as it had reached an open spot in the rear of the
ruins, he commanded the men be taken out and shot. At this critical moment
Charles Elliott, and Robert Mercer, Esqs., and the Rev. Mr. Johnson, and Mr.
Samuel James rushed forward and entreated Col. Prince not to commit murder by
shooting the prisoners, but begged him to leave them to the laws of the
country. In making this appeal Mr. James made use of the emphatic language:
‘For God's sake, do not let a white man murder what an Indian has spared.’ Col.
Prince yielded to the entreaties of the gentlemen, remarking to Mr. Elliott
that he would hold him responsible for his interference, as his orders were to
destroy them all.”
Chastised in House of Lords
In the House of Lords, Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron
Brougham and Vaux, argued that Prince’s actions could only be judged as murder.
“Suppose a man who had shot another was pointed out to him an
hour after, and that he then put the murderer to death, he should himself be
guilty of murder. Even if he saw a murder committed, and put the murderer to
death, he should be guilty of murder, unless it was done in self-defence.
Suppose even that he saw a man convicted after a trial by a jury of his peers
and sentenced to die—nay, suppose him outside the prison door on his way to the
place of execution, and that he should then destroy him—even in this case, and
their Lordships would admit it was a strong one, he should be guilty of murder.
This was the law.”
The summary executions at Windsor shocked Sir George Arthur, the lieutenant governor of Upper Canada.
He believed Colonel Prince’s lust for revenge diverted his attentions form his
real duty of pursuing the Patriots after their defeat. Sir Arthur also feared
the incident might spark war between Great Britain and the United States.
Colonel Prince’s battlefield executions did not go
unchallenged. Local citizen’s complained to the government. Colonel Prince
faced a court of inquiry in February 1839, but he was widely popular in Upper
Canada for his rough justice. In a classic case of the victors make the rules,
the court of inquiry ultimately exonerated him March 14. The Upper Canada
government, which abhorred his methods, liked the results. The Hunter assaults
ceased.
Colonel Prince never expressed remorse for his battlefield
murders. In fact, he later stated his “deep regret that he did not shoot every
scoundrel of them as fast as he was brought in.”
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