In 1838 Ira Polley was a 22-year-old farmer in Lyme. He died 60 years later in American Creek (now Fairy Meadow), Australia. He had survived a battle against the British army, a sentence to hang, two voyages across the Pacific, and five years as a prisoner in a Tasmanian penal colony. He was one of at least 17 men from Lyme who paid a dear price for participating in the Battle of the Windmill, at Prescott, Ontario from November 13thto the 16th, 1838.
- - - - - - - In 1837 there were several popular uprisings against the British colonial government in Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec). These became known as The Rebellions of 1837. Upper Canada was at that time tightly controlled by a small group of aristocratic families and the Church of England, with few opportunities for average Canadians to advance economically or socially. Rebels led by former Toronto mayor William Lyon Mackenzie demanded democratic reforms including free elections by ballot, equal rights for all citizens, trials by jury, free education for all citizens, freedom of the press, and a legislature chosen by the people. When The Rebellions of 1837 failed, the rebels (including Mackenzie) escaped across the border to rally American assistance for their cause. The rebels found a very sympathetic audience in the northern United States. At that time the War of 1812 was a not-too-distant memory, and elderly people could still recall the American Revolution. The economy had faltered under the administration of President Martin Van Buren, and there was a widespread belief that the trouble was somehow the result of British meddling in American financial affairs. In 1838 anti-British men on both sides of the border formed secret militia groups called “Hunters’ Lodges.” (If they were caught with arms north of the border they would use the excuse that they were hunting. Hence the innocuous name for the movement.) Members of the lodges referred to themselves as “Patriot Hunters” or simply “Patriots.” Hunters’ Lodges were illegal even in the U.S.; the Van Buren administration had no interest in encouraging another war with Great Britain. In 1838 Patriot Hunters invaded Upper Canada at least 13 times. These invasions became known as The Patriot War. Residents of Jefferson County were particularly fervent believers in the establishment of a Canadian republic. Many were undoubtedly influenced by inflammatory articles in The Jeffersonian, a leading newspaper in Watertown, which showed blatant sympathy for the cause of Canadian independence from Great Britain. At Hunters’ Lodges meetings the men were worked to an anti-monarchical frenzy by traveling orators from both sides of the border. The number of Lyme men involved in the Battle of the Windmill suggests that Lyme had a very active Lodge. In the fall of November 1838 Northern New York Hunters’ Lodges began preparations for an invasion of Canada. On November 11, 1838, 400 Patriot Hunters boarded the steamboat United States, under command of the self-proclaimed "Major General" John Ward Birge, at Sackett’s Harbour (as it was then spelled). The boat then continued to Cape Vincent, Millen’s Bay, and French Creek to pick up additional passengers. The United States proceeded to Ogdensburgh (as it was then spelled), along with two schooners: The Charlotte of Toronto, under the command of Nils Von Shoultz, and The Charlotte of Oswego, under the command of Bill Johnston. (The British referred to Johnston as “The Pirate Bill Johnston” for his continuous provocation of British forces on the St. Lawrence River.) The Charlotte of Oswego became grounded on a sand bar. Then Von Schoultz and Birge disagreed vehemently about how and when to attack, so Birge refused to leave Ogdensburgh. As a result, only the Charlotte of Toronto, with 150 or 190 men (different sources give different numbers), proceeded to Windmill Point at Prescott on November 12th. At least 17 of the men aboard were from Lyme. The invaders were joined by a small group of Canadian Patriot Hunters during the ensuing battle, which lasted until November 16th. As the battle dragged on, Patriot Hunters from all over Northern New York congregated in Ogdensburgh, hoping to provide reinforcement to their compatriots. However, British and American naval vessels patrolling the river created a blockade. In any case, over 2,500 British troops, Mohawk warriors, and militiamen loyal to the crown had arrived at the windmill, and would certainly have out-numbered and out-gunned the motley group of New York farmers and tradesmen. The invading Patriot Hunters had expected Canadians to turn out in large numbers to support their cause once the invasion began; in the end, very few did. When the battle was over, 15 British soldiers and 20 the Patriot Hunters had been killed. Some of the invading Patriot Hunters had escaped under cover of darkness; the remaining 137 invaders were captured. These prisoners were tied together with ropes and transported to Fort Henry, Kingston, where each was given a military court martial. There the prisoners were unsuccessfully defended by John A. Macdonald, a Kingston lawyer from Scotland who in 1867 would become the first prime minister of Canada. All 137 men were sentenced to be hanged, but only 11 ultimately were. Of those 11 men, four were from Lyme. Daniel George, 28, was hanged on December 12, 1838. Duncan Anderson, 48, Sylvester Lawton, 28, and Russell Phelps, 38, were hanged on January 4, 1839. As the hangings proceeded, Kingston citizens became increasingly horrified and public opinion began to shift toward leniency. As a result, the sentences of the surviving prisoners were commuted to exile or pardoning. The Lyme men pardoned and allowed to return home were Ethel Penney, 19, Levi Putnam, 24, Joseph Thompson, 26, Charles Smith, 21, and Charles Hovey, 22. Ninety-two prisoners were exiled to a penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land (now known as Tasmania), Australia. The trip on the prison ship the HMS Buffalo lasted 160 days, from October 2, 1839 - February 12, 1840. It was a hellish voyage in which the Patriot Hunters had to fend for themselves among hardened convicts in filthy conditions. At least 6 of the Patriot Hunters died during the passage. Those who survived were incarcerated at Rocky Hills Probation Station at Hobart (Tasmania). They did hard labor building bridges and roads while shackled at the ankles in iron chains. Among them were Lyme citizens Chauncey Bugbee, 22, Joseph LaForte, 29, Andrew Leeper, 44, Daniel Liscum, 22, Ira Polley, 23, Robert Collins, 34, William Gates, 24, Riley Whitney, 27, and Lysander Curtis, 33. During their incarceration Lysander Curtis died while working in a chain gang building a road. Leeper and Liscum contracted tuberculosis and became gravely ill. By 1844 half of the Patriot Hunters had been set free. Most of the rest were released by 1848. However, at least 5 remained imprisoned in Van Dieman’s Land until 1850. Most of the men, when released, made their way back to the United States on whaling vessels. However, two Lyme men chose to stay in Australia. Chauncey Bugbee, an illiterate farmer from the Millen’s Bay Road, married an Australian woman in 1846 and spent the remainder of his life in Tasmania. (His descendants now call themselves “Buckby.” Since he could neither read nor write he knew no fixed spelling of his name. When tried at Fort Henry, he signed his court documents with an X.) Ira Polley, previously mentioned, was pardoned on December 18, 1844. He left Australia with a number of other freed Patriot Hunters on the whaling ship Steiglitz in April 1845. For unknown reasons, he jumped ship at Honolulu Harbor in Hawaii, and made his way back to Australia, where he married twice and fathered 15 children. Although the Patriot War was a loss for anti-British forces, it did serve to awaken the Crown to the desire of its colonial citizens for democratic reforms. Those reforms were gradually granted over the next 30 years, culminating in the formation of a Canadian nation in 1867. A plaque that stands at the windmill (which is still standing, and now a national historic site open to visitors) says that the rebellion and invasions “profoundly transformed political life in Canada, and forced the British to review the way they administered the country.” There is a monument to the North American Patriots in Princes Park, Hobart, Tasmania. It states, “This monument honours the memory of 92 exiles transported from Canada to Van Diemen’s land in 1840. Their struggle was a significant factor in the evolution of responsible government in Canada and Australia.” Their efforts were not in vain. - - - - - - - - - - - This story is more complicated and detailed than I can possibly relate here. Two excellent books that tell the story in depth are To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation: Americans and Canadians Transported to Tasmania in the 1840s by Stuart D. Scott (2013) and The Rise and Fall of the Patriot Huntersby Oscar A. Kinchen (1956). Sources:
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