Noble Deeds of the World's Heroines Part 8

On June 18, 1812, the United States of America declared war against Great Britain. The conquest of Canada was the object President Madison had in view, and he was confident that he would achieve it with little difficulty. Truly he had good reasons for his confidence. In the whole of Canada there were less than 4500 regular troops, and it was known that Napoleon's activity in Europe would prevent the British Government from sending out reinforcements.

Naturally, the news that America had declared war filled the Canadians with dismay; but this feeling was quickly succeeded by a determination to repel the invaders, or die in the attempt. The call to arms was sounded throughout the country, and an army composed of farmers, fur-traders, clerks, artisans, French Canadians, Red Indians, and negro slaves was soon formed.

Among the white men who volunteered was James Secord, who had married Laura Ingersoll, the daughter of a st.u.r.dy loyalist who quitted the United States, after the War of Independence, to live under the British flag in Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Secord were living at Queenston, on the banks of the Niagara River, when the war broke out, and it was at Queenston that a fierce battle was fought, four months later.

About two o'clock in the morning of October 13 the British discovered that the Americans had crossed the river under cover of darkness, and that some were already scaling the cliffs at various points. A fierce fire was opened upon the invaders on the beach, who concealed themselves behind the rocks and fired whenever they saw an opportunity.

The American losses were great, and it appeared as if they would either have to surrender or be annihilated, when suddenly a volley was poured into the rear of the British.

Unseen by the defenders, a body of Americans had scaled the cliffs, and taken up a strong position above the British, who were now between two fires. The British general--Brock--was mortally wounded, and for a few moments his men stood aghast. Then the cry, 'Avenge Brock!' was raised, and with a cheer the British force advanced to drive out the invaders.

A terrible hand-to-hand fight ensued, and slowly but surely the Americans were driven to the edge of the cliff. Several hundred surrendered, and many more might have been taken prisoners but for the fact that the Indians had got beyond control, and refused to give quarters to their hated foe. Seizing men who were willing to surrender, they hurled them from the cliff into the water below.

Scores of Americans, fearing the vengeance of the Indians, jumped from the cliff and were drowned, and many others fought stubbornly until they reached the brink and fell backwards. A terribly sanguinary fight had resulted in a victory for the British; but it had been dearly bought. The British general was dead, and the battle-field was strewn with the bodies of brave volunteers who had died in defence of their homes and liberty.

Before the last of the invaders had surrendered or been killed, Laura Secord was on the battlefield searching for her husband. She found Captain Secord's men, but he was not with them, and not one of them knew where he was. In the hand-to-hand fight they had lost sight of their captain, but they pointed out to the distressed lady the spot where they had fought.

Hither Laura Secord hurried, and where the dead and dying lay thick she found her husband terribly wounded. Falling on her knees beside him, she called him by name, but he gave no sign that he heard her.

Believing him to be dead, she cried bitterly, and taking him up in her arms carried him to their house. Then as she laid him down she found to her great joy that he still breathed.

By her tender nursing she saved his life, although his recovery was very slow. Winter and spring pa.s.sed, and summer came, and Captain Secord was still an invalid and unable to walk. It was a great trial to him to be kept to the house, fur another American force had landed at Queenston, and occupied the town and neighbourhood. It had been impossible to remove Captain Secord when the other Canadians retired, and thus he and his wife were left in the midst of the Americans. But, as it turned out, it was a happy thing for the British that he was too ill to be removed.

One day, towards the end of June, some American officers entered the Secords' house, and commanded Laura to give them food. She did so, and while waiting on them listened to all they said. Of course she did not let them see that she was taking an interest in their conversation, and succeeded in making them believe that she was a very simple and unintelligent person. Imagining that she would not understand what they were saying, they began to discuss their general's plans, and unwittingly revealed to her the fact that a surprise attack was to be made on the British force. When the officers, having eaten a hearty meal, departed, Laura Secord repeated to her husband all that they had said.

Captain Secord was at a loss what to do. The British would have to be warned of the attack, but who could he get to pa.s.s the American pickets and carry a message through twenty miles of bush? Never before had he felt so keenly his helpless condition.

But his despair was short-lived, for his wife declared that she would carry the news to the British general. Quickly she told him her plans, and although it seemed to him that there was little prospect of her being able to carry them out, he did not attempt to dissuade her from the undertaking.

At daybreak the following morning Laura Secord, disguised as a farm-maid, quitted the house bare-footed and bare-legged, and walked straight to the cow to milk her. But she had scarcely begun her task when the cow kicked over the milking pail and ran forward towards the bush. The American soldiers laughed heartily at the mishap, but ignoring them Laura Secord picked up her stool and pail and ran after the cow. Her second attempt to milk her ended in the same way--the cow kicked over the pail and frisked a few yards nearer to the bush. To the delight of the soldiers this performance was repeated several times, and chasing the cow Laura Secord pa.s.sed the pickets and entered the bush. The Americans saw her make another and equally unsuccessful attempt at milking. Soon cow and milk-maid were lost to sight. Again Laura Secord approached the cow and began to milk her, and this time the animal stood quietly.

The pinch which Laura Secord had given the cow on the previous occasions was not repeated, and the milking could soon have been finished, had the brave woman time to spare. Sitting on her stool, she peered in the direction whence she came and listened. Convinced that the soldiers had not had their suspicions aroused, she sprang up and leaving cow, pail and stool, started on her long journey.

Hour after hour she pressed forward, fearful that at any moment she might come face to face with the enemy's scouts. Nor was this the only danger she had to fear. The bush was infested with venomous snakes, and on several occasions she found one lying in her path. Sometimes she succeeded in frightening away the reptile, but frequently she was compelled to make a detour to avoid it. Her feet and legs were torn and bleeding, but still she plodded on, across hill and dale, through swamp and stream.

When night came she was still wearily trudging along, but uncertain whether she was proceeding in the right direction. Again and again she fell to the ground, and would have lain there, but for the knowledge that the lives of hundreds of her countrymen would be lost if she did not reach the British lines quickly. This thought spurred her on.

Exhausted, bleeding and hungry, she continued her journey, praying to G.o.d to give her strength to reach her destination.

Hours pa.s.sed, and at length she became so exhausted that her hope of reaching the British grew faint. She felt that if she fell again she would not have the strength to rise. Then suddenly the air was filled with the war-whoop of the Red Indians, and a score of the dreaded savages sprang from their hiding-places and surrounded her.

Indians were fighting for the Americans as well as for the British, and the atrocities which they perpetrated made the war of 1812 one of the most bitter, most unchivalrous, that had been waged between civilized nations for many years. Believing her captors to be allies of the Americans, Laura Secord felt that her last hour had come, but imagine her joy when, a few moments later she discovered that they were scouts of the British force.

Quickly she was carried to the British lines, and at her own request was taken at once to the officer in command, whom she told of the impending attack. After praising Laura Secord for her bravery, and ordering that her wants should be attended to immediately, the officer proceeded to make use of the information she had brought him; and so well did he lay his plans, and so quickly were they carried out, that the Americans, instead of surprising the British, were themselves surprised, and every man in the force captured.

LADY BANKES AND THE SIEGE OF CORFE CASTLE.

During the Great Rebellion many brave deeds were performed by women.

Royalists and Parliamentarians each had their heroines, and we can honour them all, irrespective of party, for their devotion to the cause which they had espoused, and rejoice in the fact that they were British women.

Lady Bankes was a woman whom Roundheads as well as Cavaliers admitted to be a n.o.ble specimen of an English lady. She was the wife of the Right Honourable Sir John Bankes, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and a member of His Majesty's Privy Council.

When it began to appear that the differences between King Charles and his Parliament would be settled by arms, Lady Bankes retired with her children to Corfe Castle, in Dorsets.h.i.+re. Sir John was on circuit at the time, but it was soon discovered that he had supplied the king with money to carry on war against his Parliament, and for this reason he became a marked man. He was not, however, a Royalist who hoped to keep his appointment by concealing his opinions from the Roundheads. At the Salisbury a.s.sizes he made his charge to the grand jury an opportunity for denouncing as guilty of high treason several peers who had taken up arms against the king. For this Parliament denounced him as a traitor, and declared his property forfeited.

No attempt was, however, made to seize Corfe Castle until May 1643, when all the other castles in the neighbourhood having been captured, it was the only one held by a Royalist. The Parliamentary army was well aware that Sir John Bankes was not at the castle, and that Lady Bankes had a very small force of servants to protect her, and consequently it was, for some time, not considered necessary to capture it. It was believed that Lady Bankes, shut up in her own castle, was powerless to harm Cromwell's army. But, eventually, it was decided that it was unwise not to interfere with a place that was notoriously a Royalist possession, and it was decided to capture it.

The day fixed for the event was the first of May. On that day it was the custom of the gentlemen of Corfe Castle to hunt a stag on the island, and any one who liked to do so might partic.i.p.ate in the sport.

The Roundheads decided to attend the hunt, seize the men from the castle, and then capture the castle itself. But the arrival of an exceptionally large number of people to attend the hunt aroused the suspicions of the few Royalists, who quickly withdrew to the castle and gave instructions that the gates were to be kept shut against anyone seeking admission.

Having failed to capture the Royalists in the hunting-field, the rebels came to the castle, and pretending that they were peaceable country folk, craved permission to be allowed to see the interior. The permission was refused, and some of the soldiers, angry at the failure of the plot, forgot the part they were playing, and threatened to return and gain admission by force. The officers, anxious not to arouse Lady Bankes's suspicions, loudly reprimanded their men for making foolish threats, and a.s.sured her ladys.h.i.+p that they had no intention of doing as their men had vowed.

Lady Bankes did not, however, believe the rebel officers, and, convinced that an attack would shortly be made on the castle, she prepared to defend it. She had no Royalist troops whatever in the castle, and her first step, therefore, was to call in a number of men whom she could rely upon. But no sooner were the men instructed in their duties than the rebels demanded that the four small guns which were mounted on the wall should be given up.

Lady Bankes refused to surrender them, and some days later forty seamen came and demanded them. Now at that hour Lady Bankes had only five men in the castle, but pretending that she had a large garrison, she refused the seamen's demand, and caused one of the guns to be fired over their heads. The report of this gun, which only carried a three-pound ball, so alarmed the seamen that they fled in dismay. They must have been very different from the men who sailed under Blake, and made the Commonwealth's navy world-famed.

No sooner had the timorous seamen fled than Lady Bankes summoned to the castle all her tenants and friendly neighbours, to a.s.sist her to hold the place until her husband should return. They came in quickly, many bringing arms, and vowed to fight for her and King Charles; but the Roundheads, discovering who had entered the castle, went to the homes of these men, and told their wives that unless their husbands returned home their houses would be burned to the ground. The frightened wives thereupon made their way to the castle and implored their husbands to return. Some of the men did as their wives desired, but others would not break the promise they had made to the mistress of Corfe Castle.

The enemy now decided to starve out Lady Bankes, and threatened to kill anyone caught conveying food to the castle. This measure was effective, for Lady Bankes, being without sufficient food and ammunition to withstand a siege, agreed to deliver up the guns, on the condition that she should remain in possession of the castle unmolested.

Lady Bankes had, however, little confidence in the honour of the attacking party, and felt a.s.sured that they would before long, in spite of their promise, endeavour to take possession of the castle. This was made evident by the behaviour of the soldiers, who, although they did not enter the castle, did not hesitate to boast that it belonged to them, and that they would take possession of it whenever it was required. But Lady Bankes was determined that it should not, if she could possibly prevent it, fall into the hands of the enemy. Therefore she gave instructions that the men appointed to watch the castle should be supplied liberally with food and drink, with the result that they neglected to do their duty, and allowed Lady Bankes to smuggle in sufficient provisions and ammunition to withstand a long siege.

Moreover, Lady Bankes despatched a messenger to Prince Maurice, asking him to send a force to help her hold the castle against the enemy, and in reply to her appeal Captain Lawrence and some eighty men arrived upon the scene.

The Parliamentarians had now become aware of the fact that Lady Bankes was taking steps to render the castle capable of withstanding a siege, and they decided to occupy it at once.

On June 23, 1643, Sir Walter Earle arrived before the castle with a force of about 600 men, and called upon Lady Bankes to surrender, which she firmly but courteously declined to do. Her refusal greatly incensed the besiegers, who thereupon took an oath that 'if they found the defendants obstinate not to yield, they would maintain the siege to victory, and then deny quarter unto all, killing without mercy men, women and children.'

The Parliamentarians, possessing several pieces of ordnance, opened fire on the castle from all quarters, but did comparatively little damage, and their attempts to carry it by a.s.sault were equally unsuccessful.

When some days had pa.s.sed, and the attacking forces were no nearer capturing the castle than when they first arrived, the Earl of Warwick sent to their a.s.sistance 150 sailors, a large supply of ammunition and numerous scaling-ladders. Possessing these ladders, the Roundheads antic.i.p.ated that the castle would soon be in their hands. They divided their force into two parties, one a.s.saulting the middle ward, which was defended by Captain Lawrence, and the other, the upper ward, where Lady Bankes, her daughters, women-servants and five soldiers were the sole defenders.

As the Parliamentarians fixed their ladders against the castle wall Lady Bankes and her brave a.s.sistants showered down upon them red-hot stones and flaming wood. The soldiers too, delighted at the bravery of the mistress of the castle, fought desperately, and not one of the enemy succeeded in gaining entrance to the castle.

Sir Walter Earle, seeing that he could not carry the castle by a.s.sault, withdrew with a loss of one hundred killed and wounded. He would in all probability have made another attack, but during the evening the news reached him that the king's forces were approaching, and overcome by fear he ordered a retreat, leaving behind muskets, ammunition and guns, all of which fell into the hands of Lady Bankes and her gallant garrison.

After this siege, which had lasted for six weeks, Lady Bankes was allowed to remain for two years in undisturbed possession of the castle; but she lived in the knowledge that at any time another attempt to capture it might be made, as it was the only place of any importance between Exeter and London that remained loyal to the royal cause.

Threats were constantly reaching her from certain members of the Parliamentary party, and to add to her trials her husband, whom she had not seen for two years, died at Oxford on December 28, 1644.

In October, 1645, the Parliamentary army decided to make another and more determined effort to capture Corfe Castle, and a large force was sent to besiege it. Lady Bankes and her handful of men had now pitted against them some of the best regiments in the victorious Parliamentarian army, but they scorned to surrender to them.

It was in January of the following year that a young officer--Colonel Cromwell--determined to make an effort to rescue Lady Bankes, and riding with a specially picked troop from Oxford he pa.s.sed through the enemy without its being discovered that he was a Royalist until he arrived at Wareham, the governor of which fired upon the troop. A fight ensued, but the daring troopers speedily captured the governor and other leading men, and rode off to Corfe Castle, only, however, to find that between them and the besieged lay a strong force of the enemy. They did not hesitate, but prepared instantly for the fight, and the besieged, cheering them loudly, made ready to sally forth and a.s.sist them.

Afraid of being caught between the two Royalist parties, the besiegers retired, and Colonel Cromwell rode up in triumph to the castle walls, and handed over to Lady Bankes, for safe custody, the Governor of Wareham and other prisoners whom he had taken.

Greatly to Colonel Cromwell's surprise, Lady Bankes declined to avail herself of the opportunity for escape which he had contrived, declaring that she would defend the castle as long as she possessed ammunition.

Thinking that he could render the king greater service in the open than in a besieged castle, Colonel Cromwell rode off with his troop, but losing his way he and many of his men were captured by the enemy.

Those who evaded capture made their way back to Corfe Castle, and a.s.sisted in its defence.

Days pa.s.sed without the enemy improving his position in the slightest degree, and Lady Bankes would have kept the royal flag flying for many months more, had there not been traitors in the castle. Colonel Lawrence, who had gallantly a.s.sisted in the first defence of Corfe Castle, was persuaded by the Governor of Wareham to help him to escape, and to accompany him on his flight. The treachery of Lawrence was a heavy blow for Lady Bankes, but she did not despair, believing it impossible that any other of her friends would turn traitor.