Battlefield House Museum & Park National Historic Site

Samuel Nash immigrated to Upper Canada from Connecticut in 1800 and married Susannah Gage ten years later. The newly married couple was deeded land from Susannah's father, William Gage. The two-storey Georgian-style dwelling was completed in 1880 and was remodelled by five successive generations of the Nash family.

Gage Family of Stoney Creek

Mary Jones Gage
The widow Mary Jones Gage settled in Stoney Creek with her two children, James Jr. and Elizabeth, who were 16 and 14 years of age at the time. They came to Upper Canada from New York State in 1790 after the American Revolutionary War in which her husband, James Gage Sr., lost his life defending Fort Clinton against the British.

Elizabeth Gage (Westbrook) 1777 to 1859
In 1796, daughter Elizabeth married Major John Westbrook who made their home in Brant County. Their marriage was blessed with 16 children, two of whom died in early childhood.

James Gage Jr. 1774 to 1854
In 1796, Mary’s son James married Mary Davis. James and Mary made their home at the Gage House with James' mother and had ten children.

Mary Davis Gage 1777 to 1853
The Davis family had come to Canada from a plantation in North Carolina and later settled on Mud Street in a house they called, "Harmony Hall".

Sara Galbraith 1846 to 1914
Sara Calder was the great-granddaughter of Mary Jones Gage; the second child of Ann Eliza Gage (the last child born to James and Mary Gage) and Levi Beemer. She was responsible for the construction of the Battlefield Monument and the preservation of Battlefield House as a museum.

On December 6, 1888, a group of citizens formed the Wentworth Historical Society. Sara was president of the Ladies' Committee of the Society responsible for organizing fundraising events and preserving historical artifacts. Between 1894 and 1899, the ladies organized several successful fundraising events to build a monument in honour of the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Stoney Creek. In 1899, the ladies voted to sever ties with the Wentworth Historical Society and formed the Women's Wentworth Historical Society. They purchased the Gage homestead for $1,900, and on October 23, 1899, Battlefield Park was officially opened by Lady Aberdeen.

The Battle of Stoney Creek

On June 5, 1813, American forces marched from Niagara and set up camp at the Gage family homestead. In the early morning hours of June 6, 700 British troops marched from Burlington Heights - where Dundurn Castle stands today – and defeated 3,000 American soldiers under the cover of darkness. The Battle is considered a turning point in the War of 1812 as the Americans, who occupied Fort George at the time, never penetrated as far into the Niagara Peninsula again.

Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813 by James E. Elliott

"That night a child might understand The Devil has business on his hand"

Excerpted from Strange Fatality: The Battle of Stoney Creek, 1813
By James E. Elliott 
ROBIN BRASS STUDIO 
Copyright © 2009 James E. Elliott. 
All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission 
www.strangefatality.com

Although John Norton fielded no more than a handful of warriors at Stoney Creek and, by his own account, their part was limited, Indians nevertheless played a significant role – out of all proportion to their actual numbers – in how the action played out. The Americans believed at the time, and continued to believe for dozens of years afterwards, that they were attacked by a large contingent of native warriors.

There were plenty of survivors of Queenston Heights at Stoney Creek – particularly in the Second Artillery – who had first-hand knowledge of just how terrifying Norton’s warriors could be in battle. Likely every soldier in Chandler’s command had heard some version of the recent River Raisin massacre in Michigan Territory where, after the battle the American wounded were slaughtered by Indians. All the way down the peninsula, the spectre of Indian ambushes had been a constant fear, even though Norton’s numbers amounted to little more than a corporal’s guard and had only made contact once.

Battlefield Monument

This local landmark was unveiled to an audience of 15,000 on the centennial of the Battle of Stoney Creek, June 6, 1913, by Queen Mary in London by means of a transatlantic telegraph cable. Designed by the architectural firm of F. J. Rastrick and Sons, the monument stands 100 feet tall to commemorate a century of peace between Britain and the United States. Under the leadership of Sara Calder, it was commissioned by the Women's Wentworth Historical Society, one of the first all-women’s historical societies in Canada.

Eagles Among Us

The artwork by David M. General consists of four, nine-foot-high granite eagle figures inscribed with symbols and text arranged on a circular plaza. The artist uses interpretations of the cultural traditions of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabek communities to address the theme of healing and reconciliation. The work was commissioned as part of the City of Hamilton's War of 1812 Bicentennial commemoration

Smith’s Knoll

During the Battle of Stoney Creek, the American artillery was positioned on a rise of land located north-east of the Gage homestead. Historical records indicate that following the battle some of the soldiers were buried here in a mass grave. In 1899, Allan Smith, while ploughing on this rise of land, uncovered human remains and bits of cloth with the insignia of both British and American regiments. The area became known in the community as Smith’s Knoll.

On May 3, 1908, an area known as the Soldier’s Plot at Smith’s Knoll was consecrated and by 1910, a stone cairn and statue of a lion were installed. On August 1, 1910, the ‘Lion’s Monument’ at Smith’s Knoll was unveiled as a memorial to the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Stoney Creek. After significant community consultation and restoration of Smith's Knoll, Battlefield Cemetery was reopened on June 4, 2000.

William Green of Stoney Creek - 1794 to 1877

Local legend has it that at 19 years of age, having learned the password of the American troops encamped in Stoney Creek, ‘Billy the Scout’ rode through the woods to Burlington Heights and delivered this information to the British. He then led the British Army back to the Gage Homestead where they staged a surprise night attack and successfully stopped the American advance into Upper Canada.