http://canhistory.blogspot.com/

“The Americans are coming!”

Laura Secord (1775 – 1868) was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812.

“She was a pioneer and a mother of five whose husband had been wounded and left for dead during the Battle of Queenston Heights. Laura had gone to the battlefield, found him, and taken him home. She was nursing her husband back to health when the Americans arrived and took command of the Secord homestead.

Laura overheard the officers discussing their plans for a surprise attack at Beaver Dams, and the following morning she set off on an epic 32-kilometre trek across the war zone to warn the British. When she finally climbed the Niagara Escarpment, her feet were bleeding and night had fallen. Mohawk sentries took her to see Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. Tipped off by Laura Secord, FitzGibbon set up an ambush at Beaver Dams (now Thorold, Ontario) on June 24, 1813. The Mohawk war cries frightened the Americans into surrender, and FitzGibbon and his men took almost 500 Americans prisoner, including the commander. “Not a shot was fired on our side by any but the Indians,” wrote FitzGibbon, approvingly. “They beat the American attachment into a state of terror.” At Stoney Creek, two weeks earlier, the American invasion had been stopped.

At Beaver Dams it was turned back.”

Many thanks to:
http://lgsquirrel.stumbleupon.com/
for finding this site.