Battle Hill National Historic Site

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  The American Naval victory over the Royal Navy on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813 and the subsequent withdrawal of British forces from Fort Malden and Fort Detroit and their defeat at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813 left the residents of Southwest Upper Canada (the London and Western Districts) vulnerable to attacks from American troops stationed in Detroit, Sandwich and Fort Malden. During the winter of 1813-1814, the American Forces on the Detroit-Fort Malden frontier were unable to obtain adequate food and supplies from neighbouring area settlements in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. The settlements and farmers of Essex and Kent Counties were easily accessible thus, numerous scavenging or foraging expeditions were made to “appropriate” any and everything that could assist the American troops on the Detroit Frontier, who were suffering and even dying for lack of food, supplies and shelter. Over 700 American soldiers stationed at Fort Detroit, Fort Malden and Sandwich died these conditions during that winter. One such expedition led by Captain Andrew Hunter Holmes with about 180 mounted soldiers en route to Delaware on the Thames River, was intercepted by the Caldwell Western Rangers at Twenty Mile Creek (e.g. 20 miles west of Delaware) on March 3, 1814. About 250 British, Militia and First Nations forces from Delaware came to assist in fending off this invading American force. The resulting conflict on March 4, 1814 left 16 British and 5 Americans dead and over fifty wounded. For over twenty years the Upper Thames Military Re-enactment Society (UTMRS) has conducted a re-enactment of this battle at 8348 Longwoods Road (west of Delaware, ON) on the first weekend in May. On Saturday, March 8, 2014, a 200 year Commemoration and Re-enactment took place on the actual battle site, 2945 Longwoods Road in Southwest Middlesex.
  By Mary Simpson, February 19, 2017

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