Many Indigenous people and nations in the Upper Great Lakes allied with and fought alongside the British Army during the War of 1812. Louis George Labatte of the Upper Great Lakes Métis Community was one such veteran.
Labatte participated in the capture of Mackinaw and other pivotal events. Through his experiences, Louis George Labatte had many stories to pass along to his children about his time during the war. His son, Antoine Labatte, later recounted one of his father’s tales about the sinking of the British schooner, Nancy, at Nottawasaga:
“I heard of the burning of the schooner Nancy at Nottawasaga. She ran into the river followed by the Yankee schooners. She got inside the bar, where they had a slight skirmish, when the captain set fire to her to prevent her falling into the hands of the Yankees.”
Antoine also recalled being told about the legendary capture of two American schooners, Scorpion and Tigress, which the American’s had used to devastating effect during an attack on the North West Company’s establishment at Sault Ste. Marie in August 1814. The following month, the Tigress was spotted off the coast of Drummond Island and, a few days later, captured by the British and their allies:
“The captain and his men were left with nothing but the yawl boat, and they made their way back to St. Joseph Island by the North Shore, where they saw two ‘Yankee’ vessels. They ran across to Mackinaw and got permission from the Colonel and returned and captured the two schooners.”
The capture of the two American schooners was passed down orally, from father to son, within the Métis community. It is also commemorated on a plaque at Huronia Park on Fox Street in Penetanguishene and in a written account by John McDonald of Garth in Masson’s Les Bourgeois de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest.
Commentaires