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Battlefield House Museum

Battlefield House is a living history museum that sits within Battlefield Park, thirty-two acres of field and forest nestled at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment in Stoney Creek near King Street West and Centennial Parkway. The park is the site of the historic Battle of Stoney Creek, which took place on June 6, 1813, during the War of 1812.

In 1812 the United States declared war on Britain and invaded Upper Canada from the border of the Niagara Peninsula. American forces crossed the Niagara River and captured Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake (then Newark) in May 1813. Approximately 3,500 American troops moved on in pursuit of the British who had retreated to Burlington Heights, a location in Hamilton where Dundurn Castle now stands.[1]

Approximately three thousand American troops arrived at Stoney Creek on June 5, 1813, and camped down for the night. The Gage House was used as headquarters by the two American generals, William H. Winder and John Chandler.

Early the next morning, the British launched a surprise assault under the cover of darkness. It was made possible through the assistance of Billy Green, a nineteen-year-old local civilian. Having witnessed the attack from the Niagara Escarpment, Billy rode and walked to Burlington Heights to alert the British soldiers. The British decided on a night attack, and Billy, an experienced woodsman who knew the area well, was given a sword and uniform and acted as a scout.

About seven hundred regulars of the 8th and 49th Regiments of Foot, under Lieutenant-Colonel John Harvey, stopped the American advance and allowed the British to re-establish their position in Niagara.

During the forty-minute battle, hundreds of soldiers died and the British captured the two American generals. The Americans retreated to Forty Mile Creek (Grimsby) and then to Fort George.[2]

This was the last time American soldiers ever advanced so far into the Niagara Peninsula region.

Battlefield Park’s tall trees, huge stretches of open space, and winding stream are open for the public to enjoy through each season of the year, with all visitors enjoying and appreciating the natural beauty of the park.

But the ghosts of both the British and American soldiers who died on that very soil are never far from visitors’ minds, particularly with the Battlefield Monument — one hundred feet tall and the second-largest monument built in Canada to commemorate the War of 1812 — standing over the grounds.

Influenced by the towering monument to Admiral Nelson at Calton Hill, erected in 1816 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Battlefield Monument is a tapered, castellated tower that rises from a buttressed base. It was designed in the English Gothic Revival style. Observation decks at the top of the base and tower afford picturesque views of the entire battlefield.[3]

The monument was constructed shortly after the turn of the century, at a time when men and women were active in improving their communities through the development of schools, libraries, and museums. A small group of citizens formed the Wentworth Historical Society in December of 1888.[4] The women of the group, led by Sara Calder, formed a separate group in 1899 called the Women’s Wentworth Historical Society. Through their spirited fundraising, organizing, and work with the federal government, the park was opened to the public and work began on the monument.

In 1900 the architectural firm of F.J. Rastrick and Sons submitted a design for the monument. These plans, in keeping with the nationalistic attitude, called for only Canadian materials such as Queenston limestone to be used.[5]

On the centennial of the Battle of Stoney Creek, June 6, 1913, the completed monument was unveiled by Queen Mary in London, via a transatlantic cable. Approximately fifteen thousand people, both civilians and military, were in attendance, and children were given a half-day off school.[6]

The dedication stone at the base of the monument reads:

UNVEILED BY ELECTRICITY JUNE 6TH 1913 BY

HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARY

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA, COLONEL THE HONOURABLE SAM HUGHES BEING MINISTER OF MILITIA AND DEFENCE, TO COMMEMORATE THE BATTLE OF STONEY CREEK JUNE 6TH 1813.

THE BRITISH TROOPS UNDER COMMAND OF GENERAL VINCENT AND LIEUT. COLONEL HARVEY CONSISTED OF THE 49TH REG’T IN COMMAND OF MAJOR PLENDERLEATH AND FIVE COMPANIES OF THE 8TH OF KING’S IN COMMAND OF MAJOR OGILVIE, TO WHICH WAS ADDED THE VOLUNTEER ASSISTANCE OF THE SETTLERS HEREABOUTS LED BY CAPT. W.H.MERRITT OF THE CANADIAN MILITIA, THE TOTAL NUMBER BEING ABOUT SEVEN HUNDRED. THE AMERICAN FORCE NUMBERED UPWARDS OF THREE THOUSAND UNDER COMMAND OF GENERALS CHANDLER AND WINDER.

THEY WERE ENCAMPED IN THIS IMMEDIATE VICINITY WITH STAFF HEADQUARTERS IN THE GAGE FARM HOUSE, NOW MAINTAINED BY THE WOMENS WENTWORTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY THROUGH WHOSE REPRESENTATIONS AND UNDER WHOSE DIRECTION THIS MEMORIAL WAS BUILT.

IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT THE BRITISH ADVANCED FROM BURLINGTON HEIGHTS AND SURPRISING THE ENEMY, PUT HIM TO CONFUSION. THIS IS HELD TO HAVE BEEN THE DECISIVE ENGAGEMENT IN THE WAR OF 1812–13.

HERE THE TIDE OF INVASION WAS MET AND TURNED BY THE PIONEER PATRIOTS AND SOLDIERS OF THE KING OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

MORE DEADLY THAN THEIR LIVES THEY HELD THOSE PRINCIPLES AND TRADITIONS OF BRITISH LIBERTY OF WHICH CANADA IS THE INHERITOR.[7]

Down the hill from the monument, facing King Street and central to the mystique of this location, lies Battlefield House. It was the homestead of the widow Mary Jones Gage and her two children, James Jr. and Elizabeth. Her husband, James Gage Sr., died in the American Revolutionary War while defending Fort Clinton against the British. Mrs. Gage and her children packed up their belongings, came to the Stoney Creek area in 1790, and received a grant of two hundred acres in exchange for swearing allegiance to the British monarchy.[8]

First built as a rough-hewn log house, the building was replaced in 1796 by a storey-and-a-half frame Georgian-style home, built with symmetrically balanced windows, a steep roof, a huge veranda, and large chimneys.[9]

In 1813 the house was taken over by American soldiers who used it for their headquarters, imprisoning Mrs. Gage and her children in the basement. After the battle, the Gage family eventually returned to their normal lives and James went into business. In 1830 the house was renovated to include a full two storeys. In 1835, Mary Gage moved to Hamilton with her family, selling the farm.[10]

The building exchanged hands many times in the following years, and, like so many historically significant buildings in the Hamilton area, was in a terrible state of repair and in danger of being torn down.

Sara Calder, granddaughter of James and Mary Gage and president of the ladies committee of the Wentworth Historical Society, had the foresight to recognize the historical value of the property. She purchased the house and adjacent four-and-a-half-acre property surrounding it; this property was eventually transferred to the Wentworth Historical Society.[11]

The Wentworth Historical Society restored and refurnished the house to open it as a museum (one of the first museums in Canada), then purchased additional land, built the monument, and opened Battlefield Park.[12]

In 1962, when the Society was unable to keep up the grounds and the house, the Niagara Parks Commission took it over. In the 1970s, the house was restored to its 1835 state.[13]

In 1988 the City of Stoney Creek assumed responsibility for the property, [14] and a group of dedicated volunteers continue to assist staff members with the park and museum’s operation. For thirty years now, each June the Battlefield House Museum and Park presents the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek. In 2011 this re-enactment was declared one of the top one hundred events in Ontario by Festivals and Events Ontario. This historic event allows families to experience first-hand the thrill and pageantry of a battle that represented a significant turning point in the War of 1812.[15]

Annually, thousands of people virtually step back in time to visit the encampment, mingle with early nineteenth-century soldiers, and witness historical demonstrations of cooking, blacksmithing, dancing, games, and musical entertainment.[16] But as they move among the white tents, strewn across the field like ghostly reminders of the hundreds of soldiers whose lives were lost on these grounds, they perhaps feel the presence of something else.

Haunted Hamilton has received multiple reports of people witnessing misty soldiers moving silently across the historic battlefield, sometimes with the ghostly echoes of cannons firing in the air.

But, to date, the most fascinating and consistent reports of supernatural activity involve one particular ghost who is said to reside in Battlefield House. Though there are not many claims

Battlefield House was originally the homestead of the widow Mary Jones Gage and her children.

Courtesy of Stephanie Lechniak.

of sighting of a physical apparition, many stories are told about the playful and mischievous spirit, thought to be that of Mrs. Gage herself, the home’s original owner.

The location of the bodily remains of Mrs. Gage, who died in 1841, remains a mystery, though they were reportedly interred in a lead-lined casket in the First United Church (which burned down in 1969). After this devastating fire, the remains of Mary and other early settlers of the time are said to have been relocated to the Woodland Cemetery in Burlington, where a plaque was erected in their honour.[17] It is further posited that Mary Gage’s headstone and body disappeared in the move — and that her restless spirit has found its way back to Battlefield House.

Reports include antique pieces, particularly ones that Mrs. Gage Sr. would have used, disappearing from a room, only to be found in a completely different part of the house several days later. The spirit of Mary is said to be responsible for the occasional electrical malfunction of vacuum cleaners and computers.[18] Additionally, a clairvoyant who toured the house was disturbed by a pervasive aura of violence in one of the front bedrooms. She also experienced what she described as a benevolent spirit with a strong personality.[19]

Over the years, amateurs and seasoned supernatural investigators alike have compiled various audio, video, and photographic materials. The findings range from spectral orbs and eerie shadows appearing in photographs to unexplainable sounds and voices.

One thing that is certain, though, is that any place in which so many lives were lost suddenly and violently is certain to be a hotspot for paranormal activity.