Life is Not A Box of Chocolates, God Damnit.

When I say the name Laura Secord, most of you probably think of delicious chocolates and several flavours of creamy ice cream. Perhaps, like me, you remember the square shaped lollipops in various flavours (butterscotch, orange, strawberry etc…) that your grandmother gave you as a child. What if I told you that the delicious confectionery store of all your childhood dreams was named after a Canadian heroine from the War of 1812?

Well, shut the..front door! Right!?

If you already knew this, then I am so proud of you! If you didn’t know, sit tight and let me weave you a tale of heroism, espionage, suspense topped off with large dollop of girl power.

Laura Ingersoll was married to James Secord sometime around 1797 and they settled in Queenston in Niagara Falls. By the time the war broke out in 1812, Laura and James already had five children (busy little beavers...pun intended). During the Battle of Queenston Heights in October of 1812, Laura’s husband was wounded severely in the leg and shoulder. When Laura heard of his injuries, she left her home to go to his side. She nursed her husband and when he was well enough to convalesce at home, they traveled back to their homestead, only to find it looted by the American army. Bummer.

However, that was not the crazy part.

In June in 1813, the American army occupied much of Queenston. In fact, the Secord’s were forced to billet American soldiers in their home. While her husband was still recovering from his injuries, Laura somehow overheard plans for an American attack on the British forces at Beaver Dams. Exact details of how she overheard this information is not recorded in detail but with her husband unable to make the dangerous journey to warn the British, Laura took it upon herself.

Laura, who was 38 years old at the time, ran/walked/crawled/swam for 20 miles (32 kilometres) to warn Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon about the American plans.

This is another one of these moments where we need to sit and think about the gravity of that last sentence. Laura set off alone, a woman in enemy occupied territory, perhaps even through enemy lines, with a tight deadline and traveled for over 20 miles to warn the British. That is an impressive feat for anyone, let alone a 19th century housewife from Queenston, who had been at home nursing her ailing, wounded husband day and night, while caring for her five children.

She stumbled into a Mohawk camp and the native allies gave her a guide to lead/help her travel the rest of the way to Lt. Fitzgibbon. She told Fitzgibbon of the pending attack on the British forces at Beaver Dams. As a result, Fitzgibbon was able to send out a contingent of 300-400 native warriors to ambush the American forces. He added a group of 50 British soldiers from the 49th regiment and ordered the successful surrender of Colonel Charles Boerstler who was leading the American army.

For dramatic effect, you can check out the Heritage Minute about Laura Secord below:

(You know how much I love my Heritage Minutes, and that was not sarcasm)

As you can see, the news of her delivering the message is where the story of Laura Secord usually stops. Well, not today friends, NOT-UP-IN-HERE!

It seems that Laura Secord falls victim to the fact that she was a woman in a time when being a woman seem to exclude you from proper recognition and reverence for deeds that a man, in her position, would have undoubtedly received.

But Emma... she has a Canadian Heritage Minute about her! Someone named a chocolate franchise after her! As wonderful as all of that is, I doubt it helped feed her family in the 1800s.

In the reports after the battle of Beaver Dams, Laura Secord’s name was not mentioned on any of the official documents. It wasn’t until later in 1820 that Fitzgibbon wrote about Laura in a petition to obtain her husband a position of employment. The family survived meagerly on James Secord’s military pension, obtained for his wounds obtained during the war. When he died of a stroke in 1841, Laura was left destitute and she petitioned the government, with written help from Lt. Fitzgibbon, for her own military pension. She was denied several times. During the following decades of Laura’s life her family petitioned for some sort of acknowledgement for her heroic actions. None was given. That is, until 1860 when Laura was 85 years old. The Prince of Wales was touring Canada and heard about Laura Secord. She had tried to make herself known to him through creating a memorial of her service and signing a list of 1812 veterans that was presented to him. When he returned to England, he sent Laura a reward of one hundred British pounds and this would be the only recognition she would achieve in her entire lifetime. She died in 1868 at the age of 93.

So, I would like you all to consider this:

If her husband had been well enough to make the 32km walk through swamp, and forest to warn Lt. Fitzgibbon would he have been remembered as a war hero? Would he have received recognition for his service? The Americans that surrendered at Beaver Dams, were over 500 in number. It is quite likely that they would have decimated the British/Native force had the attack been a surprise as originally planned.

So why does history treat our heroines differently then our hero’s?

In my humble opinion, it is because we let it.

Tell your daughters, tell you sons, talk to your nieces and nephews. Take the future generations to Drummond cemetery in Niagara Falls to honour Laura Secord’s grave. Go to Queenston Heights and check out her monument, visit her homestead, look for her other monuments in Ottawa or Niagara!

It is left to us to reform the fact that most Canadians associate Laura Secord’s name with chocolate more so than the heroine herself.

Please, let's change this.

Until next week.

~Em

Meeting between Laura Secord and Lieut. Fitzgibbon, June 1813 Oil on Canvas by Lorne K. Smith, Library and Archives Canada

SOURCES

Bonikowsky, Laura Neilson. "Laura Secord". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 29 May 2019, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/laura-secord. Accessed 27 November 2019.

Ruth McKenzie, “INGERSOLL, LAURA (Secord),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed November 29, 2019, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ingersoll_laura_9E.html.

Various Authors, “Laura Secord” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Secord