[BouriNorT] DUNDURN AND BURLINGTON HEIGHTS 5 
during the Civil War in America and lai. the foundations of the 
province of Ontario on the basis of staunch devotion to the Crown and 
Empire. The Niagara peninsula is full of the memories of these loyal 
people to whom Canada owes a debt of gratitude which she can never 
repay. Among them was one Robert Land, a fugitive from the banks 
of the Delaware River near Coshecton, New York, who was the first pro- 
prietor of the farm, afterwards known as Lundy’s, where a great battle 
was fought on a midsummer’s night in 1814. Subsequently he left the 
banks of the Niagara and built a rough cabin or “shack,” in 1781, at 
“the head of the lake,” or Burlington Bay—called Lake Geneva until 
1792. His wife,.a relative of General Wingfield Scott, thought he was 
dead, and sought refuge with her children at the close of the war in the 
new province of New Brunswick. Several years later they wandered to 
the banks of the Niagara, where they had tidings of the husband and 
father, long believed to have fallen a victim to the revolution, and were 
soon able to join him in his solitary home at the head of the bay. An- 
other contestant for the honour of first settlement in the same district 
was Mr. Richard Beasley, an Indian trader, whose name is especially in- 
teresting to the historian of Dundurn, since he was the first claimant of 
the land on which it stands, and must be certainly admitted to have been 
one of the earliest pioneers of Wentworth. More fortunate, however, than 
either of these two pioneers from the point of view of fame were George 
Hamilton and James Hughson, who owned two farms below the Moun- 
tain, and have had their names perpetuated in the city and in one of 
its streets.°® 
But I shall not venture into the domain where the local historian 
and antiquarian can more profitably and intelligently delve. Mine the 
easier task to touch lightly on the most conspicuous events in the history 
of these historic grounds. It was during the war of 1812-15 that Bur- 
lington Heights became first famous in Canadian annals. From the be- 
ginning to the end of this conflict Upper Canada was the principal 
battle ground for the armies of the hostile nations. Here the United 
States believed that they could successfully occupy a province with a 
relatively insignificant population, and an ill-defended frontier, easily 
crossed by an invading army. This war brought out in bold relief the 
devotion and courage of the Loyalists and their descendants, who com- 
posed the greater proportion of the militia who fought by the side of the 
regular troops and saved Canada to England. It is a war full of illus- 
trations of the heroism of Canadian men and women, and even of boys 
who, we are told, fled from their parents that they might fight in the 
ranks. In this memorable struggle the Heights became most important 
as a base of military operations. In 1713, towards the end of this very 
