76 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



was shot in several parts of his body and also received two cuts from a cutlass. He 

 was permanently injured; he received a pension from Upper Canada of £100 ($400) 

 per annum, counting from December 29, 1837. The Preamble of the Act is worth 

 copying: 



"Whereas Sheppard McCormick, Esquire, a retired Lieutenant in the Royal 

 Navy, received several severe wounds in action at the capture and destruction of 

 the piratical steamer 'Caroline,' in an attempt to i'nvade this Province by a lawless 

 banditti, by which he is disabled and it is just and right that he should receive a 

 Pension during such period as he may be so disabled by said wounds." 



He received the pension until his death when it was continued to his widow. 



It was the conventional thing for all loyal Canadians from the Lieutenant 

 Governor down to call the Canadian Rebels and their American "Sympathisers," 

 " Pirates" — they were "Pirates" to precisely the same extent and in the same way as 

 William of Orange and his English and Dutch followers — "Pirates," however, offset 

 "Patriots" with "apt alteration's artful aid." "Banditti" ("we call them plain thieves 

 in England") is another term of opprobrium equally well deserved: "a Banditti" is 

 not quite without precedent in our literature — but then I recall a student of mine, 

 CoM5M/eP/awco, speaking of the distance between "one foci of an ellipse and the other." 

 And Parliament is like Rex, super grammaticam. 



The second reported wounded was Captain John Warren, formerly an ofificer 

 in the 60th Regiment — his wounds were trifling and he resumed duty the following 

 day, Dent, Vol. 2, 212; Leg. Ass., 89, 90. The third was Richard Arnold (wrongly 

 called John Arnold in the official report, Leg.'Ass., 90). His story is given in Dent, 

 Vol. 2, 214 — he was "struck by a cutlass on the arm and got a pretty deep gash 

 just above the elbow;" he was "invalided and sent home to Toronto in a sleigh next 

 day;" "there his wound healed rapidly, leaving him none the worse." He died in 

 Toronto, June 18, 1884. He always was properly proud of being the last man to 

 leave the "Caroline." 



^' Captain Drew in his official report said, "I regret to add that five or six of 

 the enemy were killed," Leg. Ass., 90; but it is reasonably certain that there was 

 only one killed- — this was Amos Durfee of Buffalo, for the murder of whom Alexander 

 McLeod was tried at Utica, N.Y., in 1841. There were several wounded, more or 

 less severely. 



^■^ MacNab, writing to Lt.-Col. Strachan, from Chippewa, January 19, 1838, 

 says, "Three of our brave and loyal Militia have unfortunately lost their lives in 

 the service of their country against the Rebels and their piratical allies upon Navy 

 Island. They were all killed by gunshot wounds." Leg. Ass., 264. 



^* He was arrested as a spy but released. 



^^ The existing accounts mention that the casualties on the Island were one killed 

 by a round shot, and one slightly wounded by a splinter. Dent, Vol. 2, 224, note. 



'' I have not seen any reference to this circumstance in any of the other accounts. 



1^ Mrs. Mackenzie, née Isabel Baxter, a native of Dundee, was married to 

 William Lyon Mackenzie at Montreal, 1822, when Mackenzie was living in Dundas. 

 She was a woman of sterling character, a devoted wife and mother. She was the only 

 woman who spent any time on Navy Island. "She arrived there only a few hours 

 before the destruction of the 'Caroline,' and remained nearly a fortnight with hec 

 husband, making flannel cartridge bags and inspiring with courage by her entire 

 freedom from fear, all with whom she conversed. At the end of about a fortnight, 

 illhealth obliged her to leave." Lindsey, Vol. 1., 38, Vol. 2., 163. 



Navy Island was abandoned by the "Patriots," January 14th, 1838, Dent, 

 Vol. 2, 223. 



