THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 79 



THE BATTLE OF STONY CREEK. 



READ BEFORE THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



BY INSPECTOR J. H. SMITH. 



By the splendor of its trappings, by the martial ardor which it 

 inspires, by the heroic bravery of its devotees, and by the pomp and 

 pageantry of its surroundings, war carries the mind of man away 

 from its stern realities and shocking barbarities, where 



" Naked plains and ravaged fields 

 Succeed to smiling harvests, and the fruits of peaceful labor." 



Could we, if only in imagination, visit the battlefield after the 

 struggle is over, and see the mangled forms of the dead and dying, 

 witness the desolation and destruction that follow in its train, and 

 hear the wail of the widow and orphan as they mourn over loved 

 ones, how differently should we look upon it ! With what deep feel- 

 ings of solicitude would our hearts be stirred if even rumors of war 

 should reach the quiet of our homes ! But how much greater would 

 the intensity of these feelings be, if the pleasant valleys and hills of 

 our native land should ever resound to the measured tread of invad- 

 ing armies ! 



Some such thoughts must naturally have arisen in the minds of 

 these pioneer settlers when they learned that the authorities of the 

 American Republic had openly proclaimed war against Great Britain. 

 Among the peaceably disposed inhabitants of Canada, whose only 

 crime appears to have been a warm attachment to the mother country, 

 and an honest devotion to her laws and institutions, these alarming 

 reports must have spread feelings of terror and dismay. To see their 

 homes and their loved ones exposed to all the hardships and priva- 

 tions of an unprovoked war, and to witness the ruin of their country 

 at the hands of a kindred people, speaking the same language, and 

 holding in common the traditions of a glorious past, nerved them to 

 deeds of valor and aroused a spirit of resistance that must ever com- 

 mand the respect and admiration of their posterity. Our forefathers 

 had not forgotten the bitter experiences of the Revolutionary struggle, 



