Fenians just outside of Huntington 1870

Our Earliest Canadian Ancestors in Canada

Continue Wallis Family in Quebec

50th Battalion Huntingdon Borderers were involved in the 1870 raids. Included on the list of Volunteers are "Wallis, Henry B. Pvt. Scouts" and "Wallis, John Pvt.

John & Henry Wallis defend their community, family, and British Queen near their village of Huntingdon in 1870 against the Fenians once again!

On 24 May 1870 the people of Huntingdon heard of the Fenians pouring into a camp that was ten miles to the north on Trout River in Malone, a half mile from the Boarder. Canada's volunteer were called to assemble.

Hill, Robert - Voice of the Vanishing Minority Robert Seller and the Huntingdon Gleaner,
1863-1919

‘By nightfall guards had been posted and a corps of young mounted scouts despatched, but the strength of the Fiftieth Battalion, Huntingdon Boarders, which paraded in the village the following afternoon, was a scat 150 men.’

Reinforcements were welcomed into the village by the Borderers on May 26th.

Mcgee, Robert - The Fenian raids on the Huntingdon frontier, 1866 and 1870, page 38

‘At midnight the 69th marched into Huntingdon by the Plank Road. They pitched their tents on the Parade Ground (now known as Prince Arthur Square) and bedded down for a few hours rest. The Commanding Officer, Col. Bagot consulted with Brigade-Major Fletcher, Lt. Col. McEachern and Lt. Butler to determine the situation on the Frontier.’

The Ontario special collections that was compiled by Henry Bull Wallis’ daughter, Mrs. Rachel Wallis Black, contains a letter from Colonel W.F. Butler to H.B. WALLIS and photographs of Colonel W.F. Butler and Colonel Bagot.

One hundred and eighty Fenians on the morning of 27 May had penetrated half a mile in Canada. Fenian commander, Brigadier-General Michael Starr commanded a barricade to be built adjacent to Trout River and to await further reinforcements.

H. Senior - The Last Invasion of Canada, page 168
‘At 4 a.m. on 27 May, Bulter, accompanied by several scouts recruited by McEachern, rode ahead of the troops towards the frontier.’
The bugle blared the morning of May 27, 1870 and eleven hundred British sang out ‘Tramp, tramp, tramp the boys are marching, we will drive the Fenians Back!’ whilst Colonel George Bagot shouted orders to the column marching down Front street on the move towards the Fenians.
Robert Sellar, the same man who interviewed many of our Wallis ancestors was anxious to arrive before the troops so he did not remain with the column but raced ahead with a horse and buggy. A half a mile from of the Fenian position he was at seven o'clock.

Hill, Robert - Voice of the Vanishing Minority Robert Seller and the Huntingdon Gleaner,
1863-1919

‘It was all over in less time than it took Sellar to scribble his notes. Bagot took one look at his scout's report, another at the terrain, and deployed his forces for an immediate assault. The frontal attack was entrusted to the Borderers, with a company of regulars supporting from the road. Leaping over the fences into the soft, ploughed fields, the Huntingdon men extended into skirmishing order and advanced on the double, firing as they ran.’

Websites on Fenian Raids
http://www.qor.com/history/ridgeway.html
http://www.regiments.org/about/faq/ancestor.htm
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/fenians/civil_war_era.htm
http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/tt/tt13.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~qcchatea/cvhs.htm