On the afternoon of July 25, 1814, Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond, with about 2,000 British, Canadian and Native troops, engaged an invading American army. The two forces were almost evenly matched in size, but the U.S. troops, under Generals Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, had recently been victorious at Chippawa.

The British had established a line along a dusty cart track bordered by a grassy verge and trees. They placed their guns in an arc in the Cemetery. The US troops attacked across open fields with waist-high crops and chest-high split rail fences. They were cut down by the British artillery as they first emerged from the chestnut woods.

There were subsequent assaults as night fell. Eventually the US troops captured the guns, bayonetting the British artillerymen as they struggled to reload. The British tried to recapture the guns. Darkness had fallen, yet the fight continued on.

"The rest of that night was a murderous nightmare . . ."
Archaeologist Ron Williamson

The nighttime battle raged in the oppressive summer heat. The smoke of the guns was not moving out. The men could only see by musket flash and rockets. They met, in hand to hand combat, over fences and graves. Amidst the roar of the guns and the crackle of muskets, desperate men unable to tell friend from foe fired upon their own troops. In the heat and humidity, so close that their musket flashes overlapped, the two armies fought to a standstill.

After midnight, the U.S. forces retreated. Their supply lines were overextended, and they had lost too many men to hold the hilltop. Both sides were exhausted and had suffered heavy losses - - about 800 men from each were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The Americans took one British gun, but the others were left to the British. The British troops slumped to the ground and slept on the hillside in utter exhaustion.

Although each side claimed victory, the Americans had failed to dislodge General Drummond from his position. As they retreated the next day, the Americans crossed the bridge at Chippawa and then burned it behind them to prevent being immediately followed. They also torched Bridgewater Mills (at the site of the present-day Dufferin Islands.) Thus ended the offensive in Upper Canada.

The field was left in the hands of the British-Canadian forces, who had the onerous duty of cleaning up the battlefield. Pits were dug to house the bodies, and funeral pyres were lit. Christopher Buchner is said to have fought in his own fields and watched his fence rails being used for the funeral pyres.

Despite its importance in the annals of international history, the lands where the Battle of Lundy’s Lane was fought were never set aside in honour of the sacrifices made there. A crossroads community was forming at the time of the battle, and development continued unabated to the present day.

Local schoolteacher Ruth Redmond was appalled by this, and spent decades trying to preserve the battlefield from further encroachment. Out of desperation, she began to buy up properties herself. She dedicated herself to beautifying her lands in memory of "the boys" who died there, and in 1996 gave her lands to the City of Niagara Falls.

Our foundation grew out of the 1995 fight to save a crucial piece of battlefield property adjoining historic Drummond Hill Cemetery. When the City acquired the Cemetery and adjoining site, we began tending the battlefield lands and fundraising toward their development as a historic site. Ruth Redmond was a proud member of our foundation, which carries on her work today.

In April 1999, Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray announced that our application for Canada Millennium Partnership Project funding had been approved. Ruth Redmond had died a few days earlier. The announcement seemed a tribute to Ruth and to her vision for the Lundy’s Lane Battlefield.

Fortunately, because of prior, unofficial notification from our MP and the Millennium Bureau, we had been able to share the news of the funding approval with Ruth. She was very pleased. It confirmed that her long years of lonely work to preserve the battlefield lands were appreciated.

Ruth died with the knowledge that the funding for the development of the battlefield would fall into place in the near future, and that her dream would, in a few short years, blossom into the reality of a park commemorating one of the most crucial events in the history of Canada.

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