Canada General Service Medal, 1866-70

[RattlesnakeJack]

Just a little "Show & Tell post .....

Seems every time I resolve to cut back my spending on 'goodies and toys', something immediately comes along to shake that resolve!  Latest item acquired is this original Canada General Service Medal, awarded for service in the Fenian Raids of 1866-1870 or the Red River Expedition of 1870 ..... even though I am not a medal collector, and sincerely hope I don't end up adding that particular vice to an already over-long list of vices-







Of course, if you know my surname, you'll understand why I had to buy this when it became available!  

(Everyone in Canada born with the surname Rombough is related ..... the whole bunch having descended from a single family of United Empire Loyalists in which there were four sons .... the three eldest of whom served with their father in the 2nd Battalion,  King's Royal Regiment of New York.)

[Pitspitr]

Jack I suppose you can be forgiven of this vice as it's kind of like folks who collect Davenport Shotguns

I hadn't thought of it until I saw the name on the medal but my son's cardiologist's mother married a Rombough.  We used to go over to their house after football games and soak in their whirlpool.

[RattlesnakeJack]

Having acquired the above medal over four years ago .... and discovering it was one of three such medals awarded to Privates of the same surname (all members of the same unit) Battalion .... I have recently learned of (and have just purchased) a second one of these three medals!



Hence my relatively recent circa-1870 Canadian Militia Infantry impression and choice of the 43rd Battalion as the specific unit of the impression ....   If I could locate and acquire the medal awarded to Pte. H (Hamilton) Rombough, I'd have the complete set!



(The above rather fuzzy compilation is excerpted from the original handwritten Roll of recipients of the 1866-1870 Canada General Service Medal ..... unfortunately hard to make out from the microfilmed records available on ancestry.ca.  The relevant heading reads: "Nature of Service, where performed - detail in full" and the entry under that heading, "dittoed" for all members of the 43rd Battalion who received the medal, reads: "?? May to 4th June 1870 at Prescott - Attack expected" .... which refers to the mobilization of the 43rd Battalion for an anticipated raid by Fenians marshaling across the Saint Lawrence River near Ogdensburg, New York.  Other Militia units were also called out and stationed in the area, with the result that the Fenian attack did not materialize.

The encampment of the mobilized Militia was located at Fort Wellington outside Prescott, as depicted in this contemporary painting -



At the time of its mobilization, the 43rd Battalion was a rural infantry unit from the Carleton region, between Ottawa (the National Capital) and Prescott.  It was headquartered at Bell's Corners, with a total of eight Companies located in the communities of Bell's Corners, Huntley, Metcalfe, North Gower, Richmond, Golbourn, Manotick and Russell -

[PJ Hardtack]

I've been to the restored Fort Wellington, and it's an impressive site.

There is a stonework revetment leading up from the river that leads to a "killing ground", enabling defenders to fire on attackers as they withdrew back to the fort. It would have been a formidable objective in the era.

There was a young tour guide in the blockhouse wearing the heavy wool uniform of a Rifle Regiment (Brockville Rifles?), armed with a Baker Rifle that he was able to interpret quite well. It was one of those "not warranted" to fire, offered by Loyalist Arms of Nova Scotia.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I have driven through Bell's Corners, on the way to the Connaught Ranges.