Battle of Ridgeway

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Battle of Ridgeway, 2 June 1866. This engagement was fought between Canadian volunteers, led by militia officer Lt-Col Alfred Booker, and FENIAN Civil War veterans, commanded by Col John O'Neill, who crossed the river from Buffalo on the night of May 31 with about 800 men. On hearing that 2 columns were sent against him, one from Hamilton and one from Toronto, O'Neill marched to meet the Hamilton column, about 900 men under Booker. O'Neill took up a position about 5 km from the railway station at Ridgeway where Booker's men detrained and marched N. The forces met early on June 2. Fenian mounted scouts were mistaken for cavalry, and Booker threw his forces into confusion by ordering them to form a square. Perceiving his opponents' difficulties, O'Neill drove them from the field with a bayonet charge. The Canadians lost 10 killed and 38 wounded, and Fenian losses, though there are no records, were less.
Battle of Ridgeway
Battle of Ridgeway
The charge of the Fenians under Colonel O'Neill at the Battle of Ridgeway, near Niagara, Ontario, on 2 June 1866 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-18737).

Author HEREWARD SENIOR


Links to Other Sites
Historica-Dominion Institute
The website for the Historica-Dominion Institute, parent organization of The Canadian Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Check out their extensive online feature about the War of 1812, the "Heritage Minutes" video collection, and many other interactive resources concerning Canadian history, culture, and heritage.

Ridgeway: An historical romance of the Fenian invasion of Canada
Read the full text of a digitized copy of James McCarroll's 1868 book "Ridgeway: An historical romance of the Fenian invasion of Canada." Click on the arrows in the toolbar to view each page of the book. From Early Canadiana Online.

The Fenian Brotherhood
Scroll down the page for a brief history of the scattered Fenian raids into Canada in the 19th century. From the Archives of Ontario.

Documents from the Front: The American Civil War and Fenian Raids in the 1860s
View online copies of rare archival documents relating to the American Civil War and Fenian Raids in the 1860s. From the Archives of Ontario.

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