The Story of Peacock Point

Approximately 1km south of the Hobbitstee Nature Refuge is a lovely natural promontory jutting into Lake Erie, known as Peacock Point. Situated in Walpole Township (Haldimand County, ON), Peacock Point consists of a small community, classified by Haldimand County as a “Resort Residential Node”. The Peacock Point Cottage Owners Association, created in 1983, works collaboratively to maintain Peacock Park and its joyful summer social events, the shoreline water break, and a seasonally-operated water service, store, and community hall.

In the 1600’s, the area around the point, richly forested with cedar and pine trees (as described in later land petitions), was inhabited by the Chonnonton First Nation (also known as the Neutral Confederacy) (Noble, 2016) (Ellis, 1961). The name Chonnonton is translated as “the people who tend or manage deer” (Noble, 2016). In the early 1650’s, the Chonnonton were driven out of the region by the Iroquois Confederacy, famine, and disease, which resulted in their complete disappearance as an independent Nation (Jackes, 2008) (Noble, 2016). Uninhabited for the next 100 years (Harper, 1950), the land around the point was acquired by the British Government in the 1770’s (Nelles, 1905).

In 1807, a Blacksmith who had emigrated from the USA with his wife and 6 children petitioned the British government to lease land at the lakeshore of Lot 21, Concession 1, of Walpole Township (Public Archives of Canada, 1798-1820, Petition No. 17). The Blacksmith’s name was George Peacock, Sr. Although he had signed an Oath of Allegiance to the British Empire, his petition was refused, possibly because George Peacock had been jailed briefly “on suspicion of activities injurious to the Crown” (The Heritage Centre, Cayuga). In 1808, George Peacock again petitioned for a land lease, this time at the lake front of Walpole Lot 16, Concession 1 (Public Archives of Canada, 1798-1820, Petition No. 25). A character reference was supplied with the petition, describing George Peacock as “a very industrious man and of good character”. However, once again, he was refused land by the British government. The family had therefore squatted on the shoreline portion of Lot 16, Concession 1. Unable to farm, they hunted and fished to survive. The promontory was thereafter known as “Peacock Point”. However, George Peacock was not simply a “squatter” who had a point of land named after him. The story of George Peacock was about to take on greater significance in the history of Upper Canada.

When the Americans under President James Madison declared war on Britain on 18 June, 1812, approximately 80% of the settlers living in Upper Canada had emigrated from the US, and had children born in Canada (Cruikshank, 1912). Approximately 20% of those American colonists were Loyalists to the British Crown. It is therefore not surprising that many of the American sympathizers in Upper Canada, as well as some disaffected non-Americans, refused to be part of the British militia, including George Peacock, Sr., and his son, George Peacock, Jr., as evidenced by the record entitled “Names of persons who joined the enemy from the limits of the 2nd Regiment of Norfolk from June, 1812 to June, 1814” (Cruikshank, 1912). Sometime near the beginning of the war of 1812, the Peacock family left Peacock Point and moved to Clarence, near Buffalo, New York. Cruikshank (1912) describes how George Peacock, Sr., and his son joined a group of disaffected individuals who assembled in Buffalo, obtained arms and ammunition, and embarked on raids into Canada “with the object of seizing public property and taking militia officers”. However, as Cruikshank notes, in these and other American raids throughout Upper Canada, marauders went on to loot, burn or otherwise destroy private property of civilians; steal or kill livestock; and assault and murder citizens, taking the opportunity in some cases to exact revenge for personal grudges (Cruikshank, 1912), (Garrad, 2019). On November 13th, 1813, the two Peacock men assembled with fellow American sympathizers in the cabin of John Dunham on his leased land on Lot 4, Concession 1, Walpole, located at the mouth of Nanticoke Creek (North Erie Shore Historical Society, 2013). Unbeknownst to the Peacocks, they were about to be attacked by the Norfolk Militia, in what would become known as “The Battle of Nanticoke”. In the words of The Heritage Centre, Cayuga:

“Forty-five members of the Norfolk Militia lead by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bostwick surround John Dunham’s house in Nanticoke Creek. Dunham is a citizen of the British Empire, but he is a known sympathizer of the American cause and member of the Canadian Volunteers. Dunham wants North America to be a country independent from Great Britain, and so he has allowed American marauders and their Canadian allies to use his home as a headquarters for their attacks on the citizens and military forces of Upper Canada. Lieutenant Colonel Bostwick and his men are at Dunham’s house to capture him and the American invaders he is helping. Lieutenant Colonel Bostwick sends Captain John Bostwick, his brother, and Lieutenant Austin into Dunham’s house to ask the men if they will surrender, and to tell them that they are surrounded. The Americans put down their weapons and prepare to surrender, but soon begin to question whether they are truly surrounded as Captain Bostwick and Lieutenant Austin are telling them. One man fires his rifle at the officers, which alerts Lieutenant Bostwick and his men to trouble inside the house.

Within moments, gunfire has broken out and a battle ensues. Captain Bostwick is wounded in the exchange when a rifle discharges near his face. Soon, the Americans realize that they are outnumbered by Lieutenant Colonel Bostwick’s men. Some try to flee into the woods only to encounter more members of the Norfolk Militia who have surrounded the house. In this battle, the Norfolk Militia loses one man named Chandler, who was shot through the neck and could not be saved. The Americans lose three men, and two more are wounded in the exchange. Surviving Americans are captured in the house or as they attempt to escape into the woods. Those who manage to escape are arrested a short time later”. The Heritage Centre, Cayuga, has produced an excellent re-enactment of the Battle of Nanticoke (Haldimand County Heritage Minute #3) that is available online at https://youtu.be/OJgtppHGEMc.

One of the three Americans killed was George Peacock, Sr.

George Peacock, Jr., was among the men arrested and taken for lock-up in the basement of Abraham Markle's Union Mill in Ancaster, which is the site of the present-day Old Mill restaurant (The Hamilton Spectator, 2014). The Hamilton Spectator notes that Abraham Markle himself, a former member of Parliament for Upper Canada, had defected to the US in 1813, and was actively involved in the raids of Upper Canada settlements. The trials of the arrested men began in May 1814, and became known as The Bloody Assizes of Ancaster. Fifteen men were accused and convicted of high treason, a crime punishable by death (Riddell, 1920). Family, friends, neighbours and members of the community submitted petitions pleading to spare the lives of the condemned men. A decision was made to spare the lives of seven of the men, and to exile them. However, the remaining eight men, including George Peacock, Jr., who was described by the court as one of the “ringleaders”, were sentenced to death by hanging (Riddell, 1912), (Riddell, 1920).

“Eight were hanged at the Burlington Heights British military camp on July 20, 1814 and their heads chopped off and displayed on poles. Their heads were later paraded across the local villages. The bodies were buried in an unmarked grave close to the gallows. The eight executed were George Peacock, Jr., Aaron Stevens, Adam Chrysler, Dayton Lindsey, Noah Payne Hopkins, Isaiah Brink, Benjamin Simmons and John Dunham. Their possessions were confiscated. Of the other seven men who were banished, three died of typhus while still in captivity, and one escaped and was not recaptured” (The Heritage Centre, Cayuga).

As brutal as the punishment was for the eight condemned men, it was not carried out to the full letter of the law, which stipulated several additional horrific steps of torture as described in detail by Riddell, (1920) in Criminal Law in Upper Canada a Century Ago. After Canada became a nation, capital punishment was abolished “in practice” in 1963; the death penalty for murder, piracy and treason was fully abolished by law on July 26, 1976.

Several authors writing about the war of 1812 have discussed how the American raids of Upper Canada were instrumental in inspiriting many of the local inhabitants, who may initially have felt ambivalence about the war or sympathy for the American cause, to band together and successfully repel the invading forces. An Historical Plaque in present-day Nanticoke describes the outcome of The Battle of Nanticoke: “On 13th November, 1813, Norfolk volunteer militia, led by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bostwick, routed a band of American marauders who had terrorized the country. This exploit inspirited the military forces, restored the confidence of the people, and was an important factor in the immediate recovery of lost ground.”

An opportunity to visit Peacock Point affords us not only a spectacular view of Lake Erie, but perhaps provides us with a moment to reflect on the complexities and insecurities of that turbulent time in the early 1800s when the Peacock family lived at Peacock Point, and how fortunate we are today, as Canadians, to be living in freedom and peace in a beautiful country that we call our own.

References Cruikshank, C. E. (1912). A Study of Disaffection in Upper Canada in 1812-5. Ottawa: The Royal Society of Canada. Ellis, B. (1961). Thesis: A Geographical Study of Walpole Township. Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts., McMaster University, Department of Geography, Hamilton.

Garrad, C. (2019). The Murder of Captain William Francis: An Incident in the War of 1812. Ontario History, 111(2), 127–151. doi:https://doi.org/10.7202/1065080ar

Harper, R. (1950). The Early History of Haldimand County. Harrison and Arrell Martindale.

Jackes, M. (2008). The mid seventeenth century collapse of Iroquoian Ontario: examining the last burial place of the Neutral Nation. Retrieved from http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~mkjackes/Valbonne.pdf

Nelles, R. R. (1905). County of Haldimand in the Days of Auld Lang Syne. Port Hope, ON: The Hamly Press Book Printers. Noble, W. C. (2016). The Neutral Confederacy. Retrieved from thecanadianencyclopedia.ca: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/neutral

North Erie Shore Historical Society. (2013). A Short Story of the events leading up to and including the Murder of Captain William Francis. Public Archives of Canada. (1798-1820). Upper Canada Land Petitions "P" Bundle "Leases" (Vols. 419, RG 1, L3).

Riddell, W. R. (1912). The Ancaster “Bloody Assize” of 1814. Ontario History 104 (1), 185–205. doi:https://doi.org/10.7202/1065394ar Riddell, W. R. (1920). Criminal Law in Upper Canada a Century Ago. Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology 10 (4), 516-532. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1134290

The Hamilton Spectator. (2014, July Saturday 19). In times perilous and unusual. Retrieved from https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2014/07/19/in-times-perilous-and-unusual.html?utm_source=share-bar&utm_medium=user&utm_campaign=user-share