Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site of Canada, Prescott, Ontario
Address : County Road 2 East, Prescott, Ontario
Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 1920-01-30
Dates:
1838 to 1838 (Significant)
Event, Person, Organization:
1837 Rebellions (Event)
Other Name(s):
Battle of the Windmill (Designation Name)
Windmill Point (Other Name)
Research Report Number: 1997-34
DFRP Number: 56473 00
Plaque(s)
After the 1837 Rebellions many rebels fled to the United States where a few joined American symathizers in a new attempt to overthrow British rule in Canada. On 12 November 1838 they landed 190 men here and seized this windmill and nearby buildings. The local people remained loyal, reporting to their militia units; in a few days 2,000 militia and regulars, supported by naval vessels, besieged the mill. Although British guns did little damage to the mill, the insurgents, seeing no escape, surrended on the 16th. Eleven were later executed and 60 exiled to Australia.
Description of Historic Place
Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site of Canada is a fragment of a battlefield located on Windmill Point overlooking the St. Lawrence River at Newport, Ontario. The designated area for Battle of the Windmill battlefield comprises a semi-circular arc with a 400-metre radius that extends landwards from the windmill, and completed by another semi-circular arc with a 400-metre radius that encompasses the section of the river that borders the windmill. Only a small portion of this area is included in the property of the historic site. The designation is limited to the approximately 10 per cent of the battlefield, which is administered by Parks Canada.
Heritage Value
Battle of the Windmill was declared a National Historic Site of Canada site because: it was the site of a victory of a British force, comprised of imperial and colonial troops, over an invading force of American “Hunters” and Canadian rebels in November 1838.
The heritage value of Battle of the Windmill National Historic Site of Canada resides in the legibility of natural and built features of the cultural landscape associated with the Battle of the Windmill, and the undisturbed battle remains it contains.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, 1981; Commemorative Integrity Statement.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that contribute to the heritage character of the site include: the location on a high point of land overlooking the St. Lawrence River at Newport, Ontario; the remains of built features still associated with the battle including the windmill in its found form and materials, heavy masonry construction, and disposition of window and door openings; the viewplanes from the windmill to the surviving stone house; the integrity and legibility of surviving landforms and landscape features, both natural and manmade, that are linked to the battle, such as the trace of roadway, the heights of land to the north of the site, the remaining open fields, the shore line and the river; the integrity and materials of any surviving archaeological remains, features and artifacts in their original placement and extent, including in situ vestiges and marine archaeological resources associated with the battle; the visual and landscape character of the site including the panoramic viewscapes from the upper storeys of the windmill south across the river, up and down river, and north across the battlefield.
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