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Laura Secord nee Ingersoll (September 13, 1775 – October 17, 1868) walked 32 Km on June 21-22, 1813 to warn British troops of an impending American attack. Her husband James Secord was injured the previous year at the Battle of Queenston Heights and later the Americans billited three officers in the Secord house in Queenston, which is some 6 Km below Niagra Falls. Laura overheard the officers discussing plans for a surprise attack on Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon's force 12 Km away, so Laura walked a circuitous 32 Km, including a six-hour climb over the Niagara Escarpment, to Fitzgibbon's camp. Two days later, on the 24th, Fitzgibbon's 50 infantry and 400 Indians ambushed an American force of 462 men under Colonel Charles Boerstler and persuaded then to surrender by telling then they were vastly outnumbered. To avoid the Americans, Laura chose a roundabout route. First to St. Davids, where she was joined by her niece, Elizabeth Secord, and then to Shipman's Corners in St. Catharines. The exhausted Elizabeth stayed here while Laura continued on alone. |