A short history of the 37th battalion & 114th battalion, 1914, p.2

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-2- was born. The first Company of the 37th, to be, received its Baptism, of Fire at Ridgeway. In September of that year, the 28th, September, 1866, the Battalion was organized, and gazetted as the 37th Battalion of the Canadian Militia, As the several Battalions were gazetted throughout the Dominion,they were numbered consecutively, the 2nd being the Queens Own, the 10th the Royal Grenadiers, the 13th, the Hamilton Infantry, the 37th Haldimand, the 38th Dufferin Rifles of Brantford, 39th Norfolk, and so on. The 37th comprised eight, or ten companies, located at various points over the County, with Regimental headuarters at York. Companies were located, and drill sheds built at the following places: Cayuga, Caledonia, Hagersville, Ballsville, Oshweken. Jarvis, Cheapside, and Dunnville. The 37th, did its annual Brigade drilling at Niagara on the Lake, along with other Battalions, and I am told that they were the envy of the others. After the Battle ot Ridgeway, the Fenian prisoners who were captured there, were sent to the Gaol at Toronto, for safe keeping. The Guard who had charge of their removal was taken from the York Rifle Company, under command of Lt. Adam A. Davis, and Sergeant Andrew Williamson. When the convoy reached the outskirts of the City, they were met by a crowd of angry citizens, friends of the Queens Own, whose ranks suffered many casualties at Ridgway, and threats of Lynching the prisoners were indulged in, but the guard brought their charge safely to the gaol. Previous to the affair at Ridgeway the York Rifle Company was stationed at Sarnia, along with a Company from Brantford, and one from London, in the winter of I864, and 1865, during the St. Alban Riots. The 37th was not mobilized for the Reil Rebellion in the Northwest Territories, in 1885, yet many men of the Battalion enlisted, and went to the Front with other units, and do their part in quelling that ill-fated insurrection. The reader Louis Reil was captured, tried for treason, and hanged at Regina, in the following year. The Government forces were under command of Major General Middleton. As in the Reil Rebellion, the 37th, was not called for active service in South Africa, in what is known as the Boer War, there were numbers of the 37th, and others in this county who enlisted in other Regiments, and saw service throughout the war. They showed the stuff the Haldimand Boys were made of upon several occassions. Col. Harry Nelles commanded a Regiment of Mounted Rifles. He belonged to that Pioneer family of Nelles's around York, among whose members were several Colonels, and the present head of the Canadian Navy, Admiral Percy Nelles is also a scion. There stands upon the grounds of the Court House at Cayuga, a monument, to the memory of William Knisley of Selkirk, and others who fell in South Africa. Sergeant Knisley while in charge of a section of a company at Hearts River, became detached from the main body, and surrounded by a regiment of Boers, they raised a stone barricade, and for three days refused to surrender; on the fourth day Knisley was shot and killed. Thereupon the section surrendered. I might also mention that upon another occasion Knisley had charge of a small Cavalry company - a rear guard - covering the retirement of some Infantry companies, when one of his men was shot from his horse. Knisley rode back in the face of heavy Boer fire, and mounted his comrade. He in turn was shot from his horse and made prisoner. He was mentioned for the Victoria Cross for this act of bravery, but he did not receive it. Another

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