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MESSAGE FROM THE REEVE CENTENNIAL of Canadian Confederation has a special meaning for the Township of Niagara. It was on our soils that many of the important battles of the war of 1812 -1814 were fought. Those early victories did much to draw this nation, Canada, together. Fifty years after the last soldier tramped across this township, the Fathers of Confederation began drafting the articles of our confederation. Canada was officially born in 1867. But the nation was truly born here, on the battlefields of 1812-1814, on the lands that most of us drive by daily and work year after year. Canada's earliest heroes, General Brock and Laura Secord included, are also Niagara's heroes. This work, commissioned on the occasion of the centennial of Canadian Confederation, digs into the past to present to the citizens of today a true picture of how our forefathers fought, sweated, toiled and died so that our lives might be better. Fred S. Goring Acknowledgments To be fair, I should acknowledge assistance given to me by everyone in Niagara Township. Everywhere I turned during my research in the summer of 1967, township people enthusiastically helped in every way possible. Many were very close to my research work. I would, in particular, like to thank Mrs. Jean Huggins, of Queenston, George Carr, of St. David's, and the township's clerk-treasurer, Douglas Pritchard, for their interest and work on my behalf. Township council deserves credit for inspiring me in several ways, and Reeve Fred S. Goring, in particular, was helpful in directing me to an abundance of material. The staff at the Ontario Archives, and particularly Miss Jessie Jackson, were always co-operative and helpful. Mrs. M. Stirling, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Grimwood, the staff at the Vineland experiment station, Harold H. Usher, Lloyd G. Brittain, Bert King and Rev. R. S. Colebrook all deserve special mention for their efforts on my behalf. I hope that I have not inadvertently forgotten others. For pictures, I am indebted to Mrs. Wilfred Stewart, Miss Clara M. Sandham, Mrs. J. Henry Freel, The Jockey Club, W. Herbert Kribs, Mrs. Pearl E. Cudney, George Seibel, Clifford Marsh, Mrs. George Snyder, Mrs. Evelyn Brown, George Jerman, Miss Lorene Stirling, Miss V. Onslow and many of those already mentioned. A. James Rennie Weston, October, 1967.