Spite When American General Harrison decided not to follow the British up the Longwoods Road after destroying Tecumseh and Proctor at the Battle of Moraviantown on October 5, 1813, both Simon and Andrew despaired of ever being able to reclaim their farms and livelihood. While both sought revenge against Talbot, Andrew wanted his family with him.
Plan B was to bring them to Fort Detroit. The night chosen was January 30, 1814, while the ice bridge to Sandwich (Windsor) was still solid. Simon was feeling poorly, so Andrew, along with thirty Michigan Raiders, left without him. First stop in Delaware was the home of Captain Daniel Spring (who was instrumental in having Andrew and Ebenezer Allan arrested and jailed in July 23, 1812). Springer was taken prisoner without a fight along with several other militia officers, including Lt-Colonel François Bâby (whose house was originally occupied by General Hull at the start of the war). Moving on to his own farm on Lot 1, Con. 1 (the site of the Delaware Speedway), Andrew caught the dozen militia members, supposedly guarding the farm against his return, napping. He paroled these men. While Sally bundled up the kids, Andrew had his rangers empty the house and put all their possessions in the barn. When that was completed, he announced to his men, “Boys, you have just 15 minutes to plunder the premises. After that, I give them to the flames”. When the fifteen minutes were up, Sally tearfully, stoically, stood there with the children wrapped around her, while Andrew put all of their possessions, house, barns, sawmill, gristmill, blacksmith shop, some 700 bushels of stored grain, still and distillery...everything, to the torch. If he couldn’t have it, then the British and his neighbours weren’t going to have it either. Spite: everyone loses. Revenge can cause that. The marauders returned to the Springer Homestead, where Daniel Springer, along with several other prisoners, were bound hand and foot and made ready for transport as prisoners of war, Springer’s wife, Ruth, seeing her husband thus treated, accused Andrew of
hard-heartedness and cruelty. “What?” exclaimed Andrew. “Do you call this cruel when the flames you see over yonder tree tops mark the ruin of all I have in this world?” Her exhortations were wasted on her former neighbour, and he proceeded to bundle up the prisoners in the family cariole for the return journey. The prisoners eventually ended up in Chillicothe, Ohio. That cariole, used to transport the prisoners to the U.S., is supposedly kept at the Kentucky State Museum in Frankfort, Kentucky. They rode out of Delaware unopposed and the militia obeyed their parole. The 114 miles back to Detroit was not without incident. While crossing over the ice on the Detroit River, Sally’s sleigh broke through. She managed to save the children, but she herself was immersed in the freezing cold river. With the family now safely in Detroit, Andrew called on Simon at Andrew Westbrook’s Farm is now the site of the Delaware Speedway. Photo courtesy of yesterdaysspeedways.com
his lodging only to be greatly shocked. Simon was dead! (to be continued)
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