Watson and Westbrook: Plan B
Totally frustrated at this turn of events, Major Simon Zelotes Watson and Captain Andrew Westbrook settled in as part of the garrison in Fort Detroit, newly renamed Fort Shelby. The fort itself was in a sorry state. It suffered from the burning of the public buildings by British General Proctor when he evacuated it a month earlier during his retreat up the Thames River. Garrison life is never easy at the best of times, but conditions were considerably worse due to sickness and an outbreak of cholera, the result of poor sanitary conditions. The concept of “germs” hadn’t been invented yet and the location of the well and the location of the latrines were not well thought out. These conditions were unlikely to improve with the onset of winter. The two men chose not to go with American General Harrison when he shipped the majority of his troops to the Niagara campaign, thanks to Admiral Perry’s newly acquired control of Lake Erie. They weren’t interested in helping the Americans take control of Canada and dislodging the Brits. They were only interested in taking control of their own farms in the Westminster (Byron) and Delaware districts and dislodging one particular Brit, namely Colonel Thomas Talbot. “All they want for Christmas is You” And what of Colonel Talbot? Where was he and what was he up to? We know that he sent 150 barrels of flour to Amherstburg, which arrived the day before Proctor abandoned it to begin his long retreat up the Thames. Likely, most of that flour sank with Proctor’s longboats somewhere in the Thames River or ended up with the Americans. Colonel Talbot was the commander of the London and Western District’s militia throughout the war. Talbot took part in the Battles of Lundy’s Lane and Fort Erie. He spent most of his time at Long Point with the Norfolk militia. He returned periodically to his estate out of fear of marauders desperate to find provisions. Of course, the Colonel’s most offensive marauders were none other than Watson and Westbrook themselves when they joined American General Hull’s invading army and busied themselves distributing Hull’s Proclamation back in the summer London Animal Care Centre • 121 Pine Valley Blvd, London www.accpets.ca • (519)685-1330 December
of 1812. After all, it was Simon Watson who publicly vowed “The most bitter vengeance against the first characters of the province.” After Harrison’s victory, things were relatively quiet in the Western District. The British forces, namely the militia, were pulled back to Delaware, and in particular, to Andrew Westbrook’s farm (Delaware Speedway). And so Simon and Andrew spent their time that winter hatching plans against Colonel Talbot. They would have to take matters into their own hands since they couldn’t count on an American army coming back to finish the job of moving up the Thames again. It would have to be something they were good at, like marauding. They would also need to think of their future. What if the Americans failed to win the war, or worse, won the war and didn’t bother to control the Western District? (To be continued)
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Byron Villager July/Aug 2025
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