Battle of Ridgeway

Battle of Ridgeway
Part of the Fenian Raids

An 1869 illustration of the battle: Charge of General O'Neill's Fenians upon the Canadian troops, causing their rout.
Date2 June 1866
Location
Ridgeway, Canada West
42°54′16″N 79°02′30″W / 42.90444°N 79.04167°W / 42.90444; -79.04167
Result Fenian victory
Belligerents
Fenian Brotherhood United Kingdom Province of Canada
Commanders and leaders
Brig. Gen. John O'Neill Lt. Col. Alfred Booker
Strength
600–700[1] 850[2]
Casualties and losses
2 killed in action
8 wounded		 9 killed in action
37 wounded[3]
22 died of wounds/disease[4]

The Battle of Ridgeway (sometimes the Battle of Lime Ridge or Limestone Ridge[nb 1]) was fought in the vicinity of the town of Fort Erie across the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, near the village of Ridgeway, Canada West, currently Ontario, Canada, on June 2, 1866, between Canadian troops and an irregular army of Irish-American invaders, the Fenians. It was the largest engagement of the Fenian Raids, the first modern industrial-era battle to be fought by Canadians and the first to be fought only by Canadian troops and led exclusively by Canadian officers.[nb 2] The battlefield was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1921 and is the last battle fought within the current boundaries of Ontario against a foreign invasion.[6] The action at Ridgeway has the distinction of being the only armed victory for the cause of Irish independence between the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the Easter Rising in 1916.

  1. ^ O'Neill's strength in the Fenian camp at Frenchmen's Creek was estimated at 450 by a Canada West Frontier Police detective who infiltrated the camp. Other estimated the strength in the camp at 500 to 600. Clarke also reported that later in the night an additional 200 Fenians (from their position at Black Creek) joined the column from the camp, bringing the total to at least 700 to 800. See: Detective Charles Clarke to McMicken, telegram, June 2, 1866, MG26 A, Volume 237, p. 103878 [Reel C1663] Canada Archives. See also the detailed analysis of Fenian strength in Peter Vronsky, Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada, Toronto: Penguin-Allen Lane, 2011. pp. 141–145
  2. ^ "Troublous Times in Canada: A History of the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870. Chapter 5: Grand Uprising of the Canadian People". Canadian Genealogy Resources. Archived from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2010-02-09. by Captain John Alexander Macdonald, a Canadian participant in the battle.
  3. ^ Peter Vronsky, Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada, Toronto: Penguin-Allen Lane, 2011. p. 260
  4. ^ "Fenian Raid Canada 1866 Casualties Master List". Archived from the original on 2012-09-24.
  5. ^ Peter Vronsky, Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada, Toronto: Penugin-Allen Lane, 2011. p. 186
  6. ^ "Ridgeway Battlefield National Historic Site of Canada". HistoricPlaces.ca. Parks Canada. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2019.


Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).