The Citadel has been described in detail elsewhere; [144] it is,
therefore, unnecessary to allude to it further than recording here a
startling episode in which it played a conspicuous part in those days
of foes and alarm, during the Insurrection of 1838:
-
"After the affair of St. Denis," says Roger, [145] "the murder of
Lieutenant Weir, the matter of St. Charles, the storm and capture
of the Church of St. Eustache, and the battle of Toronto, there
were filibustering attempts to invade Canada, neither recognized
by the Government of the United States nor by the bulk of the
people, but indulged in by a party, sentimental with regard to
liberty, and by others to whom plunder and excitement were
congenial. In one of these filibustering expeditions, 'General'
Sutherland, 'Brigadier General' Theller, Colonel Dodge, Messrs.
Brophy, Thayer and other residents, if not citizens, of the United
States, sailed from Detroit in the schooner Anne for Bois
Blanc, which having been seized, an attack was made on Fort Maiden
on the 8th of January, 1838, terminating in the capture of
Theller, Dodge, Brophy and some others; General Sutherland having
been afterwards captured on the ice, at the mouth of the River
Detroit, by Colonel John Prince, of the Canadian Militia. The
prisoners, after having been for a time in gaol at Toronto, were
transferred, some to Fort Henry, at Kingston, and others, among
whom were Sutherland, Theller and Dodge, to the Citadel of Quebec,
which was then occupied by a battalion of the Guards, and there
imprisoned, but treated with consideration and courtesy. It was
not, however, unnatural that they should endeavor to escape. They
were taken out of their prison-house daily for an airing, in
charge of a guard, and, as it would appear, were not altogether
denied the opportunity of conversing with persons who were
friendly to them. Theller, in an account of the Rebellion in
Canada, edited, it is said, by General Roberts, of Detroit,
himself minutely details the nature and manner of his intercourse
with a Mr. P. S. Grace, while under the charge of the military in
Cape Diamond; how he succeeded in bribing soldiers' wives, and in
cultivating the friendship of officers, non-commissioned officers
and men of the Guards, much of which is exaggerated, and some of
which is untrue. Some of the sergeants, for small presents,
Theller asserts, did whatever he required in the way of bringing
books and newspapers from town and articles of food and drink from
the canteen, which is undoubtedly true, but no man in the
regiment, either directly or indirectly, connived at the escape.
It was the result of clever management on the part of Theller,
Dodge and his companions, and of unsuspecting stupidity on the
part of the sentry who guarded the door of the prison, and,
indeed, of all who seemed to have had intercourse with the
prisoners. The escape was thus effected: - On a dark, rainy night,
late in October, 1838, an iron bar having been previously cut
through with a file given them from without, the sawing having
been effected during performances on the shrill fife of one of the
fifers of the garrison, which a prisoner had borrowed for the
purpose of passing away the time and keeping up the spirits of his
companions in misfortune, some of whom were despondent, Theller's
conversation seduced a sentry into conversation, next to smoke a
pipe, then to drink a tumbler of London porter, drugged with
rathermore than 'three times sixty drops' of laudanum.
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