SECORD, LAURAINGERSOLL
Secord, Laura Ingersoll
(September 13, 1775–October 17, 1868)
Canadian Heroine
I
n 1813, Laura Secord
made a daring trek to
warn British forces of
an impending American
attack. Historians have
since debated the mili-
tary merits of her actions,
but she remains an en-
during fixture in the hall
of Canadian patriots.
Laura Ingersoll Secord
was born in Great Bar-
rington, Massachusetts,
on September 13, 1775.
Her father, Thomas Inger-
soll, a successful mer-
chant, supported the
patriots during the Amer-
ican Revolution, rising to
the rank of captain. In
1787, he was serving as a
major in the state militia
when a severe economic
depression induced nu-
merous farmers of the western part of the
state to rebel. The ensuing violent distur-
bance of Daniel Shays (the so-called Shay’s
Rebellion) was ultimately put down with little
difficulty, but Ingersoll lost his family fortune
during hard times. He was consequently lured
to Canada by the offer of cheap land and
eventually settled down at the Niagara hamlet
of St. Davids. His daughter accompanied him,
and in 1797 she met and married David Se-
cord, another American expatriate, whose fa-
ther was a former member of Walter But-
ler’s Rangers. The two formed a rather happy
union, had several children, and operated a
tavern at nearby Queenston. David was also a
sergeant in the First Lincoln Militia and pres-
ent during the Battle of Queenston Heights in
October 1812. Gen. Isaac Brock met his
death there, and David was severely wounded
in the shoulder and knee.
Laura Secord was home
when the fighting com-
menced and bravely wan-
dered the battlefield in
search of her injured hus-
band. She returned home
with James and spent the
next several months
tending to family chores
and nursing him back to
health.
By the summer of
1813, control of much of
the Niagara Peninsula
had passed into Ameri-
can hands. A strategic im-
passe had settled in fol-
lowing the defeat of U.S.
forces at the Battle of
Stoney Creek (June 6,
1813), and many troops
remained bottled up in
the vicinity of Fort
George. To end the stalemate, Gen. John P.
Boyd proposed sending a large expedition
against the advanced British outpost at
DeCou House, then manned by 50 soldiers
and around 200 Indians under the command
of Lt. James Fitzgibbon. He selected the
14th U.S. Infantry under Lt. Col. Charles
Boerstler, aided by various detachments from
other regiments, with a combined total
strength of 500 soldiers. However, on the
evening of June 21, 1813, Laura Secord over-
heard several American officers discuss their
impending designs while quartered at her
house. Receipt of this useful military informa-
tion emboldened her to undertake a danger-
ous and lengthy march to DeCou House and
warn the British. Husband James, still lame
from his wound, could not accompany her, so
she decided to make the venture alone. SheLaura Ingersoll Secord
Library of Congress