had to be extremely vigilant against capture,
for if the true nature of her travel was dis-
cerned, the penalty would be a firing squad.
In the morning hours of June 22, Secord
departed, accompanied by an elder daughter,
and commenced her famous sojourn. Having
been previously attentive to visiting American
soldiers, she managed to secure a pass
through their lines on the premise of visiting a
sick relative. The distance from Queenston to
DeCou’s was around 12 miles, but in order to
avoid enemy patrols—and possible capture—
she deliberately chose a circuitous course
that added another six miles to her labors. En
route Secord stopped to see her niece, Eliza-
beth Secord, who also volunteered to join.
Her daughter was instructed to remain behind
and care for Elizabeth’s children. The two
women commenced walking under a blazing
summer sun, over fields, across streams, and
through the Black Swamp. No Americans
were encountered, but the exertions simply
exhausted Elizabeth, who collapsed after sev-
eral hours and remained behind. Laura pos-
sessed a steely resolve that belied her frail ap-
pearance, and she soldiered on in the
gathering gloom. After nightfall, she also had
to run a gauntlet of wolves, wildcats, and rat-
tlesnakes that were very abundant in those
days.
By midnight, Secord had arrived at Twelve
Mile Creek, in the vicinity of the DeCou
House. Crossing the creek on a fallen tree,
she plodded forward, tired and bleeding, and
was suddenly accosted by several Mohawk
warriors hiding in the bushes. “I cannot ex-
press the awful feeling it gave me,” she wrote
years later, “but I did not lose my presence of
mind. I was determined to persevere.” After
several minutes of awkward gesturing, Se-
cord finally convinced the local chief to take
her to DeCou House.
She arrived within the hour and was per-
sonally interviewed by Fitzgibbon, who may
or may not have been previously alerted to
Boerstler’s movements by his scouts. In any
event, the British officer mightily thanked the
woman for her strenuous efforts and allowed
her to sleep on his couch. Alerted to the
American approach, Fitzgibbon dispatched a
body of Indians under John Nortonto set up
an ambush at Beaver Dams. This was success-
fully sprung on June 24, 1813, and Boerstler’s
entire command was cowed into surrender-
ing. Afterward, Fitzgibbon allegedly ap-
proached her and declared, “Mrs. Secord, we
have just experienced one of our most com-
plete victories in the history of our army.
Madam, the credit of this victory belongs to
you!” However, in his official report, Fitzgib-
bon made no references to Laura Secord and
her prodigious 18-hour journey. Several years
would lapse before the truth emerged.
The war proved disastrous to James and
Laura Secord, and for many years thereafter
they lived in near poverty. To help alleviate
their suffering, Laura petitioned the provin-
cial government several times for compensa-
tion, but she went unrecognized. This was de-
spite Fitzgibbon’s admission in 1827 that “the
weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813 was
very hot, and Mrs. Secord, whose person was
slight and delicate, appeared to have been
and no doubt was very much exhausted by
the exertion she made in coming to me, and I
have ever since held myself personally in-
debted to her for her conduct on that occa-
sion.” Following James’s death in 1841, she
ran a school for children out of her cottage to
support herself. It was not until 1860 when
Laura, aged 85, was personally visited by the
Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII)
and thanked for her heroic deeds. He also
arranged a sizable monetary fund to be paid
to her in her old age. She accepted the award
with great modesty, admitting, “When I look
back I wonder how I could have gone
through so much fatigue, with the fortitude to
accomplish it.” Laura Secord died in 1868 at
the age of 93, buried alongside her husband
at Drummond Hill Cemetery, Niagara Falls.
Since then, several monuments have also
been erected to her memory. The exact use-
fulness of her celebrated walk will probably
never be ascertained, but Secord remains a
popular heroine in Canadian history. She wasSECORD, LAURAINGERSOLL