Battlegrounds at Home and Abroad – Excerpt 1
Tales of the two world wars can be found in first-hand accounts written by many citizens of Collingwood; however, brave men rallied in its defence long before the conflagration of the First World War called them to arms abroad. Early battles in the Canadas, particularly the Rebellion of 1837, gave birth to a volunteer militia who stood ready to respond whenever troubles arose. In 1866, the battle cry went up in Collingwood, the first one heard since the settlement began. All able-bodied men were summoned to defend their homes and families against the threat of the Fenians. The focus of the Fenian threat was the intended takeover of New Brunswick as an independent Irish Republic, through which Britain might be pressured to relinquish its hold on Ireland. Collingwood’s troops were marshalled by several of the town’s leading citizens, and the efficiency with which orders were dispatched [was] impressive for a volunteer force that had enjoyed 30 years of peace . . . One of those brave soldiers was Henry Trott, who distinguished himself in service and was promoted to officer. However, the Fenian invasion of 1866 never actually materialized in Upper Canada. Though a number of skirmishes ensued in the south and east over several years, the last battle fought against the Fenians was in 1870 near Ogdensburg, New York: I have my great-grandfather’s Fenian medal and this letter that says, “I certify Mr. Henry Trott has served as Private Sergeant Ensign and Lieutenant in the Collingwood Company No. 2 Simcoe of 35th Battalion six years from April 3rd 1862 to April 1868 always proving himself a good soldier.” Signed by “Allen R. Stephen, Lt. Col. Comp. 35 Battalion, Collingwood, June 15, 1868.” That was Dr. Stephen. Then [my great-grandfather] was made a lieutenant in the Collingwood company of Number 2 Simcoe 35th Battalion. Jim Trott . . . Henry Trott and a handful of other Collingwood recruits responded again when the first Riel Rebellion threatened peace in the colony in 1870. . . . Nearly 50 years later, the loyal sons of Collingwood were again called to duty. Rumblings of unrest in Europe were reported with cool objectivity throughout 1914. Britain was still occupied with the Irish, as they had been for nearly a century, but the dispute over Austrian-Hungarian rule in Serbia was suddenly fuelled by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, at the hands of Serbians. The conflict rapidly escalated, drawing support across Europe on either side of the battle lines. When the Austrian-Hungarian-German alliance was met with opposition from the newly forged Serb-Russian-French confederacy, Britain could no longer stand passively on the sidelines. News of Britain’s imminent entry into the war was met in Collingwood, as in the rest of Canada, with the customary patriotism of generations of loyal British subjects. When Germany invaded Belgium in August 1914, Prime Minister Robert Borden threw Canadian support firmly behind Britain. Once again, along with many other young Collingwood men, the Trott family responded to the call to duty. Members of the 35th Regiment of The Simcoe Foresters marched out of town to join other Canadian troops at a mobilization point in Valcartier, Quebec. . . . In spite of their courage and enthusiasm for defeating the enemy, Canadian troops were not professional fighting men. They had been recruited from the ranks of volunteer militia who had long waited on the sidelines, eagerly anticipating an opportunity to prove their grit. Few had received any training as professional soldiers; their exalted march to meet the battlefield was, for many, their final farewell to home and family. . . . My dad was in the First World War, and I can remember when I was a kid and they didn’t have the social lives that we possibly have today. They were all members of the Legion, and they would get together every once in awhile and the stories would be told between the bunch of them at the Legion. And that’s as far as it went. But now people almost seem hungry for the stories. My dad very seldom talked about the bad things, even some bad things that turned out well. I heard him tell a story that happened while he was in what they called “The Scouts”. They were sent ahead to scout out where the enemy was. One day, he and his buddy were going through Belgium and they needed to get to a higher elevation, to see what was going on. They went into a Catholic church, and of course they all had big steeples, and the priest there was sympathetic to the Allies, of course, and he let them go up into the steeple. Dad told this story—you could see for miles, you might say. While he was up there looking around, the Germans came in down at the bottom of the church looking for any scouts or troops—the enemy. The priest never mentioned anything, he just kind of carried on and they left. Years later my dad and another fella from Collingwood—they were both in the army and they came back fine—they went over to the Vimy celebration, the fiftieth anniversary, and they rented a car and travelled around. Dad had some maps and they found this church again, and it was still there and still had the same priest! And he remembered . . . When they were over there they learned a fair amount of French or Belgian, so they got talking to him and he remembered. Jim Trott Butchers, Bakers & Building the Lakers: Voices of Collingwood will be available as a Sesquicentennial Edition in September 2008. 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