NIAGARA FALLS WOMEN IN THE WAR OF 1812

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War is devastating and difficult for everyone, not just the men who fight. Women shouldered extra responsibilities during the war such as caring for their families and farms while their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers were away fighting. Some women followed the army and provided support to the troops as cooks, laundresses, nursemaids, and companions. The women of Niagara played their part in the War of 1812, many have heard the story of Laura Secord; however, we do have glimpses of other women in the War as well.

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"Rebecca Green Biggar lived within earshot of the Battle of Lundy’s Lane and all night listened to the roar of the cannons and muskets and the cries of battle, fearing for her husband William, who was fighting. It is said in the morning she set out to find him, but with no success. Distraught, she returned home to find William waiting for her! Having taken different routes through the woods, they had unknowingly passed each other."  {City of Niagara Falls Museums}

Born on September 26, 1786, eight days after her Loyalist parents reached Canada. Tradition says that this daughter of the homeless pioneers was born under a roof of boughs built against a great fallen log, for no house or other shelter was at hand.

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A headstone for Rebecca Biggar at Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls is inscribed “first white child born on / Niagara frontier Sept 26, 1876, / 8 days after her parents walked / from New Jersey to Bender farm / died Oct 8, 1880, / her parent interred in Lundy’s Lane.” The original monument has been removed from the cemetery and placed at the Lundy’s Lane Historical Museum with a modern replacement.

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William Biggar married, in 1805, Rebecca Green, by whom he had eleven children. He took an active part in the war of 1812-14, being in the militia ranks at Queenston Heights, Stoney Creek, Beaver Dams, Chippawa, and Lundy’s Lane.

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