A major institution in the period between 1860 and World War I in Ontario was the volunteer militia. Rare was the small town lacking a company of reservists.
A large proportion of young men signed up for at least a couple of years, and a promotion to commissioned officer was a status symbol for many men. By the late 1800s, colonels were thicker on the ground in Ontario than in Kentucky. Wellington County was no exception to those generalities.
In Elora, for example, local volunteers, fearful of an invasion by Irish Fenians gathering in the United States, organized a local group of volunteers in the summer of 1861, calling themselves the Elora Rifles. During the following year other companies organized elsewhere in the county. They trained weekly, or at least made an attempt to do so.
By 1863 the Province of Canada became involved in grouping these volunteer companies and providing standardized training. By 1865 there was fear of a full-scale American invasion by the victorious Northern army in the civil war. There was even an attempt at a Canadian military draft.
By then the men of the Elora Rifles were a company of the 30th Battalion, headquartered at Guelph, and popularly referred to as the Wellington Rifles, one of several dozen reserve units in the province. There were 10 companies based in the towns and villages across Wellington County. Enthusiasm and membership varied from year to year through the 1860s, but by the end of the decade the 30th became much more stable in its membership.
Militia companies usually held an annual ball; invariably it was the most important social event on a small town calendar. The other big event for the militia companies, and the most important one, was the annual encampment and training session, usually held in the last two weeks of June.
Some of the reservists took the military training very seriously, but they were a minority. For most of the reservists the annual encampment offered two weeks away from the tedium of their regular work, the nagging of a wife, and the disorder of a house full of children.
Most years the 30th held its encampment in the Elora area, often at Kinnettles, between Fergus and Elora. But occasionally they travelled farther. One such year was 1871. That year, the encampment, spanning 16 days, was held at Goderich, jointly with a half dozen other battalions.
Wellington’s volunteer reservists travelled to Goderich by train. A special departed Fergus, then the terminal for regular rail service, at 10am on June 16, a Friday. At Elora the volunteers from that town boarded, as well as the company from Hollen, which had arrived the evening before by wagon and carriage. For many of the men, it was their first time aboard a train. The railway had opened to Fergus the previous summer, and regular service to Palmerston would not begin until the following year.
The train unloaded the soldiers at Guelph’s Great Western station, at the western end of town near Edinburgh Road. By 11am, the men had marched to the exhibition grounds, now Exhibition Park. Various other companies of the 30th had already assembled there. Food and water made the stop a welcome one. From there they all marched to the downtown Grand Trunk station on Carden Street. They encountered various unexplained delays, but by 1:30 they were aboard a special train, composed of the Grand Trunk’s oldest passenger cars.
An unnamed correspondent who reported on the excursion to the Fergus News Record characterized the Grand Trunk as a Red Tape Institution, fully the equal of the Red Tapism of the volunteer militia itself. Delays at Guelph were only the beginning of a long trip. The special took over eight hours to reach Goderich, with lengthy unexplained delays at Stratford and elsewhere.
No food or water appeared. The sound of rumbling stomachs drowned out the clicking of the wheels.
Though darkness had long settled on the countryside, the day’s adventure was not yet over when the men poured out of the train. The militiamen, several hundred in number, milled about in a field adjoining the Goderich station. Some flopped onto the ground for a nap, having abandoned all hope of a meal. About 11pm, the officers roused the volunteers into formation for a three-mile march to the camp grounds, on the north shore of the Maitland River.
It was well after midnight when they reached the grounds. Then they had the task of putting up their tents. By the time the men had spread their bed rolls the clock was closing in on 2:30am. And still no sign of food.
For most of the men, it seemed that only a few minutes had passed when a bugler summoned them out of their tents at 5:30am. Some rolled over for a few additional winks. They immediately regretted their decision. The London Field Artillery, anxious to show off its skills, fired off a deafening, ground-shaking morning salute.
After wolfing down an ample breakfast, Col. Charles Clarke, of Elora, commanding officer of the 30th, allowed the men to spend most of the morning resting and napping. In the afternoon, they reported to the parade grounds, fitted out neatly in their uniforms, and impressed everyone in camp with their marching and movements.
Ensign John Cadenhead, the teller at the Fergus Bank of Montreal branch, drew particular praise for his training of the Fergus company. All the while the battalion band played martial airs. Buglers Jim Elgie and Bill Vickers drew admiring comments for their playing. Both received promotions at the end of the encampment.
The following day was a Sunday, and the officers scheduled a non-denominational service for 10:30am, permitting the men to get a full night’s sleep. The various battalion bands present led the church parade. The men formed up in a square, with the bands at the centre. Shouting to be heard, two of the chaplains, one of whom was Rev. W.S. Ball of the 30th, conducted the service.
Rev. Ball took his duties very seriously. He organized a second service in the evening for the 30th Battalion only, and conducted a morning prayer every day of the encampment at 5:30am. He gave a New Testament and a prayer book to every man in the 30th.
Military exercises and training commenced the next morning at 6am, with three sessions through the day. The evening was devoted to amusement after a simple but ample supper. There were several wrestling matches, and then some dancing, men with men, to the airs provided by some of the musicians from the various bands.
The schedule for the following two days followed a similar pattern. The training filled the day, but was not particularly onerous, and the evenings provided plenty of opportunity for relaxation and socializing.
June 22 provided a break from the routine. The main event was a mock battle, followed by a field day, with a range of activities similar to a high school athletic meet. The following day consisted of another mock battle. The steamer Prince Albert took part, landing an imaginary enemy on the banks of the Maitland River. The men of the 30th were assigned roles as skirmishers, sniping at the phantom Yankee invaders.
The first week ended with a rifle competition. The officers expressed disappointment at the poor marksmanship of the Wellington volunteers, but they were no worse than most of the other battalions at the encampment.
After the Saturday shooting match the men received mail from home for the first time. They spent much of the evening reading their local weekly papers, and some munched treats of biscuits and candies sent by their families back home.
Next week: The second week at the 1871 volunteer militia encampment.