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Military Military Secord, Laura Ingersoll

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Secord, Laura Ingersoll

Cemetery: Drummond Hill Cemetery
Date of Birth: September 13, 1775 Place of birth: Great Barrington, Massachusetts. USA
Date of Death: October 17, 1868 Place of death: Chippawa (Niagara Falls), Ontario Cause of death: Old age / natural causes

m_secord_lauraLaura secord was the heroine who walked 32 km to warn the British that the Americans planned an attack at Beaver Dams on the Niagara peninsula in 1813.

Laura Secord's grave
To perpetuate the name and fame of Laura Secord, who walked alone nearly 20 miles by a circuitous difficult and perilous route, through woods and swamps and over miry roads to warn a British outpost at DeCew’s Falls of an intended attack and thereby enabled Lt. FitzGibbon on the 24th June 1813, with less than 50 men of H.M. 49th Regt., about 15 militiamen and a small force of Six Nations and other Indians under Capt. William Johnson Kerr and Dominique Ducharmes to surprise and attack the enemy at Beechwoods (or Beaver Dams) and after a short engagement, to capture Col. Bosler of the U.S. Army and his entire force of 542 men with two field pieces.
  • Interment Info

    She was interred next to her husband in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Marking her grave is a monument (with a bust of Laura on top) close to that marking the Battle of Lundy's Lane. Laura and her husband attended Holy Trinity Church in the Village of Chippawa (today part of Niagara Falls, Ontario) where their original marble slab grave markers are presently located. Sarah Anne Cur This noble-minded and heroic woman died in 1868, aged ninety-three years. She lies in Drummondville Churchyard, by the side of the husband she loved so well. Nothing but a simple headstone, half defaced, marks the place where the sacred ashes lie. But surely we who enjoy the happiness she so largely secured for us, we who have known how to honour Brock and Brant, will also know how to honour Tecumseh and LAURA SECORD; the heroine as well as the heroes of our Province—of our common Dominion—and will no longer delay to do it, lest Time should snatch the happy opportunity from us. S.A.C. TORONTO, 4th August, 1887. [page vi] NOTE.—The headstone of Laura Secord is three feet high, and eighteen inches wide, and has the following: HERE RESTS LAURA, BELOVED WIFE OF JAMES SECORD, Died, Oct. 17, 1868. Aged 93 years. The headstone of her husband has the following: IN MEMORY OF JAMES SECORD, SENR., COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, Who departed this life on the 22nd day of Feb., 1841, In the 68th year of his age. Universally and deservedly lamented as a sincere Friend, a kind and indulgent Parent, and an affectionate Husband. [page vii]

Cemetery

Drummond Hill Cemetery
Drummond Hill Cemetery is a nationally recognized heritage site. It is most famously known as the battle grounds of the "Battle of Lundy’s Lane", as well as the burial site of Laura Secord. Christopher Buchner purchased 400

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Laura Secord and the Cow
There is no historical record of Laura Secord having brought a cow with her.  The first mention of the cow was in the 1860s by W.F. Coffin who invented new details including the claim that Laura had brought a cow with her as an excuse to leave her home in case of questioning by American patrols.