The 122nd Battalion Made Muskoka Proud

THE 122ND BATTALION MADE MUSKOKA PROUD - SHORT LIVED BUT THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOLDIERS CONSIDERABLE FROM RURAL AREA

     My long-time mentor, at The Herald-Gazette, Muskoka Historian, Robert J. Boyer, wrote the following about the commencement of the Great War, from a local perspective. "But life was pleasant in Muskoka summertime, and many of the town's families, like so many visitors from the south, enjoyed wonderful days at the lake. So it was that the men coming from business in the evenings, bringing the daily papers with them, were beginning to say that the news looked as if there might be a war. 'Surely not, in this day and age,' their womenfolk replied. But the news did become progressively serious.

     "It is the interesting fact that so little was war expected in this summer period, that both the Prime Minister of Canada, and his Minister of the Militia, were absent from Ottawa, visiting Muskoka. Sir Robert and Lady Borden, were at the Royal Muskoka Hotel on Lake Rosseau. Briefly to recount the circumstances, Prime Minister Borden and his wife arrived by train at Muskoka Wharf, Gravenhurst, on July 23rd, 1914, and proceeded in the private launch of Major Hugh McLean, president of the Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company, to the Royal Muskoka. At Port Carling, as the launch was being locked-through, they were greeted by a large number of citizens and visitors who had assembled, and Reeve Fred Hanna, read them an address from the Port Carling Village Council. The address contained no hint of a war. It expressed gratification that the Prime Minister had again chosen Muskoka in which to spend a well earned vacation. The address congratulated him on his recent Knighthood, 'an honor well deserved, and one which we are sure will be worthily worn'. The address also spoke of public works of the Canadian and Ontario governments on the Muskoka Lakes, which were decided improvements; not only the locking system at Port Carling, but new wharves at Beaumaris, Windermere and Bracebridge, and the new post office built in Bracebridge. In reply, Sir Robert Borden spoke of the pleasure Lady Borden, and he, took in a vacation from political life in the world-famed Muskoka District, with its scenery of the finest. and the beautiful homes of hundreds who spent their summers on these lakes.

     "Flowers were presented by Queenie Croucher, and Flora Harris, to Lady Borden and the Prime Minister, gave each of the girls a kiss. The party then left for Royal Muskoka, and spent a week there. On July 27th, (1914) they attended the annual regatta of the Muskoka Lakes Association, in Port Carling, when the Prime Minister made a speech. What he said was not recorded in the local papers, but some who were there have told us he did refer to the European situation, then just beginning to boil following the tension between Austria, Hungary, and Serbia, after the Austrian heir to the throne, had been assassinated June 28th. If Sir Robert Borden spoke of this, it did not seem important enough to the Muskoka news reporters to record. Finally however, the international situation was becoming more strained, and messages from Ottawa, changed the plans of the head of the Canadian Government. As a report in The Gazette of August 6th noted, 'Premier Borden left Muskoka rather hurriedly, on the evening of July 30th, for Ottawa, on account of the looming war clouds'."

     Mr. Boyer reports, in his book, "A Good Town Grew Here," published in 1975, by The Herald-Gazette Press, that, "Colonel and Honorable Sam Hughes, was named Minister of the Militia and Defence, in the Borden Cabinet, formed in 1911. He was a popular man in the general section of which Muskoka was a part, publisher of a weekly newspaper at Lindsay; The Watchman, and M.P. for Victoria in the House of Commons, since 1896. Heading the Militia Department, he was committed to reform of the military forces and among other things, greatly expanded the Laurier Government's program, of providing armouries throughout the country. As noted in these pages, Bracebridge had been seeking the location of a drill hall, or something even better. This probably was a factor in the invitation to Colonel Hughes, to visit Bracebridge on July 31st, 1914. During the course of his visit, the Minister did promise that Bracebridge would have an armouries building, and hinted that one to cost $30,000 would be built in the next season. This was a peacetime promise, of course, and when the rear part of the post office building was extended, to include a small armouries section in due course, it was less than intended.

     "When the Minister arrived on that beautiful day, Friday afternoon, July 31st, by special train from Ottawa, hundreds awaited him at the Grand Trunk Railway Station, in Bracebridge, with the bugle band under command of Bugle-Major O. Cooper, and the Citizens' Band, led by Bandmaster Simmons, ready to salute the distinguished guests. There were 15 automobiles ready to take the visitor, the mayor and councillors, members of the Board of Trade and the press, in the parade through the principal streets of Bracebridge, which had been well decorated with flags and bunting. At Memorial Park, Town Clerk Alex Salmon, read the council address of welcome which congratulated Colonel Hughes, on his work as a Minister of the Crown; his unceasing work in perfecting the defensive forces of Canada."

     Mr. Boyer writes, "In a book on the First World War, Honorable Leslie M. Frost, whose boyhood home was Orillia, wrote that the story of that war, was in large part, the story of the small towns of Canada. We are paraphrasing Mr. Frost's words, but it is true that from towns such as Orillia, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, and Huntsville, and the surrounding rural areas, came the men whose service counted in the Great War effort. Many of the men of Muskoka, raised in the 122nd Muskoka Battalion, which started enlistments in December, 1915, were later in Britain and France, to be engaged in forestry work, for which they were well qualified. After the war the statement was indeed made that the Canadian forestry units, 'helped defeat the submarine...more surely than a fleet of ships.' But no-one in that August and autumn of 1914, had any conception of how difficult, and brutal, the war was to become during the next four years."

     "A few days after the war began, some Bracebridge men were in uniform, under orders from the 23rd Regiment, to join their unit for the formation of the First Canadian Contingent. On August 15th, 1914, the first men to leave Bracebridge, were on their way to camp, whence they would go to Valcartier and then overseas. In Bracebridge these first soldiers were properly lionized. As was reported, 'Amid patriotic music, cheering crowds and tears, 24 gallant boys entrained for Parry Sound, where they will go into training for a week, before leaving for Valcartier. They paraded down Manitoba Street, led by the Band, to the station where a great crown had assembled.' A meeting had been held at the town hall, two evenings before, presided over by Mayor Smith, and it was decided to make a cash donation to these men. A list was opened, and over one thousand dollars was raised, in trust, to Lieutenant John E. Code.     In the party leaving that summer day, were Lieutenant Code, Lieutenant Kenneth A. Mahaffy (who qualified in March for his commission), Percy Armstrong, Percy Boles, James Cooper, William Duffy, Vernon Failes, Donald Fraser, Joseph Fulton, Charles Grimwood, John Hollingworth, Bert Levett, George Longman, James Martin, Alex Mathieson, William May, William Moule, Alex Prevost, Alec Ross, Walter Scott, Jack Tougher, Howard Vincent, John Waterhouse and Fred Walsh. What was seen in Bracebridge in those early days of the war, was also witnessed in Gravenhurst and Huntsville, as men who were 'on call' for service, proceeded to their units. The raising of money for the first volunteers, to leave for army service, was indicative of the wish of people generally, to do something, anything, to help the war effort. In the first few months of the war, citizens' meetings took place, women organized to raise money for medical services, and there were meetings of farmers, who listened to addresses on the subject of the need for greater agricultural production."

     Mr. Boyer writes, that, "Also, a call to Muskoka farmers to help the cause by sending supplies for the relief of distress caused by the war, was promptly and generously met. Five carloads of potatoes and oats were sent from Huntsville, Utterson and Bracebridge railway stations. Farmers in one Muskoka community decided, however, to send foodstuffs for the benefit of poor people in Toronto.

     "Once war came, the Minister of Militia was anxious to demonstrate the quick response of Canada to the emergency, and indeed the country as a whole was with him in this. The Minister promised to send a contingent of 25,000 men overseas, but the reply to his call to colors, was so great that by September 8th, 32,665 officers and men were assembled at Valcartier, and began crossing the Atlantic by October 3rd. That wet winter, the Canadians trained on Salisbury Plain in England, in February the First Division crossed to France, and by April were in heavy action, in Flanders, near Ypres. The steadiness of the Canadian soldiers in the face of attack by the professionals, of Germany, brought new fame to Canada. As soon as the First Contingent was on its way, the raising of the Second Contingent was commenced, and the 23rd Northern Pioneers Regiment, was to provide three officers and 100 men. In Bracebridge the numbers volunteering were greater than required, and eight men were selected to go with Lieutenant Code, who was to be one of the officers. They were Reginald Hines, Jack Tucker, and Joseph McDonald, of Bracebridge; Henry Harvey, Charles Welsh and Frank Cowell, of Monck; Frank Humphrey, of Macaulay, and John Wimpory, of Stratford, a Muskoka Lakes man. On the evening of October 31st, 1914, although little notice of their intended departure, had been given, there was an immense crowd at the station to bid goodbye to the second group of volunteers from Bracebridge. The Town Council's meeting, October 13th, 1914, was of an unusual character, in that they were called on to discuss plans for assistance, in the cause of the war. The communications included requests for assistance towards the War Relief Fund, and for organization of a local branch of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. Arrangements were made for a citizens' meeting for the Patriotic Fund organization. At this time Bird Woollen Mills were already busy with rush orders for blankets for the Canadian troops, and enquiries for the same purpose had been received from the United Kingdom and French Governments. The Department of Trade and Commerce, Ottawa, in October, advised farmers and lumbermen of the urgent enquiries from Britain for pit props, which were unobtainable there because the Baltic Sea was closed to U.K. Trade."

    Robert Boyer concludes this Great War overview, from a local perspective, noting, "The story of the war which followed is a record of sacrifice. The raising of the 122nd Muskoka Battalion of more than 800 men in Muskoka - aside from those who served in other units, was the greatest thing the people of Muskoka had done together to this point. It called for harder work of the people at home, filling in the gaps in farm work, lumber camps, stores and businesses of the young men who left, and vacant places left by these men in their homes, where often they were the mainstay of a family. But it was accomplished well, and the men were a credit to the District. They enlisted and trained in the early months of 1916, under command of a distinguished Muskoka soldier, Colonel Donald Mackenzie Grant, of Huntsville. The story of the 122nd deserves telling in greater detail."