As always, to bring a folk musical element into it, a song written by James Gordon (who specializes in telling the stories of folk not written up in the history books) and recorded by him with Tamarack:


Pawpine
James Gordon 1993

(the true story of Richard Pierpoint, the first settler of the Fergus, Ontario area (along the Grand River))


Born a free man in Senegal in 1744
Captured at sixteen in a tribal war
Down the Gambia River, he was taken in chains
And the man they called Pawpine never saw his home again
And the man they called Pawpine never saw his home again

At James Fort, they sold him into slavery
To the Royal African Company
And he was thrown into the hold of a ship bound away
Far over the ocean to Charleston Bay
Far over the ocean to Charleston Bay

Sold to a soldier of the British Crown
When the Revolutionary War came, Pawpine found
That he fought for the Redcoats and he fought so brave
For the same king whose men first had made him a slave
For the same king whose men first had made him a slave

   (chorus:)
   And in his dreams, he still lives by the Gambia shore
   Not the frozen grey Grand, by his cabin door
   Though they said he was free, still his heart stayed in chains
   May his soul roll home down that river again.
   May his soul roll home down that river again.

With other slaves, he fought with Butler at Niagara Falls
When the war was over, Haldimand said he would free them all
So Pawpine pressed him for passage home to Africa
But he was granted land in Upper Canada
But he was granted land in Upper Canada

And in the War of 1812, he took up arms once again
With Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men
For their service at Lundy's Lane and Queenston Heights
From this cold country, Pawpine thought they'd earned their flight
From this cold country, Pawpine thought they'd earned their flight

But to the unbroken wilderness, now, they were sent
To make a new start with a black settlement
Though he tried till he died, still he never could
Feel at home in those lonely northern woods
Feel at home in those lonely northern woods

   (chorus)