Short histories about my hometown. Hamilton, Ontario.

Seven years after American Abraham Markle arrived in Ancaster, he was on the run.

In that short time, the American-born businessman had come to own the Union Mill Company (now the Old Mill), a successful distillery, hundreds of acres of land and had become an elected government official.

But after the outbreak of the War of 1812, Markle weighed his interests. After first declaring his loyalty to Upper Canada, he began travelling the countryside, convincing men to join his militia of anti-British rebels. In 1813, ‘Markle’s Volunteers’ led violent raids on villages across southern Ontario - burning them to the ground, in the name of the USA.

Eventually, the British tracked the militia to a camp. After a brief battle, forty men were captured. But Markle, who had abandoned his men in during the skirmish and retreated to American territory, was not among them.

The Union Hall Hotel in Ancaster was converted to a temporary courthouse and Markle’s men went on trial. Fifteen were convicted of treason. Seven were sentenced to life in prison. Eight would die by hanging - their heads severed and displayed on stakes. These trials have been known since as The Bloody Assize.

Far away from the men he led – and their graves – Markle would again become a successful businessman in the newly settled land that would become Indiana. He never stepped foot in Canada again.