Loyalist Memorial, Chrysler Farm Battlefield Park

Morrisburg, Ontario

Officially dedicated June 24, 1961, by Colonel Sir John Johnson, Sixth Baronet of New York., the Loyalist Memorial is located in Crysler Farm Battlefield Park adjacent to Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario. Nearby, the memorial garden wall is built from brick and stone, salvaged from the flooded area of the St. Lawrence Valley. The tombstones of early settlers are set in its walls.

Chrysler Farm Memorial

 

The plaque on the front of the memorial reads:

THIS MONUMENT HAS BEEN ERECTED BY A GRATEFUL PROVINCE
TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICE OF HIS MAJESTY’S FORCES IN NORTH AMERICAN 1775-84.
IN PARTICULAR THE FOLLOWING WHICH WERE DISBANDED AS UNITS
AND SETTLED ALONG THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER IN THE NEW PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA

THE 84TH REGIMENT (ROYAL HIGHLAND EMIGRANTS)
THE KING’S ROYAL REGIMENT OF NEW YORK (ROYAL GREENS)
THE KINGS RANGERS (ROGER’S CORPS)
THE ROYAL RANGERS (JESSUP’S CORPS)

WHO WITH THEIR FAMILIES APPROXIMATED FOUR THOUSAND PERSONS.

MANY UNITS COMPOSED LARGELY OF PERSONS RESIDING IN
THE AMERICAN PROVINCES AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION
FOUGHT VALIANTLY IN SUPPORT OF THE CROWN, FORFEITING
THEIR PROPERTY AND SUFFERING GREAT PRIVATION, THEY AND
THEIR DESCENDANTS PLAYED A LEADING ROLE IN THE RAPID
DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PROVINCE. FOR THEIR SERVICE AND SACRIFICE,
ALL THOSE WHO SUFFERED FOR THIS CAUSE ARE KNOWN AS
UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS.

UT INCEPIT SIX PERMANET FIDELIS
AS LOYAL SHE BEGAN LOYAL SHE REMAINS

 

 

On the reverse of the wall are two plaques. One reads as follows:

TO THE LOYALISTS
OF THE INDIAN NATIONS
1775 – 1784

TO COMMEMORATE THE SERVICES
OF THE MANY THOUSANDS OF
THE INDIAN NATIONS
WHO REMAINED LOYAL TO
THE BRITISH CROWN AT THE TIME OF
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
AND BEING MUCH MALIGNED
AND DRIVEN FROM THEIR LANDS
WERE SETTLED IN THE NEW
PROVINCE OF UPPER CANADA
THE BADGE OF WHICH PROVINCE
CONTAINED IN THEIR HONOUR
THE PIPE OF PEACE

THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED ON THE THIRTIETH OF JUNE A.D. 1962
IN THE TENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF H. M. ELIZABETH II QUEEN OF CANADA

 

 

The second plaque reads as follows:

THE UNION JACK FLOWN FROM THIS POLE
FLAG OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
AT THE TIME OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
COMMEMORATES

SIR JOHN JOHNSON
KNIGHT AND SECOND BARONET OF NEW YORK
MAJOR GENERAL OF MILITIA NEW YORK PROVINCE
LIEUT. COLONEL COMMANDANT THE KINGS ROYAL REGT.
OF NEW YORK
SUPERINTENDENT & INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE
SIX NATION INDIANS
COLONEL IN CHIEF OF MILITIA EASTERN TOWNSHIPS
MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF LOWER CANADA

BORN JOHNSTOWN N.Y. 5 NOV. 1742
DIED MONTREAL 4 JAN. 1830

THIS TABLET
WAS PRESENTED & THE FIRST FLAG RAISED BY
SIR JOHN JOHNSON
SIXTH BARONET OF NEW YORK
24TH JUNE 1961

 

 

“The sculpture of the figure in the Loyalist memorial was created by Phyllis Jacobine Jones (1897-1976). In Toronto, Jacobine Jones’ work can also be seen at Ryerson University. Her design of the two sculptural figures – a student and a hockey goaltender– is found “on the outside wall of the south side of Kerr Hall, looking out onto Gould Street, near the Egerton Ryerson statue.”
— The Loyalist Gazette – Spring 1969 Vol. VII, No. 1

[Photography by E. Kipp]