Gordon Drummond

General Sir Gordon Drummond, GCB (27 September 1772 – 10 October 1854) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who was the first official to command the military and the civil government of Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drummond distinguished himself on the Niagara front in the War of 1812 and later became Governor-General and Administrator of Canada.

Gordon Drummond was born in Quebec City on 27 September 1772. He was of Scottish descent, the son of Colin Drummond (1722–1776), of Megginch Castle, Perthshire, and his wife Catherine Oliphant of Rossie. His sister, Elizabeth married Lord Hervey, one brother, John Drummond married a daughter of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland and another brother, Vice-Admiral Sir Adam Drummond, KCH, married Lady Charlotte Murray, eldest daughter of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl.

Gordon's father first came to Lower Canada in 1764 as the Quebec agent to the London firm of Sir Samuel Fludyer, Adam Drummond (his brother) & Franks, contractors for victualling the troops in North America. At Quebec, Colin Drummond became a business partner of Jacob Jordan and served as Commissary General, deputy Paymaster General to the Forces in the Province of Quebec and Legislative Councillor. Gordon was three years old when Quebec City was unsuccessfully sieged by American forces in 1775. Four years after Colin Drummond's death, in 1780 the family left Quebec and Gordon received his education at Westminster School in England before entering the British Army as an ensign with the 1st Foot in 1789.

In 1794, he served as a junior lieutenant-colonel in the Netherlands, commanded by the Duke of York. At the siege of Nijmegen Drummond was commended in the successful repelling of a French sortie. In 1801 Drummond led the 8th Regiment of Foot ashore at the Battle of Abukir and fought in a number of engagements in Egypt including the Battle of Alexandria and the Capture of Cairo. He also saw service in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. In 1805, at the age of 33 years, Drummond had attained the rank of major general.

Drummond first came back to Canada in 1809 on the staff of Governor General Sir James Henry Craig. After briefly serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Canadas in 1811, as a result of Craig being recalled to England, Drummond was reassigned to Ulster. Late in 1813, Drummond was recalled to North America to serve in Upper Canada as lieutenant governor, replacing Francis de Rottenburg. Rottenburg had proven an unpopular officer who was considered over-cautious, nervous about any sort of engagement, and reluctant to send reinforcements to vital areas. Successive lieutenant governors—Rottenburg and his predecessor, Roger Hale Sheaffe—had failed to make an impact in the North American war since the death of the successful Sir Isaac Brock at the Battle of Queenston Heights.

Drummond soon proved himself in Brock's mould: aggressive and willing to take chances, and in December Drummond launched a surprise attack which led to the capture of Fort Niagara. After the American burning of Newark Drummond crossed the Niagara River, fought the Battle of Black Rock and burned Buffalo in retaliation. The involvement of Canadian defectors in the destruction of Newark outraged the population of Upper Canada. Acting Attorney-General John Beverley Robinson convinced Drummond, in his role of Lieutenant Governor, to put forward legislation to make it easier to prosecute treason.

In May 1814, fifteen prisoners were convicted of high treason and sentenced to death by a special court convened by Robinson and presided over by Chief Justice Thomas Scott. Drummond, as acting Lieutenant Governor, was pressured by Robinson to allow the sentences to be carried out. Eight were hanged at Burlington Heights on 20 July 1814 while the rest had their sentences reduced to exile. At the time of the executions, Drummond was on route from Kingston to Niagara to take over field command of the army.

Drummond, like Brock and Henry Procter, was continually hungry for reinforcements from the governor general, Sir George Prevost, who held relatively large numbers of troops in reserve at Quebec, despite the fact that no enemy had even come close to endangering the capital. Despite a constant lack of manpower and war material, Drummond had all but driven the American forces from the Niagara by the close of the 1813–1814 winter campaign. In July 1814, responding to a request from the beleaguered Major-General Phineas Riall, Drummond went with his troops from York to Fort George to take command from Riall and drive back Jacob Brown's invading soldiers. On 25 July, he ordered an immediate attack on the American forces, which were already engaging Riall's troops near Chippawa. In this way, a small skirmish exploded into the bloody and inconclusive Battle of Lundy's Lane, which cost each side over 850 casualties and left the British in possession of the road, although it is uncertain whether the British drove the Americans from the field, or the Americans drove off the British and were simply forced to withdraw by a lack of supplies. The latter is likely the case, based upon evidence compiled by Donald Graves, a Canadian historian employed at the Directorate of History, Department of National Defence Canada.