Neil Switzer BLArch UE
Loyalist Day Speaker, Dundurn Castle, July 19, 2025
Today, some 242 years after the end of the American Revolutionary War, we are meeting here to celebrate and honour our Loyalist ancestors, who maybe didn’t like the idea of increased British taxes any more than any of us would, but still chose to support the British cause and, unfortunately, suffered dearly for it.
Importantly though, they chose to do so not because they wanted to pay more taxes, but because they believed it better to live in a society based on the rule of law and order, with disputes resolved through negotiations, rather than one that resorts to fear, intimidation, persecution, and outright war to achieve its ends. And undoubtedly our world would be a much better place today if that same thinking prevailed currently around the world.
But today we’d like to speak about our own nationally renowned, and currently threatened, Loyalist Statue, and the family responsible for its creation. Everyone here knows about the statue and its location in downtown Hamilton, in front of the Wentworth County Courthouse, but most people don’t know about the loyalist family responsible for its creation or the story of their Loyalist ancestor, Private John Mills of Sussex, New Jersey, who inspired it.
It was John’s great grandson, Stanley Mills of Hamilton, who conceived and funded the statue, and organized — with great pomp and ceremony — the grand unveiling ceremony back in 1929. And I must mention that it was in that same year that the Hamilton Branch of the United Empire Loyalist Association was founded. Stanley Mills was our first president.
[You can click on any of the illustrations to enlarge it]
Stanley said that the statue was not to represent any one family in particular, as he meant it to honour and remember all the Loyalists who had fled to Canada as refugees. Nevertheless, I think my sharing of Stanley’s Loyalist ancestor’s wartime experience epitomizes the sufferings, struggles, and losses of the majority of Loyalists during the war, and helps us all to better understand the deeper meaning of this important statue.
Additionally today, my co-speaker Lee-Ann Hines-Green, a noted local historian, genealogist, and president of the revived Women’s Wentworth Historical Society, will be speaking on the subsequent generations of this Loyalist family and their contributions to this city’s growth and prosperity.
But first, I wish to acknowledge the person responsible for today’s topic: Ruth Nicholson, a long time member and pillar of our local branch who, sadly, recently passed away. Being the consummate organizer she was, she had already conscripted me and my co-speaker Lee-Ann to speak about the Loyalist statue for which she was passionate to preserve and promote.
So then, why was this statue so important to Ruth that she wanted it to be the feature of today’s remembrance? And why me to convey this message? The “me” part was easy for Ruth, I guess, as she knew that one of my six Loyalist ancestors was the United Empire Loyalist John Mills.
The Indigenous Landmarks and Monuments Review
I never had the chance to discuss with Ruth the “why” part of featuring the statue, but I can easily assume her reasoning. Its very existence is currently in jeopardy because of the city’s Indigenous Landmarks and Monuments Review process, which has deemed it to be problematic, along with the statues of Sir John A. MacDonald, Queen Victoria, and Augustus Jones.
Our national president, Carl Stymiest, has said that the Indigenous story is inseparable from our own and should be presented alongside the Loyalist narrative in any interpretive framework. It’s a fair comment, I believe, and one with which I think the majority of us would agree. Indigenous people were our allies and friends, and fought alongside our Loyalist ancestors. Like our ancestors, they also had to flee to Canada as refugees.
Time doesn’t permit me to get into all the details of the city’s review process but I strongly recommend that everyone check out our Facebook group, Hamilton Branch — United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada, where Paul Nicholson has recently posted an update on the review process, as well as examples of other national historic sites that have been updated to incorporate the native perspective, and suggestions about how you can help and show support to ensure our treasured history and statue is not erased or distorted.
Also on our Facebook group, Paul has posted our national president’s excellent submission to the City. I highly recommend that you check it out. For those of you who may not be online, we have copies of those articles that you can pick up today. They’re located back over at the picnic pavilion.
I must acknowledge and thank our local branch member, Paul Nicholson, for all his hard work and dedication in spearheading our branch’s input to the City. He has most admirably picked up the torch from his mother’s initial concerns. Thank you, Paul.
Why Is the Statue Important?
So, backing up a little now, what is the importance of any statue and what do statues represent to society and to people in general?
Statues and monuments traditionally hold significant cultural, historical, and symbolic value for a society. They serve as tangible connections to the past, representing important events, figures, or ideologies that have shaped our collective Canadian identity.
Statues and monuments can provide a means to:
- Preserve history, commemorating pivotal moments or significant individuals or groups, thus helping future generations to understand their heritage;
- Foster national pride, as monuments often symbolize a nation’s values, achievements, or struggles, which then strengthens a nation’s patriotism;
- Spark serious debate and dialogue, prompting discussions about historical context, cultural significance, and social values, which is precisely what we currently have with the City’s review process.
What Does the Statue Represent?
So what does our Loyalist Statue actually represent, and why is it so important to us Loyalists? I think the Loyalist monument stands as an inspiring symbol of the values and beliefs that our Loyalist ancestors held so dear that they were willing to lose everything for them. Unfortunately, that is indeed they did when they lost. But later, upon coming to what is now Canada, the same values played a pivotal role in shaping Upper Canada’s political and cultural identity into a country that they could safely grow and prosper in.
It was the Loyalists who first established the farms and mills, and the many hamlets and towns, many of which later grew into cities. The establishment of Ontario’s schools, universities, law courts, landholders’ rights, and even the provincial legislature, all have their origins in our Loyalist roots.
Even the Constitutional Act of 1791, splitting the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada (with Upper Canada later becoming Ontario) was a direct result of Loyalist influence. Most importantly, upon reflection, the statue reminds us that the Loyalists were instrumental in developing a distinctive national identity that was and is uniquely Canadian. I contend that It is this national identity that, thankfully, will never allow us to become the 51st state.
The Statue and Its Unveiling
For the next part of this speech, I was going to share with you the physical description of the bronze statue, the inscription on the plaques, and the details of the massive celebration held on it’s unveiling day back in on May 23, 1929. Unfortunately, time won’t permit. If you’re interested, just google ”Loyalist Statue Hamilton Library” and you’ll find it an interesting read. But I will share with you this comment from a journalist of that time.
A wonderful work of sculptural art, symbolic of hope faith and determination, and a perpetual reminder of devotion to principle, valor and the quality of overcoming the most difficult circumstances.
— The Hamilton Spectator, May 1929
John Mills, the Statue’s Inspiration
So now, as for my Loyalist ancestor, John Mills, the inspiration for the statue, who was he and what were his wartime experiences?
He was born in Sussex, New Jersey about 1733, and by 1755 he had married Rebecca Smith. She was from New England, of Puritan stock, and of the same family line that Niagara’s jams and jellies pioneer descended from.
John was a successful farmer and landowner. He was highly respected in his community, as shown by his 1797 land petition, in which nine of his neighbours certified that they were acquainted with John Mills in the State of New Jersey, and that he was honest, esteemed, industrious, and in good circumstances in life, and appeared to be very much attached to the King and the British Constitution and adverse to the rebels’ opposition during the time of the war in America. He also apparently was a man of some education, as evidenced by his ability to sign his name on early documents.
At the age of twenty-eight, in 1761, six years after he was married, he is shown on the muster roll of Captain Enoch Hunt’s company, in the province of New Jersey, during the French and Indian War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763.
The New Jersey Volunteers
Just eight years later he was fighting again, this time in the American Revolutionary War. He appears on the muster roll of the Sixth Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers, listed as a private in Captain Joseph Lee’s company. Unfortunately, just a month before the date of that muster roll, his unit was heavily engaged in repelling General Sullivan’s rebel forces and his raid on British Staten Island. Mills’s unit suffered heavy losses, including one of their majors. In October 1777, his unit again suffered substantial losses as part of the British army’s foray, under Sir Henry Clinton, into the rebel-occupied northern part of New Jersey. The following year, because it had lost so many Loyalist soldiers, the Sixth Battalion was merged into the Third battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Allen.
For those who may not be familiar with the New Jersey Volunteers, they were originally a Loyalist unit of six battalions, composed of New Jersey men under British command. They were primarily stationed on Staten Island and actively participated in battles and raids throughout New Jersey and Staten Island.
I believe most of us are quite familiar with the Butler’s Rangers, but many probably know little about the New Jersey Volunteers. During the six-year American Revolutionary War, it’s interesting to note that more fights took place in New Jersey than any other colony. Control of the New Jersey Colony shifted back and forth several times, and rural colonists were often in a state of no-man’s-land. Over 296 engagements between opposing forces were recorded in New Jersey, as well as numerous raids. Records show Private John Mills’s Third Battalion being involved in more large action battles than any of the other battalions. The New Jersey Volunteers often fought alongside British and Hessian forces and, despite heavy losses, it is said that they continued to fight with determination and vengeance.
Meanwhile, On the Home Front
In October 1777, while John was away fighting, the rebels and the rebel provisional government held the part of New Jersey where the Mills home was located. The new “Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey” had met and ordered eight of the wives of Loyalist soldiers, including John Mills’s wife, to appear before the Council. They were ordered to show cause why they and their children should not be expelled across enemy lines, according to their new laws. On failure to appear they would be removed accordingly, which effectively meant that their lands would be confiscated and auctioned off. Fortunately for the wives “the Council having enquired into their respective Circumstances & Situation, were unanimously of opinion, That it would not not be expedient to remove them for the present.” However John wasn’t as lucky, as one of his duties was clandestine incursions into rebel-held lands, to safely escort many Loyalist families from their threatened homes to safety behind the British lines.
On one occasion, as described in his later two land petitions in Canada, John stated the following:
He was captured in 1780, imprisoned, fined and punished very severely and was in a miserable way for a long time, including having to sit in a pillory outdoors in an extreme cold season and for such a length of time that he took sick & nearly died which then rendered him incapable of supporting his wife and 10 children for a long time such that they were dispersed amongst several other Loyalist families for a period of time.
And to elaborate on John’s punishment, I expect most of you know what a pillory is? You know, the wooden frame of confinement where you stick your head and hands through and remain there for days or weeks on end, for public display and humiliation, while often being taunted or having objects thrown at you. Basically, it was a cruel form of torture.
After the War
John also stated that “they took from him all his property and nearly all that he previously possessed.” Although he was only forty-seven when captured in 1780, his imprisonment and treatment destroyed his health so much so that it wasn’t until 1793 that he was finally well enough to travel to Canada with his wife and four of his children.
In 1794, after coming to Canada and submitting a Loyalist petition for land, due to his loyal service to the crown, he was awarded 200 acres of land on top of the escarpment above Grimsby. In 1797, he was awarded another 200 acres.
John and Rebecca Mills remained in Grimsby and obviously gained the respect of their community. In 1801, John was elected Grimsby’s Overseer of Roads. Despite all the suffering and hardships this Loyalist couple had endured, John survived until 1826, when he died at the age of ninety-three. Rebecca lived on until 1844 when she died at the age of 101.
It’s truly an amazing family story, and one I’m proud to say is that of one of my Loyalist ancestors.
I will now turn the podium over to my co-speaker, Lee-Ann Hine-Green, to give you some information on the contributions that some of John Mills’s descendants have made to the City of Hamilton.