Stories of Canadians
 in the War of 1812

JOHN DECEW (1766-1855)
2nd Lincoln Militia

3rd Battalion Lincoln Militia Regimental Colour
listing the 1812 Battles the unit served in.

The son of a New Jersey Loyalist, John Decew established a mill on the Beaver Dams creek at a place that came to be called Decew's Falls. In 1797, he joined the militia and when the war broke out, he was a captain and company commander in the 2nd Lincoln Regiment. His large stone house served as a fortified post during the 1813 enemy occupation of the Niagara and it was to this house in June 1813 that Laura Secord brought intelligence that an American force was advancing. The result was the British and aboriginal victory at the battle of Beaver Dams, fought 24 June. Decew was not present as a month before he had been captured by the enemy and taken to Philadelphia for imprisonment. He managed to escaped in April 1814 and, aided by Quakers, managed to return to British territory by June 1814 where he rejoined his regiment on the Niagara frontier, fighting at the battles of Chippawa and Lundy's Lane.

            When the war ended, Decew tried to restore his shattered businesses and became involved in the construction of the first canal between Lakes Ontario and Erie. He later was an early founder of the modern town of Cayuga and became a successful owner of a glass manufactory by the time of his death.

            Today the modern Lincoln and Welland Regiment perpetuates the 2nd Lincoln Regiment that Decew served in during the War of 1812 and one of the objectives of Honour our 1812 Heroes is to procure the modern unit a Battle Honour for the 1814 battle of Lundy's Lane. (Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography)

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The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. - Benjamin Disraeli