Battle of Matilda
early military engagement of the War of 1812
The Battle of Matilda, also known as the Battle of Toussaint's Island, was an early skirmish of the War of 1812 fought on September 16, 1812 between American and Canadian militia in the St. Lawrence River near the township of Matilda, in Dundas County.
Background
With the outbreak of the War of 1812 in June, the county militias along the St. Lawrence River began to muster and assemble for active service. Men of the Dundas Militia and Grenville Militia guarded the shoreline from Prescott to the Long Sault rapids, and closely monitored any movement on the New York shore. The militia also assisted supply convoys, providing protection for the boats travelling from Cornwall to Kingston.
The New York militia began to muster and likewise served duty along the banks of the river, and began to plan raids across the river.
Battle
On September 16, 1812, soldiers from the 1st Flank Company of the 1st Dundas Regiment under Capt. Michael Ault and Ens. Duncan Clark, as well as soldiers under Maj.
“Battle of Matilda” enters the record as early military engagement of the War of 1812. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Battle, Matilda and early can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q114056434. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1812.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Matilda” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.