Good Question!

'Good Question!' is a recurring feature post about an interesting question or comment that has been made at one of the museums I work at. This question was about a strange story alluded to in a War of 1812 display.  

At the Hamilton Military Museum, we have a display case containing the cutlass belonging to Major General Phineas Riall – who was one of the British leaders during in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1813. 

To give some very limited context, the Battle of Lundy’s Lane (near present day Niagara Falls, Canada) was a fight between the British/Canadians and the Americans in June 1813. It goes down in history as the bloodiest battle on Canadian soil during the War of 1812. 

There was no clear ‘winner’; both sides experienced crippling losses, and the battlefield was chaos. Initially, the Americans seemed to out-manouver the British, and were able to capture some British officers. But at the end of the long night, the Americans were out of supplies and despite some strategic advantages decided to retreat back across the Niagara River into the United States. 

The text panel for the cutlass talks about what happened to Phineas Riall during this battle; let's call him Phineas, because that is an excellent name. Unfortunately for him, he was one of those British officers captured by the American Major Thomas Jesup. The story that follows is admittedly odd: the cutlass on display was given by Phineas to his captor, Thomas, and Thomas used the cutlass for the remainder of the War of 1812 before giving it back to Phineas.

Wait, what? Phineas gave his weapon willingly to the enemy, the guy who just captured him? 

That is correct. Apparently, even though they were enemies on the battlefield, officers in the two opposing armies still treated each other with gentlemanly respect. In 1812, officers were not necessarily made by leadership skills and merit. Mostly, they were made by money. So there was a sort of aristocratic understanding between the higher-ups. 

During the battle, Thomas lost his cutlass. Not wanting to see a fellow officer go without the largely symbolic weapon,  Phineas offered up his own to his enemy.   

Basically, they were adversaries on the battlefield, but they were still members of the same exclusive club. 

But can you imagine that conversation, as Phineas is being held captive by the American army?