NILS VON SCHOULTZ

Tombstone, St. Mary’s Cemetery, Alexander Cicolari Family Plot, Plan 1, Section 2, Row I, Kingston

Nils von Schoultz, born 1807 in Kuopio, Finland, figured as military leader in the Battle of the Windmill, one of the final battles of the Rebellions of 1837-38. On 10 November 1838 he was part of an invading force, the original intention of which was a three-pronged attack on Prescott, taking the town and then capturing Fort Wellington. The force actually landed at Windmill Point, about a mile and a half below Prescott. There they took possession of a stone mill and together with local Canadians kept up a spirited defence until they were overwhelmed.

Later in the month a series of military trials were held at Fort Henry. A young Kingston lawyer named John A. Macdonald (later Prime Minister of Canada) undertook to act in defence of paymaster Daniel George as well as von Schoultz, although under severe restrictions of the court. The sham trial condemned von Schoultz to death. He faced the gallows with composure and dignity and was executed, age 36, on 8 December 1838 outside the walls of Fort Henry, now the parking lot. He was buried alongside Martin Woodruff, another executed leader. While some critics regard von Schoultz as a controversial figure, his participation in the struggle for an independent Canada is also seen as consistent with his earlier struggles as a soldier to free peoples from feudal and oppressive regimes.

Von Schoultz had become an officer in the Swedish army at 22, but requested discharge in 1830 to join forces with Polish insurgents against Russian rule. It was a year of revolutions against autocracy in Europe. In Poland the revolution was triumphant for a time but eventually succumbed in 1831 to the Tsar’s forces. Von Schoultz was captured but he escaped and eventually reached the United States, where he became involved in the efforts to support the Rebellions in the Canadas.