William Hamilton Merritt, Upper Canada Militia (1793 - 1862)

A dashing young Canadian cavalry officer, Merritt participated in almost every major action fought in the Niagara peninsula during the war but his military career ended at Lundy's Lane when he was captured by the Americans. Merritt went on to postwar fame as the builder of the first Welland Canal linking the two Great Lakes (Lake Erie & Lake Ontario). He is shown here in old age.