Thomas Markle and Joseph Willcocks

Joseph Willcocks: The defection of Thomas Markle and Joseph Willcocks, who were actually bearing arms in a newly minted U.S. Army unit called the Canadian Volunteers the turncoats that torched Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1813 clearly shocked the legislature. It condemned their "abominable treason" and declared their seats vacant. , according to Hamilton Spectator. The story begins in the wake of the American Revolution On Feb. 19, 1814, the wartime Parliament of Upper Canada, homeless since the Americans burned the legislature, convened in a midtown hotel. When the speaker called the roll, eighteen members responded. Of the seven absent, one was sick, four were prisoners of war and two, including the member representing Ancaster, were stated to have deserted to the enemy. The treason of two sitting members, one of whom had fought against the Americans at Queenston Heights in 1812, was a major blow to the authority of the colonial government. But the two rogue members were only the highest-profile examples of the widespread disaffection that existed in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 and culminated in the largest mass hanging in Canadian history. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.