159th Battalion | Exploring SMALL TOWN Canada at War

As the demand for soldiers grew in WWI, so did recruiting efforts. Late in 1915, Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Armstrong of Cobalt was put in command of filling the ranks of a newly formed battalion, the159th Battalion (also know as the 1st Algonquins)

Bill (William) Guppy had been working as a guide in Temagami when war was declared and he signed up to be part of the 159th Battalion. An early mentor to the famous Grey Owl, Guppy was well regarded as a huntsman and trapper. Colonel Armstrong thought having a ‘Northern Canadian backwoods mascot’ was just the thing the 159th Battalion needed and so he tasked Guppy with finding him a moose. He was betting that fostering a strong sense of Northern identity would swell the ranks of his fledgling regiment.

Two-year old ‘Bessie’ the moose was a hit and so Colonel Armstrong thought another northern animal was needed, sending Guppy up to Temagami to get a bear cub. Not as docile as Bessie, ‘Kitchener’ the bear was a scrappy cub that loathed the sound of the marching band. Soon enough though, Bill Guppy and his animal entourage were famous, garnering Guppy the nickname of ‘Wildman.’

It didn’t take long after the landing in England for poor Bessie to become ill and soon die. Guppy was genuinely distraught. “She had helped to ‘do her bit’ like a good Canadian,” he wrote after the war, “and her fate was to die in exile, far from the wilderness where both she and I really belonged.”

159th Battalion

Date: 1916

Image Description:

159th Battalion with moose and bear mascots in Camp Borden