| On September 13 1884, 159 Ottawa
Valley lumbermen assembled to begin their journey to Egypt to aid in rescuing
General Charles "Chinese" Gordon who, along with Egyptian troops, was besieged
in the Sudanese city of Khartoum. Of the total of 386 so-called Canadian
voyageurs (92 were from Manitoba, 56 from Kahnawake and
the rest from elsewhere in Ontario, Québec and 1 from Nova Scotia)
who would undertake the demanding and dangerous assignment, 16 would not
return, including Léon Pilon of Ottawa.
The three small images above, all in the collections of the
National Archives of Canada, can be enlarged by cliking on them. In
one of these photographs is Léon Pilon. Can you see a familiar
face?
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