War of 1812 bicentennial

   Next year is the bicentennial of the War of 1812 which is not widely celebrated in America or Britain but is a really big deal in Canada since many Canadians consider it a defining moment on the road to the formation of Canada.  The federal government is going to mark the bicentennial by spending $28 million on historical education, supporting 100 events, a permanent memorial in Ottawa and infrastructure improvements to three 1812 national historical sites including Fort York in Toronto.

   PBS had an accurate two hour War of 1812 program on Monday probably because 65% of the paying members in the New York branch live in Ontario and a lot of the funding came from Canadian sources. The trailer for the program is at the top of the post.

Battle of Queenston Heights

  My Ex comes from a United Empire Loyalist family, the families who supported the Crown during the American Revolution, and  they moved to Thorold, Ontario in the early 1780s after their property was confiscated by the Continental Congress which was a common means of paying for the revolution. During the Battle of Queenston Heights in October of 1812, they got their payback by defeating the troops from Kentucky. The Kentuckians were in the wrong place and the wrong time because they had the loyalists and native allies in front of them and a 500 foot vertical drop into the Niagara gorge behind them. To make a long story short, they had a really bad day.

Fort York in Toronto

Fort York is a historic site of military fortifications and related buildings on the west side of downtown Toronto. The fort was built by the British Army and Canadian militia troops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to defend the settlement and the new capital of the Upper Canada region from the threat of a military attack, principally from the newly independent United States. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923.(Wikipedia)

Fort York, soldier in British uniform c1812

One of the main canon at Fort York

  The battle of York which is the former name of Toronto was fought in April, 1813 and American troops burned and looted the town after defeating the garrison at Fort York. When the garrison was attacked the defending troops blew the fort`s magazine which killed or wounded many of the American troops and this was the probable cause for the plunder of the town. The British in retaliation burnt Washington, DC in 1814.

War of 1812 Historical Reenactor from Fort Meigs with a replica Howitzer cannon.
under creative commons licence from charissa

American history



United Empire Loyalist statue in Hamilton, Ontario



I’ve always had an interest in American history.  Americans and Canadians have always had a convoluted and complex relationship.  My Ex like a lot of Canadians comes from a United Empire Loyalist family.  In this particular case her ancestors were Pennsylvania Dutch who supported the crown during the American Revolution, had their property confiscated by the Continental congress and moved to Thorold, Ontario in the 1780’s.  They still think that the wrong side won and are particularly incensed by the Jay treaty of 1794. One clause in the treaty stated the American government would compensate those who had their property confiscated and this was never honoured. Isn’t time you guys paid up?



Paul Revere's Midnight Ride



In order to demonstrate the other side of the relationship, I’ll tell another story. The Bond Head rectory in which I lived was rebuilt in 1892 after a fire.  The original house was built in the 1830’s and the original incumbent was a Rev. Featherstone-Osler.  His eighth son, William, was born in the house and grew up to be a famous doctor.  He studied Medicine at McGill University, became the first chief of medicine at John Hopkins medical school and married Grace Revere Gross who was the great-granddaughter of Paul Revere. So I can say with a reasonable degree of historical accuracy that a person who was born and spent his youth in the house in which I lived married the ancestor of an iconic American revolutionary. You can read more here.