Tenth Year of This Blog

This marks the beginning of this blog's tenth year.

This post is the 3,447th.

The very first post was April 16, 2012.

This blog grew out of my Cooter's History Thing blog and I started it because 2012 was the bicentennial of the War of 1812.  I knew more about this war than most people, but that's not saying too much as most Americans know very little about the war.

I figured I would learn more about it with this blog, and I sure did, starting with where Upper and Lower Canada (as the British colony was called back then) were not where I thought they would be.  I always thought upper meant north and lower meant south.  But not so in Canada.  The locations refer to the St. Lawrence River which flows from south to north.

I was looking for a signoff name and couldn't think of one so temporarily used the last names of two heroes of the war:  Isaac Brock of Britain and Oliver Hazard Perry of the U.S.

Things You Learn.  --Brock-Perry

3,188 Posts and Nine Years Later

As of this post, this blog is now nine years old and this is my 3,188th post.

I started three new blogs in 2012, this being one of them.  The other two are my Running the Blockade: Civil War Navy and Tattooed On Your Soul:  World War II blog.  2012 was a significant anniversary year for the wars:  200th for the War of 1812, 70th of World War II and 150th of the Civil War.

Even though I was supposed to teach the War of 1812 to my 7th grade students, I usually didn't get there.  I also knew that I didn't know a whole lot about the War of 1812 so this looked like a perfect way to gain some knowledge.  And, I have learned a lot about it.

The very first thing was the difference between Upper and Lower Canada.  Here in the United States, we would regard Lower as being southward and Upper northward.  But, in Canada, this is based on the St. Lawrence River which flows south to north, so Upper Canada is the part by the United States.  I didn't know that.

The sign off, by the way, Brock-Perry stands for a hero on each side during the War of 1812.  Brock is Sir Isaac Brock and Perry is Oliver Hazard Perry.

Learning All the Time.  --Brock-Perry

Fort Malden-- Part 7: Fort is Abandoned By the British

Again, the official name of the fort is Fort Amherstburg, but most everyone refers to it as Fort Malden.

Throughout the War of 1812, the Detroit Frontier (where Fort Malden is located)  was considered as an afterthought to British strategy.  It was "a distant and expendable outer branch"  of Canada.  One that Britain would sacrifice in order to protect Montreal and Quebec in Lower Canada, and Niagara, York and Kingston in Upper Canada.

The losses of York and Niagara in the spring of 1813 placed the Upper Canada's western border in jeopardy.  Resources were directed at the Niagara region and with no chances of receiving significant reinforcements,  General Proctor was forced to abandon Fort Malden in September 1813.

With the British defeat at the Battle of Lake Erie the fort was burned and the fort's inhabitants were forced to flee with American forces hot on their heels.  After the American victory at the Battle of the Thames, general Proctor was able to continue his retreat to Niagara.

--Brock-Perry

Henry Eckford-- Part 1: Builder of U.S. Ships

From Wikipedia.

Henry Eckfoird (1775-1832)

Built the USS Superior at Sackets Harbor and converted the USS Trippe into a warship.

Scottish-born naval architect, industrial engineer and entrepreneur.  Worked for the U.S. navy and the Ottoman Empire.  Prominent businessman and political figure in New York City 1810 to the 1830s.

In 1791, he began a five-year apprenticeship in Lower Canada on the St. Lawrence River, then moved to Kingston, Canada.

In 1796, he became a master builder and emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City.

1790-1800, opened a shipbuilding business on the East River in Brooklyn.  He sold it in 1802 and moved back to NYC and opened a new shipyard and became a U.S. citizen.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: George Prevost Ordered to England

MARCH 25, 1815:  George Prevost informs the Lower Canada Assembly that he has been ordered back to England to explain the loss at the Battle of Lake Champlain.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Napoleon Escapes and Canada Learns of Treaty of Ghent

MARCH 1ST, 1815:  General Sir George Provost is officially notified of the Treaty of Ghent in Quebec.

MARCH 1ST, 1815:  Lower Canada militia disbanded.

MARCH 1ST, 1815:  Napoleon escapes from the Elba Islands, triggering the Hundred Days.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Reinforcements Arrive, Action in Maine

Even though the Treaty of Ghent had been signed in December, it had yet to be ratified in Britain of the United States.  The war went on in North America.

JANUARY 1815:  The British 102nd Regiment arrives in Quebec City, Lower Canada.

JANUARY 1815:  Ensign Goerge Morehouse of the New Brunswich Fencibles led a detachment from Meductic and captures Houlton, District of Maine, in an effort to secure the strategically important line of communications between Saint John, New Brunswick, and Quebec, Lower Canada.

JANUARY 1, 1815:  The British bombard the defenses of New Orleans.

--Brock-Perry

The Treaty of Ghent-- Part 3: How the Treaty Affected Upper and Lower Canada

At the close of 1814, the British occupied considerable American territory including posts on the Pacific coast, in Wisconsin Territory and the District of Maine and in the Great Lakes region while the U.S. controlled Fort Amherstburg and southwestern Upper Canada.

During peace negotiations, British officials adamantly argued retaining captured territory but, upon the Duke of Wellington's advise, settled for restoring territorial status quo (the prewar situation).

Upper and Lower Canada were also affected by later agreements including boundary commissions resolving disputes over islands in the upper St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers, the 1817 Rush-Bagot Agreement limiting warships on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain and the Convention of 1818 establishing the 49th parallel as the international boundary to the Rocky Mountains.

--Brock-Perry

January 1814 Timeline-- Part 1

January 1814 saw the arrival of British reinforcements in Quebec City, Lower Canada: 76th Regt., 26th regt. and 27th Regt..

Early in 1814, the British constrcted defenses on Bridge Island, Upper Canada, as shelter for supply batteaux (boats) traveling on the St. Lawrence River.

Construction began on cavalry barracksBlairfindie in Lower Canada.

Gunboats are constructed at Coteau-du-Lac in Lower Canada.

--Brock-Perry

Timeline November 1813-- Part 1: Blockade Of Entire U.S. Eastern Seaboard Established

Events happening in November 1813:

***Arrival of British reinforcements, the 70th Regt., at Quebec, Lower Canada.

*** Naval reinforcements allow the British to blockade the entire U.S. eastern seaboard from New England to Florida. New England was not, however, blockaded, partly because of British dependence on trade with the region via New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I think another reason might have been because New England was the weak link in the American effort and perhaps the British were hoping for them to secede.

NOVEMBER 1-2: Skirmish at French Creek, New York. The British Navy from Kingston unsuccessfully attacks vessels bringing Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson's Army down the St. Lawrence River.

--Brock-Perry

Quebec Force Repelled American Attack in Critical Battle

From the Nov. 24, 2012, National Post by James Careless.

In October 1813, 3,00 Americans under General Wade Hampton marched north from Plattsburgh, New York, with the goal of capturing Montreal, a vital supply stop for Upper Canada (now Ontario).  Its fall would cause the surrender of Upper Canada.  To stop them, a force of 1,600 French-Canadians and 172 Indians were deployed, including 110 Voltigeurs, British-trained French Lower Canadians under the command of Lt. Col. Charles de Salaberrry.

These troops harassed the Americans along the way, ambushing and felling trees.  At the Battle of Chateauguay, by the river of the same name, southwest of Montreal, the two forces fought.  Hampton attacked 400 fortified Canadians and de Salaberry mowed them down and made them think there were even more of them by having men with bugles wander around and blow them from various points.

This unnerved the Americans who retreated, ending a very serious threat.

Those Tricky Canadians.  --Brock-Perry