Alexander Macdonell-- Part 5: Becomes Catholic Bishop of Upper Canada

A central figure in the religious and political life of the Crown Colony of Canada, Macdonell was appointed vicar general in 1807 and vicar apostolic in 1820 and was  consecrated bishop or Regiopolis in 1826.

During his tenure thousands of Irish immigrants arrived, and by 1840, there were 34 priests and  48 parishes in  Upper Canada (today's province of Ontario) for which Macdonell had secured financial assistance from the local and British governments.

A firm conservative, Macdonell was a legislative counsellor  from 1831, and soon came under fire from the Reform Movement.

He died while in Britain attempting to secure funds for the Regiopolis College and recruiting more Catholic emigrants.  Alexander Macdonell was buried at  St. Margaret's Convent in Edinburgh, Scotland, but his remains were removed to  St. Mary's in Kingston in 1861.

--Brock-Perry

Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace Dedicated-- Part 3: A Presence in Early U.S. History

 After serving as Virginia's governor, Monroe served as ambassador to Great Britain and special envoy to France -- where he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase -- under Thomas Jefferson.  Under James Madison's presidency, Monroe served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War.  

Om 1816, he was elected to the first of two terms as president of the United States.  His presidency is sometimes referred to as the Era of Good Feelings due to a sense of national purpose and unity following the War of 1812.

"Like the wind, sometimes quietly  and sometimes boldly, [Monroe] was always making his presence known" in the early history of this country," G. William Thomas said.  After reading the last two entries I fully agree with that statement.  This man did a bit of everything in our early history.

--Brock-Perry

The Treaty of Spring Wells-- Part 2: What Did It Mean and Who Signed It

Then object of the treaty was to absolve the Indians for supporting Britain during the War of 1812 and secure their future allegiance to the United States.  The treaty officially ended all hostilities between the United States  and the Indians and reaffirmed  the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

The U.S. agreed to restore to the Indians all of their possessions, rights and privileges as of 1811.  In return, the Indians agreed to place themselves under the protection of the U.S. government and repudiate all ties with Britain.

Furthermore, the U.S.  also "agree[d] to pardon such of the chiefs and  and warriors of said tribes as may have continued hostilities against them  until the close of the war with Great Britain."

The negotiations for the United States were conducted by treaty commissioners William Henry Harrison, Duncan McArthur and John Graham.  Native leaders who signed the treaty were Tarhe (Wyandot), Pacanne (Miami) and Black Hoof (Shawnee).

--Brock-Perry

The Last Time U.S. Capitol Was Breached Was Over 200 Years Ago

From the January 6, 2021, Guardian "U.S. Capitol's last breach was more than 200 years ago" by Amanda Holpuch.

That horrible scene of idiots running amuck in the Capitol last weekend is still in my mind and it will join the Twin Towers burning on 9/11 and the pictures of the burning and sunken USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

And the fact that their intent was to disrupt a government function.  Well, just too much.

Not since 1814 has the building been breached like it was Wednesday.

Then, it was by British troops  who set fire to it and other public buildings in Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812.  City residents were aware of the British approach and most had fled by the arrival of those troops.

The Capitol was under construction at the time and while a considerable portion was destroyed by the fire, use of many fireproof materials allowed for the preservation of the exterior and many of the interior rooms.  Still the fire was bad enough that many documents were destroyed, glass lights melted and statues destroyed.

I've written a lot of posts about the burning of Washington, D,C..  Click on the Burning of Washington DC label.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Black Settlement at Willow Grove to Be Honored-- Part 2: Blacks Were Not Welcomed and Those Who Came Got Smaller Plots of Poorer Land

But, the British government ran into problems when they tried to arrange land for the new immigrants in the province of Nova Scotia.   They wanted to send upwards of 3,000 of the new subjects to this province, but the legislature of it  said there were already too many Blacks there already.

So, they turned to New Brunswick, where the reception wasn't much better.

On April 13, 1815, Major General  Stracey Smyth, the Administrator of New Brunswick, asked the Executive Council to consider whether the province should receive 400-500 black refugees.  Although the council voted 3-2 to accept them,  the government was reluctant to take any responsibility for their welfare.

Of the thousands who departed the United States , 371 settled in Willow Grove.  Here they unfortunately found that the good land for farming they were promised was not exactly what they got.  The plots they received were smaller than the ones whites received

The policy of New Brunswick at the time was to give white settlers 100 acres while the Blacks received just 50 acres according to historian W.A. Spray.

And, to make matters worse, the plots Blacks received was not very food farming land.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Black Settlement of Willow Grove to Be Honored on Canadian Stamp-- Part 1

From the November 22, 2020, CBC by Jordan Gill.

A community outside of  Saint John will receive a stamp during next year's Black History Month according to Canada Post.

For Ralph Thomas, a descendant  of the residents of Willow Grove and a proponent of black history, the honor is a long time in coming.  "We have gone through the years without being recognized with some of our great folks that came to these parts and  went through a very tough time to get started in life."

The community was founded in 1815 as a result  of an 1812 British call to anyone living in the United States would be welcomed in the British Empire.  This was primarily aimed at Blacks, both enslaved and free.  Thousands of the Blacks took them up on it along the coast and especially from the Mid-Atlantic states and ended up living in  New Brunswick looking for a better life.

--Brock-Perry

What Tecumseh Fought For-- Part 4: The Impact of the Death of Tecumseh and Aftermath

Somewhere in the smoke and fury, Tecumseh went down.  Col. Richard Mentor Johnson, severely wounded himself, recounted pulling out his pistols and shooting an Indian -- maybe Tecumseh?  In later years, Johnson built his political career on the claim that he had slain the mighty Tecumseh himself.

Tecumseh's death put in motion a series of events and consequences.    Furious about the British failure, many of Tecumseh's allies quickly signed an armistice with Harrison, who then sought  o enlist them to fight the British.

Even as many American settlers  spoke explicitly   about the "extermination" of  Indian people, their leaders  negotiated a series of treaties with confederacy tribes.  The British confirmed their faithlessness in the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which  ended the war, but sold out their Indian allies.

Without Tecumseh, his brother, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, floundered, and he eventually helped the Americans to persuade the Shawnees to leave their lands and relocate in Kansas.  There, in 1828, he set up a sad little Prophetstown of four remote cabins, where he faded away to a lonely death less than a decade later.

--Brock-Perry

What Tecumseh Fought For-- Part 3: The Battle of the Thames

Continued from October 30.

The British figured that each Indian warrior was worth three American soldiers and when they marched into battle in their traditional red coats, Tecumseh and his warriors would be protecting the flanks.

Tecumseh seemed to be everywhere during the first years of fighting: fighting, recruiting, saving prisoners from torture from his men,  cajoling the British to maintain supplies, food and men, and even rallying their troops in the field on occasion.

The British failed in almost every aspect of the war.  (Of course a big part of this was because Britain was much more heavily engaged with Napoleon and his French army in the war for control of Europe.)  The world's strongest maritime power lost  the fight for the Great Lakes, saw its supply lines to  the Northwest cut, and , in the fall of 1813, were chased by William Henry Harrison and a large American force into a panicked retreat across Upper Canada.

British commander, General Henry Procter, made a strategic blunder before taking an ill-prepared stand near Moraviantown on the Thames River, in early October.

Tecumseh and  some five hundred warriors supported the British line in what became known as the Battle of the Thames, but those lines collapsed almost immediately in the face of an American cavalry charge.  A small group of Americans led by Richard Mentor Johnson, a Kentucky militia colonel,  charged the Indian lines on horseback, hoping to draw their fire and thus reveal the Indian positions for the next wave of soldiers.

--Brock-Perry

What Tecumseh Fought For-- Part 2: An Indian Confederation

Tecumseh's 1811 diplomatic mission among the various Indian tribes rallied the Upper Creeks, but  most of the southern tribes rejected it. As a result, most of his efforts  remained centered in the Old Northwest, where he drew together the Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Saulk, Meskwaki, Ottawa and Ojibwe.

To Tecumseh, the Americans were set on domination of the continent and the Indians were in the wat and must be removed.

William Henry Harrison's victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe might have ended the Indian conflict, but it didn't.  He was sure of it, but was very wrong about it.  Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, regrouped their people around a powerful ally, Britain, America's opponent in the approaching  maritime war.

Again, Tecumseh's aspirations were frustrated by circumstance.  Still hoping for an Indian confederacy, Tecumseh found his hand forced by the War of 1812.

For the next three years, the incomplete Indian alliance challenged American armies across the Native homelands.  They pummeled the Americans at the River Raisin, took Fort Dearborn (Chicago), chased settlers out of the borderlands, and orchestrated a three-pronged  offensive against the remaining American forts.

--Brock-Perry

How the British Invasion of Maine in 1814 Led to Statehood-- Part 3: Bet You're Wondering When I Was Going to Talk About This

Even as the war was flaring up in 1814, its end was being negotiated in Ghent, where American and British officials were meeting in secret.  It ended with the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814.

The following spring 1815, the British left Castine and Down East Maine shore.

The war had pitted the young United States against its former master, but it left divisions between what today is Maine and Massachusetts of which it was a territory.

The reluctance of Maine to come to the aid of its far eastern territory  during the war led to calls for secession from the Bay State, which weren't strongly resisted in Boston.  In 1820, five years after the British left, Maine became the 23rd state as part of the Missouri Compromise.

So, Now You Know How the War of 1812 Caused Maine to become a State.  --Brock-Perry

More David Rubenstein Donations

He has also spent millions on historical documents including copies of:

The Declaration of Independence

Emancipation Proclamation

Thirteenth Amendment (which abolished slavery)

In 2007, he spent $21.7 million  on a copy of the 13th century British human rights document the Magna Carta, which he then lent to the National Archives.

--Brock Perry

The Patriot War of 1838-- Part 1

I wrote about the steamship Robert Fulton in the last four posts which Stephen Champlin of the U.S. Navy commanded as troops were sent to the Detroit area during this crisis which had the possibility of conflict with Britain.  The U.S. government chartered the Robert Fulton.

Even though this was after the War of 1812, the fact that Britain might get involved and Champlin being a War of 1812 veteran means I will take a look at this war.

From Wikipedia.

The Patriot War was a conflict along the Canada-United States border involving bands of raiders attacking the former British colony of Upper Canada (today's Ontario) more than a dozen times between December 1837 and December 1838.

This was not a declared war between nations.  The groups responsible for the war were both American and Canadian with the intention of liberating Upper Canada from British rule.

And, before Writing About Stephen Champlin I'd Never Heard Of It.  --Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin's Post War Service-- Part 3: The 1838 Patriot War

In 1838, during the Patriot War, he was put in command of the military force that was sent, along with the steamers Robert Fulton and New England, to prevent  the developing  invasion of Canada by private forces.
These forces had as their goal, the liberation of Canada from the yolk of British colonialism.  That the Canadians did not want to be free was overlooked by these men so the U.S. government found it necessary  to head off the invasion before it caused another confrontation with Britain.

On January 25, 1838, Champlin's ships broke through the ice of Buffalo Creek and proceeded up the lake.  They captured many of the "deluded liberators" and averted further bloodshed.

(I'd never heard of this incident, but there is a big article in Wikipedia about it.  There was also a Patriot's War in East Florida back during the War of 1812.  The steamer Robert Fulton mentioned here was not a U.S. Navy ship, but a steamer chartered by the U.S. government, as was the New England.  There were also two U.S. Navy ships named the USS Fulton, neither of which was this Robert Fulton ship.)

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gibson-- Part 3: One of 40 U.S. Forts Built 1794-1812

From the HMdb.

Fort Gibson was one of 40 forts constructed between 1794 and 1812 in the United States.  All were built  during threats of war resulting from attacks in American shipping by Great Britain and France.

Many of the forts in the New York area were constructed in this period, including Castle Williams on Governors Island, Castle Clinton in lower Manhattan, and the star-shaped Fort Wood, which now forms the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Together these forts and batteries of the lower and upper harbor deterred attacks on one of the new nation's largest cities and most important ports.  Most of these historic fortifications still exist; some, such as Fort Wadsworth and Staten Island, are preserved by the National Park Service.

--Brock-Perry

James McHenry-- Part 2: Appointed Secretary of War Under Washington

James McHenry was paroled in January 1777 and released from parole in March.  General George Washington was impressed with him so made him aide as secretary in May 1779.  McHenry was present at the Battle of Monmouth.

In August 1780, he was transferred to Major General Lafayette's staff where he remained until he retired from the army in 1781.

Later, he participated in the Constitutional Convention.

During George Washington's second term as president, he appointed James McHenry as his Secretary of War in 1796.  One of his major tasks was to transition the western military posts from British control to American.under the terms of the Jay Treaty.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Stephenson=-- Part 6: A Line of Blockhouses Across the Illinois Territory

From the Benjamin Stephenson House Site "The War of 1812 and Indian Threat."

In the early days of the Illinois Territory, Indians posed a definite threat to white settlement.  The fact that the British constantly meddled in Indian affairs trying to stir them up, made matters worse.

When Ninian Edwards, for whom Edwardsville is named, became territorial governor in 1809, he organized and strengthened the territory's militia.  Benjamin Stephenson was appointed brigade commander of the militia and later became adjutant.

One of the first things Stephenson did was to build a line of blockhouses across the state from east to west.  This line was anchored by Fort Russell, just north of Edwardsville.

--Brock-Perry

Sea Fencibles-- Part 1: The British Had Them Also At One Time

From Wikipedia.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that the fortifications on Governors Island in Boston Harbor known as Fort Warren at the time, were manned some of the time by a group called the Sea-Fencibles.  I'd never heard of them before.

The Sea Fencibles were a naval militia established to provide a close-in line of defense and to obstruct the operations of enemy shipping and were used mostly during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

The British had their own Sea Fencibles during this time, but the Admiralty disbanded its Sea Fencibles in 1810.

The United States adopted a similar concept during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

--Brock-Perry

Tennessee in the War of 1812-- Part 8: Aftermath

For Tennessee, the War of 1812 all but eliminated British and Spanish interference in the Southwest.  It also broke the power of the southern Indian tribes, leading to their eventual removal, and opened vast tracts of land for white settlers to exploit.

Because of the political and military prominence during the war, Tennessee, for the first time, came into national prominence.

--Brock-Perry