Canada Versus USA 1812-1814

This series has ten easy 5 minute installments. This first installment: British Capture Detroit.

Introduction
The United States declared war on June 1, 1812 with two objectives: (1) Acquire Canada and (2) end the British harassments on the land borders and on the sea. In the end the United States scored 50%.

This is the story of objective number 1.

It is told from two sides. Agnes Machar was among of the foremost Canadian writers. Ramsay, a signer of the US Declaration of Independence was a historian whose words were respected in his day, less so afterwards, but improving in our time.

The selections are from:

• The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 15 by Agnes M. Machar published in 1905.
• History of the American Revolution, Continued to the Treaty of Ghent by David Ramsay published in 1815.

For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

There’s 7 installments by Agnes M. Machar and 3 installments by David Ramsay.

We begin with Agnes M. Machar (1837-1927). She socialized in the highest circles in Canada with a reputation resting on her histories, novels, poems and shorter works such as the one below, commissioned specifically for the anthology.

The actual declaration of war could not but spread a thrill of dismay in a comparatively defenseless and sparsely populated colony. The population of Upper Canada was only about eighty thousand; that of the whole colony did not exceed three hundred thousand. To defend a frontier of one thousand seven hundred miles, threatened by several powerful armies, they had but four thousand four hundred fifty regular troops of all arms, only about one thousand five hundred of whom were in Upper Canada. It is little wonder if the task of resisting so powerful a neighbor seemed at first almost a hopeless one, and if, for a short time, some despondency prevailed. But the spirit of the old Spartans lived in the breasts of the hardy Canadian yeomen, many of whom had already sacrificed so much to their loyal love for the British flag; and the confidence of the people in their brave General Brock acted as a rallying-point of hope and courage. The militia justified the expectations the General had ex pressed of “the sons of a loyal and brave band of veterans”; and troops of volunteers poured into all the garrison towns, ready “to do, and die,” if necessary, rather than yield to the invader.

As soon as the declaration of war was ascertained beyond a doubt, General Brock’s measures were prompt and energetic. He called a meeting of the Legislature, established his headquarters at Fort George, requested reinforcements from the Lower Province, which, however, could not be granted till the arrival of more troops from England; appointed a day of fasting and prayer in recognition of the great ever-present “Help in time of trouble”; looked to the condition of the frontier forts and out posts, and paid especial attention to the securing of the allegiance of the Indians, and the equipping, drilling, and organizing the militia. Of arms, however, there was a great scarcity, and many brave volunteers, who poured into York (now Toronto), Kingston, and other places, had to retire, disappointed, for lack of weapons; some indeed supplying the deficiency from their implements of husbandry.

On July 12th General Hull, with an army of two thousand five hundred men, crossed to Canada from Detroit, issuing from Sandwich a proclamation, doubtless emanating from Washington, in which he informed the; Canadians that he did not ask their aid, because he came with a force that must overpower all opposition, and which was, moreover, only the vanguard of a far greater one. He offered the Canadians, in exchange for the tyranny under which they were supposed to groan, “the invaluable blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty ” (it is to be remembered that the slave-holding States were the chief instigators and supporters of the war!). He ended his proclamation by expressing the hope that “He who holds in his hand the fate of nations may guide you to a result the most compatible with your rights and interests, your peace and prosperity.” This hope the Canadians, at least, deemed fulfilled in their being led to refuse the bribe of a personal ease and security purchased by the sacrifice of their sense of right and duty—of their loyalty to the country whose noble traditions they claimed as their own—to the flag which, notwithstanding the occasional shortcomings of its standard-bearers, they still regarded as the time-honored defender of “civil, political, and religious liberty.”

The preceding May, General Brock had sent a detachment of the Forty-first Regiment to Amherstburg or Fort Malden, some eighteen miles from Sandwich, to be in readiness to defend that frontier. On hearing of the landing of General Hull, he dispatched Colonel Proctor thither with a further reinforcement of the Forty-first. It was time to take energetic measures, for the fact that the enemy had been able to establish a footing in the country had excited alarm and gloom and endangered the adherence of the Indians of that region. Even General Brock could hardly resist the feeling that without speedy reinforcements, and unless the enemy could be speedily driven from Sandwich, the ruin of the country was imminent. Indeed, had Hull pressed on at once, it is impossible to say what the result might have been. Happily for Canada, however, he delayed his advance till there were troops enough on the spot to embarrass him, with the assistance of the militia and Indians, until Brock himself could arrive.

The tidings of the capture of the American trading-post of Michilimackinac (Mackinac), with its garrison, stores and furs, by Captain Roberts, with some thirty regular soldiers and a band of French voyagcurs and Indians, came as a gleam of brightness to relieve the gloom. Then came the gallant encounter at Tarontee in the western marshes, where a small British force held a strong American one at bay, and two privates of the Forty-first “kept the bridge” with a valor and tenacity worthy of the “brave days of old.” At the same time, the capture of a provision convoy of Hull’s, by the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, with his Indians, seriously embarrassing the American General —- who had to draw his supplies from distant Ohio, over roads which were no roads -— induced him to “change his base of operations,” and, recrossing the river, to retire to Detroit. Proctor followed him up, and endeavored to intercept another convoy escorted by a strong force, but this attempt was unsuccessful, and in an action at Brownstown the Americans were the victors. But Brock was at hand. On August 13th he arrived at Amherstburg at the head of a small force of regulars and militia, about seven hundred in all; of these, four hundred were militiamen disguised in red coats. The journey had been a most fatiguing one; a toilsome march through the wilderness from Burlington Heights to Long Point, and then four days and nights of hard rowing along the dangerous coast of Lake Erie, through rainy and tempestuous weather, in such clumsy open boats as the neighboring farmers could supply. To the cheerfulness and endurance of the troops during the trying journey, Brock bore most honorable testimony. Their mettle deserved the success they so honorably achieved.

David Ramsay begins here.

More information here and here and below.

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