On this day in 1813, Joe Willcocks, the most notorious traitor in Canadian history, received his commission as a Major in the United States army. He had a profound impact on Canadian history and politics, but today he is virtually forgotten in the history books.
Read MoreOn this day in 1813, a short, bloody skirmish was fought on what is now the outskirts of the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Battle of Ball's Farm etched the psyche of the American army that had established its foothold in Niagara. American soldiers feared the Mohawk warriors -- and with good reason.
We reshape the stories to suit our desired narratives. In the 1880s, both the young nation of Canada and the first stirrings of the women's movement required a heroine and Laura Secord became the focal point of the story of Beaverdams -- and the War of 1812. In 2018, First Nations are reasserting their place in how we explain our history, so Laura Secord may eventually become less central to the battle than the determination and resourcefulness of the warriors who inflicted such a decisive defeat on the Americans.
Read MoreOn this day, 205 years ago, Upper Canada (now Ontario) was as close as it ever would be to becoming part of the United States. But the night-time battle fought in the early hours of June 6, 1813, was a turning point in the War of 1812.
Read MoreBut on this, my second visit to Kilmainham, my imagination was more occupied with another story from the annals of the prison -- the significance of which I was not aware when I first arrived seven years ago: the fate of Robert Emmet.
Read MoreOn a sunny autumn weekend, September 24-25, two armies clashed on the grass that stretched between fields of ripening corn and a scattering of pre-Confederations buildings. The armies of soldiers, sailors, soldiers' wives, camp followers and Mohawk warriors were actually outnumbered by the army of visitors who had come to witness the event.
Read MoreDrive an hour east of Ottawa and get off Highway 417 and you'll find yourself on the old stagecoach road to Montreal and the village of Dunvegan. In the mid-1800s it was a prosperous little village. A store was built in 1840 by a man named McIntosh, and 20 years later it had changed owners and welcomed travellers as the White Star Inn,.
Read MoreA very special thank you to Linda Brown, who operates the printer's shop in the village. She gave me much information that went into the part in Brothers at War where Jacob apprentices to Joe Willcocks. I imagined Linda's shop when I pictured the scene where Jacob and Eli are clowning about and tip over the letter cases.
Read MoreThe show that makes Fort Erie a favourite with re-enactors and visitors alike, however, is the staging of General Drummond's night-time assault on the fort. The American artillery takes its stations on the bastions.
Read MoreIn the Ottawa Valley, the 100th Regiment of Foot is best known for the founding of the town of Richmond, Ontario. After the war, rather than return to Ireland, many officers and men chose instead to take land grants offered by a grateful British government -- grateful for their service in the war, and grateful that hundreds of unemployed soldiers would not be returning to the Old Country.
Read MoreIt was on this day, 202 years ago, that the American army under General Jacob Brown, pulled back to the Chippewa River to lick its wounds and count the dead. The night before, just a short distance from Niagara Falls, they had fought the bloodiest battle ever on Canadian soil.
Read Moren American officer who arrived on the scene after the fighting would later report that nothing could have prepared him for "a scene of wanton and revolting barbarity. [The warriors] had left on the ground nearly half of the detachment, most of them dead, but some of them still breathing, though scarcely sensible. Every body was utterly stripped, and scalped, and mangled and maimed in a way that looked as if there had been a sort of sportive butchery among the dying and the dead. [One man had] more than a dozen of these gashes and lacerations. [His head was] denuded from the eye-brows to the back of the neck [but he] was still breathing and sensible when our party reached him."
Read MoreSo when they could not buy food, the soldiers on both sides resorted to stealing, looting and plundering. Both sides prohibited looting, but soldiers in the American and Crown armies did rob local farms in the Niagara peninsula. Thomas Ridout, a junior officer in the Crown forces wrote to his father in September 1813, "Tonight our dragoon is to make a grand attack on the onions.The nests are kept very nice and clean from eggs. [ie. he was stealing from the hen houses]. We feed a turkey at our door which is doomed for our Sunday dinner." Elsewhere, Ridout refers to "an extensive robbing of peas, apples, onions, corn, carrots." [Sheppard p. 100]
Read MoreWhen the Canadian Volunteers met for their Regimental Dinner at Fort George this past weekend, they were allowed to use the kitchen to prepare the meal, and the officer's mess to enjoy it. It's one thing for the soldier re-enactors to train according to Napoleonic drill manuals, and fire replicas of 1812 muskets. It's quite another to be able to prepare a banquet feast using the technologies and techniques of 200 years ago.
Read MoreÍ'm getting close to filling the web pages of this site. Last night was a trip down memory lane as I listed the books that have helped me write the Jake and Eli stories. It felt like a quiet evening hanging out with old friends -- some of whom I haven't seen in a long time.
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