200 years ago today

[Father Bill]

It may be useful to remember that for most of us, what we believe is based on what we were taught in school, or the books that have crossed our paths... whether or not they are accurate or have biases. Since they always do, those biases in turn become our own.

So: different views of the same historical event, a case where generally there are three points of view: yours, mine, and the truth somewhere between the two others.

[McClef]

Many countries have been at war with each other at some time in the past but are now friends. A little humour is common when referring to these.

Remember that the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls is officially known as the Friendship Bridge.

[Baldybrown]

I like Canada... the beer, the people, the politics, the health care, the beer.

[James Hood]

In this opinion, the most tragic military instance of that sad war was fought after the truce was signed, The Battle Of New Orleans, where many, many brave and noble men (many Scots on both sides), the British troops who fought and beat Napoleon's best in the Penninsula...

...died or were horribly maimed, in a frontal assault on Jackson's fortifications.

Eternal honour to all, on both sides.

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

I live in a little town called Brockville, so the next few years are going to be chock full of events to commemorate the war of 1812.

This weekend was the rededication of our city's Statue of Sir Isaac Brock. I had the honour of being part of our Royal Canadian Legion Branch Colour Party for the ceremony. The Sergeant at Arms asked for all those with kilts to wear them that day to honour members of our city's Scottish forefathers who went and joined the Glengarry Regiment. This regiment was mostly made up of new Scottish settlers to Upper Canada.

Many of Sir Isaac's descendants were on hand from both the U.K and U.S. It was a very moving and meaningful event for all in attendance.

I would love for Canadians, Americans, British, and anyone for that matter, to take some time over the next couple of years, and learn a little about this important but overlooked period of North American history.

Sara

[Morris at Heathfield]

I would love for Canadians, Americans, British, and anyone for that matter, to take some time over the next couple of years, and learn a little about this important but overlooked period of North American history.

Thanks, Sara. It's in that spirit that I posted this thread. I've spent most of my life in the western United States, far from the battlefields of the war, and don't claim to have a lot of knowledge about the War of 1812, as it's only in recent years that I've become interested in learning more about it.

To answer Jock Scot's question, unfortunately I have no books to recommend. I recall seeing a book on the subject back in Texas, and I seriously considered buying it, but I ultimately ended up purchasing something else. I don't recall the title of the book. I could have sworn it was something like And Preserved Us A Nation, but I can't find any book on the War of 1812 by that title online, not even on WorldCat. However, Theodore Roosevelt wrote a book titled The Naval War of 1812. Again, I don't know if I would recommend it, as I haven't read it yet, but certainly the author is well known.

To add what little I know to this thread, from the perspective of one who grew up in the United States, I recall learning that the causes of the War of 1812 were complex, but the one cause I remembered was the practice by the Royal Navy of searching American ships for British subjects (even those recognized by the U.S. as naturalized citizens) and impressing them. I don't remember learning in school about the attempt to "liberate" Canada, or the burning of the Parliament building by the U.S. forces, but then I don't remember learning anything about the Battle of Frenchtown either, even though at the time it became memorialized in the battle cry "Remember the River Raisin!" (a couple decades before the Battle of the Alamo). I think what the majority of U.S. citizens know about the War of 1812, if they know anything, is impressment, the burning of the White House (and Dolly Madison saving Washington's portrait and original copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, a story which has been somewhat embellished), the defence of Fort McHenry (or rather, the story of Francis Scott Key writing the national anthem), and Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans, after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed.

Regarding the defence of Fort McHenry, however, I've heard at least one person, in an Independence Day address, recount the story of Francis Scott Key writing "The Star-Spangled Banner" without realizing that it took place during the War of 1812, not the Revolutionary War. I think a lot of U.S. citizens tend to confuse the two.

Wooden sailing ship enthusiasts are better acquainted with the War of 1812, in some of its aspects, than other Americans. A couple of phrases that entered popular culture from this aspect of the war are "Don't give up the ship!" and "We have met the enemy and they are ours". The latter is probably much better known these days in the form of Pogo's reformulation, "We have met the enemy and he is us".

Also of note, a couple of generals from the war went on to become president: Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison (the "Tippecanoe" of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too"). James Monroe was Secretary of State during the war, and Secretary of War for part of it, and John Quincy Adams negotiated the Treaty of Ghent.

[Dixiecat]

From what I remember in high school and university of my Canadian History courses, the War of 1812 for us, was more a study of doves, hawks, manifest destiny and how a relatively small, little thought of colony with precious few resources managed to hold their own. Growing up in Southern Ontario and living between Burlington Heights and Stoney Creek, and with the nearby resting place of the Hamilton and Scourge, we learned quite a lot of this little war.

[McClef]

It isn't just wooden ships?

Perhaps I am reading too much into the nickname of the USS Constitution - "Old Ironsides"!

[georgeetta]

YES THAT CRACK ABOUT "nw" nys WAS A KILLER !
HELLO : BATTLE OF PLATTSBURG !! GUY NAMED MACDONOUGH IT'S GOOD THE WAR OF 1812 RATTLED ALONG DONCHA KNOW ..HAVING HAD RELATIVES UP IN NORTHERN VEH-MA'(T) ..THE FOLKS UP THERE (MANY FORMER TORIES WHO SETTLED IN VT BY MISTAKE ..HERE WE GO ..USED TO GET FAIR FED UP MAKING THAT HORN TO GO FORM THERE HOUSE THRU CA INTO ISA AND GETTING HARRASSED BY THE CA'S ..DERE ..SO THE NE VT'RS IN DAT AREA ..WERE FOAMING AT THE MOUTH BY THE TIME IT SHOWED UP ANYWAY ..RELATIVES:HONSINGERS - 1710 PALATINERS WHO JOINED KING'S AMER REGT DISBANDED ST JOHN NOVA SCOTIA AND TYPICALLY FOLLOWED THEIR PALS TO SETTLE IN A SPOT BY GROUP ..ALA ..KINGSTON ONTARIO ..EX NEW YORKERS IN AMER REVO- JOHNSON'S GREENS ..ROYAL YORKERS ..
-THOUGHT GR BR LOST WAR OF 1812 ? SORRY HAVE TO DRAG OUT THE COLLEGE BOOKS ON AMER HISTORY ..SORRY .
TH
D
HAVE NO FEAR PLENTY OF SCOTS RELATIVES UP ONTARIO ..A FAIR TONNAGE ..GREAT FOLKS

[ThistleDown]

Sssshhhh. Don't shout, georgeetta.