A comprehensive history of rebellions and U.S. invasions in Upper Canada, in 1837 and 1838, covering the skirmishes in eastern Ontario, Toronto, and southwestern Ontario. Lavishly illustrated with rare photos and maps, Volunteers is a popular narrative history that examines the lives and motives of the leaders of Upper Canada’s rebellions; their U.S. allies; the British and Canadian administrators who played significant roles in the uprisings; and the Canadians who remained loyal to the Crown. The book is also a careful and gripping study of the emotions and motives that burned inside of the men who led the rebellions; from Windsor in the west to Prescott in the east. A co-publishing venture with the Canadian War Museum, Volunteers is being released in conjuction with the sesquicentennial of the famour Mackenzie rebellion in Toronto.
"This collection of essays represents a selection of the papers presented at the 1998 Migration conference at the Centre of Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh."--Acknowledgements.
In 1812, a 67-year-old black United Empire Loyalist named Richard Pierpoint helped raise "a corps of Coloured Men to stand and fight together" against the Americans who were threatening to invade the tiny British colony of Upper Canada. Pierpoint’s unique fighting unit would not only see service throughout the War of 1812, it would also be the first colonial military unit reactiviated to quash the Rebellion of 1837. It would go on to serve as a police force, keeping the peace among the competing Irish immigrant gangs during the construction of the Welland Canal. Pierpoint and the Coloured Corps are the central focus, but the sidebars featuring fascinating facts about the rise and fall of slavery in North America and the state of African-Canadians in early Canada provide an entertaining and informative supplement. Among other tidbits, readers will find out why "Good Queen Bess" launched the British slave industry and how Scottish pineapples are connected to the American Declaration of Independence.
This edited collection offers a broad reinterpretation of the origins of Canada. Drawing on cutting-edge research in a number of fields, Violence, Order, and Unrest explores the development of British North America from the mid-eighteenth century through the aftermath of Confederation. The chapters cover an ambitious range of topics, from Indigenous culture to municipal politics, public executions to runaway slave advertisements. Cumulatively, this book examines the diversity of Indigenous and colonial experiences across northern North America and provides fresh perspectives on the crucial roles of violence and unrest in attempts to establish British authority in Indigenous territories. In the aftermath of Canada 150, Violence, Order, and Unrest offers a timely contribution to current debates over the nature of Canadian culture and history, demonstrating that we cannot understand Canada today without considering its origins as a colonial project.
In Jackson's Sword, Samuel Watson showed how the U.S. Army officer corps played a crucial role in stabilizing the frontiers of a rapidly expanding nation. In this sequel volume, he chronicles how the corps' responsibilities and leadership along the young nation's borders continued to grow. In the process, he shows, officers reflected an increasing commitment to professionalism, insulation from partisanship, and deference to civilian authority-all tempered in the forge of frustrating, politically complex operations and diplomacy along the nation's frontiers. Watson now focuses on the quarter-century between the Army's reduction in force in 1821 and the Mexican War. He examines a broad swath of military activity beginning with campaigns against southeastern Indians, notably the dispossession of the Creeks remaining in Georgia and Alabama from 1825 to 1834; the expropriation of the Cherokee between 1836 and 1838; and the Second Seminole War. He also explores peacekeeping on the Canadian border, which exploded in rebellion against British rule at the end of 1837, prompting British officials to applaud the U.S. Army for calming tensions and demonstrating its government's support for the international state system. He then follows the gradual extension of U.S. sovereignty in the Southwest through military operations west of the Missouri River and along the Louisiana-Texas border from 1821 to 1838 and through dragoon expeditions onto the central and southern Plains between 1834 and 1845. Throughout his account, Watson shows how military professionalism did not develop independent of civilian society, nor was it simply a matter of growing expertise in the art of conventional warfare. Indeed, the government trusted career army officers to serve as federal, international, and interethnic mediators, national law enforcers, and de facto intercultural and international peacekeepers. He also explores officers' attitudes toward Britain, Oregon, Texas, and Mexico to assess their values and priorities on the eve of the first conventional war the United States had fought in more than three decades. Watson's detailed study delves deeply into sources that reveal what officers actually thought, wrote, and did in the frontier and border regions. By examining the range of operations over the course of this quarter-century, he shows that the processes of peacekeeping, coercive diplomacy, and conquest were intricately and inextricably woven together.
"In these two volumes, which replace the Reader's Guide to Canadian History, experts provide a select and critical guide to historical writing about pre- and post-Confederation Canada, with an emphasis on the most recent scholarship" -- Cover.
A detailed account of Canadian involvement in South Africa's Anglo-Boer War and the impact it had on the country during the years 1899-1902 and beyond. Includes a few bandw photographs. Canadian card order no. C92-090380-0. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
One of American historys lost stories, To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation is the fascinating account of American and Canadian convicts exiled to an Australian penal colony. In 1837 an armed rebellion at Toronto against the colonial administration of British Canada spilled across the border, and U.S. citizens joined the cause. The so-called Patriot War kept the frontier in a climate of fear and uncertainty as a series of battles in Canadian territory continued throughout 1838 in the hope of instigating political change. With the failure of each attempt to cross into Canada and revive the Rebellion, combatants were taken into custody. Trials resulted in hangings, acquittals, or pardons. One group of ninety-two prisoners, however, was sentenced to penal transportation for life in Australias far distant island of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania). Drawing on a wide variety of letters, diaries, and personal reminiscences, the author tells the story through the experiences of men and women who lived it. To the Outskirts... is more than the story of the Rebellion of 1837. It is also the story of one womans tenacious audacity that saved some of the men facing the gallows for their actions in the conflict.
Canada's gold rush of the late 1890s attracted dreamers and schemers from all over North America. Guarding the Goldfields is the story of the men sent to guard the Yukon and maintain order.
