Post #21: The War is Over

December 28, 1814

Dear Journal,

Finally, the war has officially ended.  It has ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.  In this treaty, the impressment and the blockade were not mentioned even though these were some of the major factors that caused the Americans to declare war on us.  Boundaries between the United States and us, the British, went back to the way they were before the war.  I believe that in a couple of years, the two countries will have to agree that a parallel of latitude will be the guideline for the international boundary between us.  I was talking to a government official and he was considering to drop the goal of a First Nations Territory. 

After the war, some of our colonies had to decide how to punish those in our colonies who helped the Americans.  Back in the beginning of March, Upper Canada’s Legislative Assembly passed the Alien Act.  This act applied to people with strong connections to the United States.  This act made it illegal to have gone to the United Stated after the war began back in 1812.  Fifteen people were convicted of high treason.  People who are found guilty are having their property taken away and are sentenced to death.

Members of the military and their families want to be recognized for their loyalty to Britain.  The troopers who survived and their families are eligible for land grants.  This land will come from the people found guilty of treason who had their land taken away.  Widows of the military or wives of those injured are going to receive a small pension.  The amount received will depend on the rank of the husband and the length of their service.  To the First Nations however, our promise for a territory of their own was removed by the Treat of Ghent and will not happen.

Post #20: Battles and More Battles

September 10, 1813

Dear Journal,

Sorry I have not written lately, but not much had happened until today.  Since the beginning of winter, the British at Amherstburg were facing supply problems.  They were having these problems because the Americans had an advantage on the Great Lakes because the British Navy was busy on the coast and there were not enough British ships to send to the Great Lakes to help them.  So now, just this morning, six of our British ships fought nine of the American ships and in the battle that continued from morning until late afternoon, sadly the American captured our British ships and took control of Lake Erie.

October 25, 1813

Dear Journal,

The Battle of Chateauguay was fought today.  Our British force included soldiers from Lower Canada and the First Nations.  They were commanded by a French Canadian Colonel De Salaberry.  This battle began with an American plan to invade Montreal.  The Americans wanted to cut off the supply line between Montreal and Kingston.  However, the Americans had poor leadership and at one point they had even killed some of their own guards.  Also, the American consistently overestimated the size of our force.  The American force outnumbered our troops by around eight times, however, the Americans thought they were outnumbered and retreated.  This battle, in terms of casualties, was not a major battle.

March 11, 1814

Dear Journal,

Another battle, the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, was just fought over a period of five hours.  Most of the battle was fought in the darkness of night and it caused confusion on the battle field.  Each side accidentally fought some of their own men.  The Americans retreated the next day and built up a defense at Fort Erie.  They planned a second attack, but they have not attacked us yet.

Post #19: People to Meet and the Battle of Queenston Heights

October 31, 1812

Dear Journal,

I just met a couple of interesting people this week. Richard Pierpiont, Laura Secord, and John Strachan. I’ll tell you about them.

First off, Richard Pierpoint. He was born in 1746 in Bondu, Africa he was enslaved when he was only a teenager. During the American Revolution, he joined the Butlers Rangers. He became an expert in first nation’s style warfare. After the revolution, the Americans sometimes raided Canada to bring former slaves back to the United States. Richard petitioned the government to allow all the black people to settle together. When this war began he organized a black military company called the Coloured Corps. They fought the battles of Queenston Heights and Fort George.

Laura Secord was born in 1775 in Massachusetts. She moved to Queenston in 1795. Just last month her family as forced to house American soldiers. She overheard their plan to attack one of our forts. So to protect her country she set off to warn the fort that the Americans were planning to attack. That’s how I met her. I was sheltering her for the night. I think that if the American attack fails she will get a reward. 

John Strachan was born in 1778 in Scotland and he came to Upper Canada in 1799.  He was a teacher and now is an Anglican priest.  When the war started, he became the chaplain for our troops. 

November 10, 1812

Dear Journal,

On October 13, 1812, early in the morning, Major General Isaac Brock left Fort George because he woke up to the sounds of guns about 11 km away from Fort George.  He organized his small force and left for Queenston Heights.  As they were walking up a hill, Major General Isaac Brock was shot in the chest and died.  His troops retreated to wait for reinforcements.  By the afternoon, Major General Roger Sheaffe led our troops into the second part of the battle.  A number of Haudenosaunee lead by Ahyouwaigs (John Brant) joined them in battle too.  Together their forces made the invading Americans retreat. 

Many American citizens in the militia from the Buffalo area did not support the war and did not want to fight on the Canadian side of the border.  This battle is an important victory for our British allies.

Post #18: The Leaders

October 20, 1812

Dear Journal,

Did I ever mention who the head of British forces is before? Well if not, I now know all about him.

Sir Isaac Brock (that’s his name) was born in 1769 in England (of course). When he was old enough, he chose his military career and ten years ago, came to Canada. Just one year ago, he became the head of our British forces. In his first few months, he did not have anything to do because there was no war, but at the beginning of this year, when the war stared he finally had something to do. Back in July, Brock joined forces with Tecumseh to plan an attack on an American fort. Back in August, they went and attacked the American fort. When the American general heard their war cries, he surrendered right away. This victory caused people to believe in Upper Canada. This also made Brock a stronger military leader. Sadly he died earlier this month. Even Without their leader, his troops continued battling and won. As of today, he was made the Knight of Bath.

October 20, 1812

 Dear Journal,

Last time I wrote, I never told you who Tecumseh is. Why don’t I tell you now?

He was born in 1768; he is from the Shawnee Nation. He and his brother, Tenskwatawa built an alliance of first nations encouraged to protect their traditions. He is allied with us against the United States. In return, we promised to support his claim to the western territory. Tecumseh first met Brock back in august the thirteenth I believe, the two leaders immediately became friends. Together they planned the invasion of Detroit.

I believe that Tecumseh troops and our troops together will win this battle and any that are soon to come.

Post #17: Loyalty

September 16, 1812

Dear Journal,

 I just heard about more things that happened-or is happening- in the war. Cameron told me that there is a question of loyalty. We ask the loyalists this question because some people think that some loyalists only came to Upper Canada for the land. We fear that they are helping with the American invasion. When the war started, there were not enough troops to fight because they were fighting Napoleon. Now, some military members are deserting our British forces and are joining the Americans, this is proving themselves disloyal to us. Myself and many other people still think that we can defend our land with the amount of troops we have but I don’t think any officials are going to listen.

September 18, 1812

Dear Journal,

This morning, I was picking up the mail, when I read a letter that was defiantly not supposed to be in my box. I don’t remember all of it, here’s what I remember:

Colonel Baynes,

My problem is serious, but not about the war. My problem is that the population thins that they should surrender. This idea is fatal to every effort that officials have accepted the idea. They are so uncaring that any criminal can commit the unimaginable crimes without interruption… an additional team would do great good in this part of the province. Most people have lost all confidence.

Post #16: Information About the War

August 23, 1812

Dear journal,

I am very sorry that I have not wrote in you for the longest time, but with my old age I almost forgot that I had a journal. Sorry. It might also be that there is a war going on and I am too preoccupied with that. Let me tell you how this started… On July 12 1812, my wife and I were sitting on our front porch, a beautiful day it was, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky… I was thinking how uneventful and peaceful day it was… well I spoke too soon… we were sitting there when all of a sudden around 1500 -2000 troopers walked by.

This morning I learned about some things that happened in this war (yes, it is still going on). I will tell you them:

·         This all started when William Hull of the northwestern army of the United States declared the war.

·         When the war started, Isaac Brook was and is still the major general of Upper Canada.

·         For the longest time he asked our government for a command in Europe because he wanted to help fight Napoleon.

·         It is very obvious that he is concerned about Napoleon by the way he is fighting in this war.

·          He thought that if we were to lose the war, America’s debt can be repaid returning Canada to the French.

Post #15: A Couple War Strategies

January 18, 1794

Dear Journal,

Sadly l had to go to war. This is unexpected considering that I am 55 years old… wow; I didn’t notice how old l was. It feels like just yesterday that I was writing “Dear journal, l had a fun time today. Carter Jones” good times… back to what l really am writing for; l trained with them for a while until they saw my papers and they saw how old l am, and said that l could choose to leave. So I did. But l did learn about some things that they are going to do. One thing is the blockade. As a part of or war strategy, we are using the navy to blockade Europe. This should slow down napoleons war effort. But l think that this will make someone loose a major market for their goods… probably the American economy.

Another thing that they are going to do is have First Nations alliances. After the American Revolution, we encouraged the First Nations to keep a territory to themselves so the Americans can’t expand their territory. Those foolish Americans are accusing us of making the First Nations be hostile towards them- the Americans. They think by doing so we are supporting Tecumseh’s efforts to protect First Nations land.

There is a group called The War Hawks. This group is an American group of politicians. They think that they should expand their borders, and think that we are in their way. They think that they should just take over our territories. But I think not. The war is probably going to start in the next few years.