01-02 The War of 1812

“Let me show you a home in Adjala Township. " " Adjala? What does that name mean?" " It's the name of the wife of Tecumseh." "You mean the Indian chief who fought with the British during the War of 1812?" "Yes, in fact, we are passing through the township of Tecumseh now." This is a conversation between an insurance broker and me when buying a new home in 2005.
So interesting how important the War of 1812 is to Canadians. I have asked educated colleagues in both the US and the UK if they were taught anything about this war in school, and neither had even heard of it. Although, my British colleague did say he knew about the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 by the British.
Although the War of 1812 is part of the history all Canadians are taught in high school, it is almost impossible to remember who really won the war, how it started or how it ended. So many battles on both sides of the border. And the winners and losers, on balance, are hard to determine.
But I remember clearly my history teacher saying that if we did not have the War of 1812, Canada would most likely have been absorbed into the US. So many of our citizenry especially in Upper Canada or Ontario were Americans. But being at war turned Americans into Canadians.
But it was really a war between the United Kingdom and the US and not Canada. We at that time were just a British colony. And the Brits were much to blame for the tensions at the time. They were at war with France, (called the Napoleonic War), and were stopping British ships, and seizing sailors born in Britain to serve in their navy. They called it "impressment", a word I had never even heard of.
A bit of recent humour. President Trump in justifying US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium as a matter of "national security" said to our Prime Minister that in the past, Canada had burned down the White House. I assume he was joking. We were not even a country back in 1814 when British forces flattened Washington.
But, what we do have as part of our Canadian heritage is the Brock Monument in Queenston Heights Park on the Niagara escarpment. My father took me there twice during my childhood so I would appreciate our history. Love the painting of the famous General.
It was Major General Isaac Brock and the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh that fought together in a successful raid on Detroit. In a lost battle at Queenston Heights, both were killed. But two heroes went into history. Tecumseh was leading an Indian confederacy opposed to the encroachment of Americans on Indian lands.
And, we have another heroine, Laura Secord, who reportedly walked 20 miles to warn the British of a planned American invasion. The details of her life are not that important, but Canadians have lots of things to remember her by. There was a 25-cent commemorative coin, a commemorative stamp, schools named in her honour and lots of statues. The Valiant memorial in Ottawa is just one of them.
Of course, as kids, we all loved Laura Secord chocolates. And because of those chocolates, Laura Secord became more of a hero to us than General Brock.
Although the War of 1812 did not involve any territorial changes, Upper Canada became the economic powerhouse in what became the Confederation of Canada in 1867. We almost became Americans.