1812 revisited, Canadian identity real winner, Part I

 An American show is being developed about the war or 1812.   This is the war fought between the young American states and the British colony of Canada.  It is based on a Colonel Stone who was born in Connecticut in 1749.  Stone moved to Upper Canada during the American revolution.  He settled at Gananoque in eastern Ontario along the St. Lawrence.  He opened a sawmill and was appointed to a variety of government posts.

His quiet life ended when the United States declared war in June 1812.  Suddenly Col. Hill and his small community found themselves in the midst of the fight for Canada.  The St. Lawrence was the British Arm's sole supply route to Upper Canada and the Great Lakes.   Col. Stone and the Gananoque militia had to keep the supply route open.

On Sept. 21, 1812, Capt. Benjamin Forsyth, and 100 rifleman from North Carolina and Virginia attacked Gananoque in a night raid.  Their aim was to crate havoc, control the river and starve the British Army.  Col Stone fortunately defended to commemorate his efforts Ottawa is to build the Joel Stone Heritage Park.   The anniversary of the  War of 1812, is a moment for the country to be reminded the defence of Canada should be seen as a foundational moment for modern Canada.

Canada is not the only former combatant getting ready for the bicentennial.  The Americans are planning their own take on the war.  They think they won.  If Canada intends to claim victory in the War of 1812 were going to have to fight for it.  All over again.

" Canadian identity was largely shaped by the War of 1812," says James Moore, the federal heritage minister,  " It was a fight for Canada and the beginning of our independence."

Ascribing Canada's most basic characteristics - a constitutional monarchy, the preservation of a French speaking Quebec,  an accommodating native policy, our healthy economy and political relationship with the Americans - to the successful defence of Canada's borders.  Because of the War of 1812, we grew up to be uniquely Canadian, is how Moore sees it.

The main battle zone was to be Ontario and then called, Upper Canada.  At the time war was declared, the majority of 75,000 inhabitants were recent American immigrants lured across the border by cheap land and low tax.    President Thomas Jefferson's memorable phrase, the conquest of Canada," a mere matter of marching."

Getting int he way of this walking holiday was the charismatic and energetic Gen. Brock facing invasion by a nation of 7.5 million, Brock had just 1,200 British troops.  Despite the odds, Brock pulled off three stunning victories within the first three months of the war.  He ordered the capture of Fort Mackinac, a U.S. army outpost, at the junction of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, before that garrison knew war had begun.

Then he stunned the continent by bluffing a nervous   U. S. Gen. William Hull into surrendering his entire army at Detroit without firing a shot.  Two months later he died at the battlefield of Queenston Heights, near Niagara, in the process of repelling an American force.   Brock's boldness embarrassed the Americans,  encouraged Britain's native allies to join the fight and rallied the population to the Union Jack.