Barbara Martin and the War of 1812

Back in October 2007 in Alternative Histories - the War of 1812 I briefly discussed the war of 1812, really 1812-1815, between the US, the settlements in what was to become Canada and the Empire. Before going on, a quote from Thomas Jefferson in a letter to a colleague:

The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent.

Jefferson could be forgiven his view.

The British Empire was engaged in a fight to the death with Napoleon. There were only 300,000 or so settlers in what is now Canada as compared to 8 million people in the US. Further, many of those settlers were French who had little reason to love the British.

Still, Jefferson was a little in error. The war saw US humiliation. Had the authorities in London had the will, the US could have ended split in two.

I mention this because Barbara Martin has a rather nice post describing the start of the war and setting it in a local historical context.

Postscript

Barbara has now put up her second post in the series and a good read it is too.

Postscript 2

I thought that I might provide a full list of Barbara's posts to this point for those who are interested:

• 27 July 2008, MY TOWN MONDAY - Isaac Brock (War of 1812) Part 1
• 3 August 2008, My Town Monday - Isaac Brock (War of 1812) - The Battle of Detroit - Part 2
• 10 August 2008, My Town Monday - War of 1812 (Canada) - USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere
• 17 August 2008, Isaac Brock's War Club
• 18 August 2008, My Town Monday - Isaac Brock before the Battle of Queenston Heights (War of 1812-Canada) Part 3
• 19 August 2008, Landscape of Upper Canada, Michigan Territory and Michilimakinack (War of 1812)