Posted on 09/28/2007 7:17:34 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
As early preparations for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 get underway in Canada and the United States, organizers in Canada have run into an unexpected hitch: Their American counterparts seem to think they won.
The historical disconnect between American and Canadian interpretations of the war, during which tens of thousands of American troops invaded Canada - then still a British colony - and were repulsed by the outnumbered defenders, has left Canadian organizers of the bicentennial events shaking their heads in bemusement at their American colleagues' staunch insistence that the war was a victory for the then-young United States.
Sandra Shaul, the city administrator in charge of the bicentennial projects, said she was a little surprised to hear her counterparts on the U.S. side of the border discuss their view of the War of 1812 and see some of the plaques and presentations at historic sites such as Fort Niagara, in Lewiston, N.Y. or Sackets Harbor, N.Y., the base for the two attacks on Toronto in 1813.
"The Americans, well, they feel they won the war," Ms. Shaul says, choosing her words carefully. "They have their perspective and we have ours. It's a question of emphasis: They emphasize their version of the story ... and of course we emphasize ours."
Connie Barone, the site manager of Sackets Harbor state historical park in northern New York, sounds pretty unequivocal about the outcome of the three-year war: "Certainly we won. Because if we hadn't, we'd be using loonies and toonies instead of dollar bills, wouldn't we?"
In 2012, cities across Canada and the northeastern U.S. will begin marking the bicentennial of the three-year war, which was marked by bitter fighting between thousands of American, British and Canadian troops as well as native warriors, most of it taking place in what is now Ontario.
Although former American president Thomas Jefferson had boasted that conquering Upper Canada, as Ontario was known in 1812, was "a mere matter of marching," the invaders lost a series of crucial battles early in the war and were forced to beat an undignified retreat back across the border.
Although the U.S. army eventually managed to achieve some successes, including attacking and burning down the provincial capital of York (modern-day Toronto) in 1813, they were never again a serious threat to conquer Canada.
In 1814, British forces retaliated for the burning of York by attacking Washington and burning down the White House and Congress, but at the end of the fighting, the borders remained largely unchanged.
Officially, the Ontario government is taking no sides in the thorny two-centuries-old question of who won the war, although it has provided a total of about $50,000 in grants to local organizing committees planning the bicentennial.
"We are not celebrating or debating the winner. Rather, we are celebrating and commemorating a turning point in North American history," said Gary Wheeler, a spokesman for the Ontario tourism ministry which is coordinating plans for the 200th anniversary.
Plans for the bicentennial will centre on the regions in Ontario where most of the fighting took place: Toronto, Kingston, Windsor, the Niagara peninsula, Sault Ste. Marie and Georgian Bay. On the U.S. side of the border, the anniversary will be marked at historic sites across northern New York, Michigan, Ohio and Maryland, where a British naval bombardment of a U.S. fort in 1814 inspired the writing of the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
And while organizers on both sides have politely agreed to disagree over who won the war, they agree on the need to raise its profile among the general public. "It will be a challenge to get the public up to speed on the history of this era," said Ms. Barone. "It's a war that's not terribly well-known."
Ms. Shaul says the bicentennial is an opportunity to tell Toronto residents about the history of their city. "The events of 1812 to 1814 were hugely important to this city and the whole country. This is when we became a truly distinct country - after the war, Canada was clearly a different place, unique from the United States.
"If it hadn't been for the War of 1812, we'd all be part of New York state today."
David O'Hara, the museum administrator at Toronto's historic Fort York, said his staff at the tiny 1812-era fort are accustomed to re-educating American visitors about the war. "A lot of them are quite surprised to learn that they invaded Canada, not the other way round," he said with a chuckle. "They certainly leave the fort with a different view of what happened in the War of 1812 than they came here with."
In Toronto, the 20-member steering committee has already begun working on events to mark the war's anniversary, with particular emphasis on the two American raids in the spring and summer of 1813 that left almost no buildings in the city untouched.
There has been discussion of an NHL exhibition "grudge match" between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals, the two cities burned down during the war; some kind of linkage between events in Sackets Harbor and Toronto to mark the bicentennial; conferences of historians to discuss the war; a gathering of descendants of the soldiers who fought on both sides.
And organizers on both sides of the border insist that any disagreements over who won the War of 1812 are purely academic and definitely friendly.
"By the end of the war, not much had been gained on either side," said Ms. Barone, adding with a laugh:
"It's been 200 years: time to move on."
Pass the popcorn ;-)
Who won the last battle of the war? I believe it may have been the Battle of New Orleans where Wellington’s finest fought some American named Jackson
I'm with her 100%...
Does the phrase “We have met the enemy and he is ours” mean anything to you?
The U.S. did win the war. The Brits were out to undo the Revolution and they failed to do so. Sounds like an American victory to me.
At New Orleans, Jackson had a remarkable combination of regulars, militia, free blacks, Indians, and pirates (without whom he would not have been able to hold his trenches, because the pirates provided most of the cannons and virtually all of the expert gunnery, all without Johnny Depp!) It was the previous days' artillery duel, essentially won by the Americans/pirates, that left Packenham with no choice but to try to advance in the open, to a slaughter.
The Americans won the battle of New Orleans but it was fought *after* the peace treaty was signed.
And in spite of the occasional geopolitical disagreements that may pop up, with the trade relations and the world's largest unmilitarized border, each country today is without a doubt one of the strongest allies to the other.
“conquering canada”?
I view it as convincing canada to stop allowing those rascally british insurgents and their mercenaries a second bite at the apple from canadian territory.........
Wrong. Read up a bit on James Madison, the War Hawks and Manifest Destiny. The Americans believed that they should control all of North America and invaded Canada in an attempt to make it happen. After they failed in their objective, they set their sights on Mexico instead.
NOLA needed a pirate to save it. It’s gone downhill since then.
I don't think the cell phone towers had coverage for that area back then :0)
American politics was pretty heated during the runup to the war. The Federalists opposed the whole thing and denounced Madison's supporters as "warhawks".
After the war ended, the Federalist Party pretty much disappeared, political feelings became much more mellow, and the Era of Good Feelings ensued.
I was always under the impression that the U.S. lost the War of 1812. If we had won, then what is now known as southern Ontario — and perhaps everything in Ontario south of the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers — would have become part of the U.S.
‘Who won the last battle of the war? I believe it may have been the Battle of New Orleans where Wellington’s finest fought some American named Jackson’
They certainly weren’t Wellingtons finest - they were busy defeating Napoleons superpower forces at Waterloo as was Wellington with his 67000 troops. The 8000 sent to New Orleans were strictly what was left over. The dregs we often used to pursue skirmishes in minor colonies.
I’m pretty sure America won most of the battles in Vietnam too, but to call it a victory is a tad optimistic. :)
“The Battle of New Orleans”
Performed by: Zachary Richard
Written by: Jimmy Driftwood
In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip,
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.
We fired our guns and the British kept a-coming
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they begin a running,
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
Ole Hickory said we could take ‘em by surprise
If we didn’t fire our muskets ‘till we look ‘em in the eyes.
We held our fire ‘til we seen their faces well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave ‘em, Well..
[ chorus ]
They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where the rabbits couldn’t go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch ‘em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
[ chorus ]
We fired our canons ‘til the barrel melted down
Then we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
We stuffed his head with cannon balls and powdered his behind,
And when we shot the fire off the gator lost his mind.
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