In 1845, Amasiah Ford of Ballston Spa wrote a multi-page manuscript for his application seeking a veteran’s pension. The account of his military experience 30-plus years earlier would be used 150 years later as references in several books on the War of 1812. [Read more…] about Hard Times For War of 1812 Veteran Amasiah Ford
Canada
The Patriot War: Republic of Canada
A nineteenth century invading army’s journey into battle had two options, by land or by water. In the winter of 1838 the patriot army, which sought to invade Canada from New York State and overthrow the British Crown, saw a third alternative – by ice.
With Lake Erie covered with ice, “a band of the invaders determined to make it an avenue of passage across to Canada at a point where discovery would be improbable,” according to Our County and Its People, A History of Erie County published in 1898. [Read more…] about The Patriot War: Republic of Canada
The Patriot War: ‘Remember the Caroline’
When the fugitive William Lyon MacKenzie arrived in Buffalo Dec. 11, 1837, both the Lake Erie city and the United States were at the dawn of great expansion. The Erie Canal had been completed a decade earlier, and Buffalo was now the gateway for western migration.
There also was talk of expansion to the nation’s south. Just a year earlier, American frontiersmen had taken up arms and carved the Republic of Texas out of Mexico Could northern expansion also be part of America’s destiny? If not expansion, could Americans at least help their neighbors throw off the last English claim on North America? [Read more…] about The Patriot War: ‘Remember the Caroline’
The Forgotten War Between the United States and Canada
William Lyon MacKenzie strode into a packed theater in Buffalo, NY on the night of Dec. 12, 1837, his blue eyes blazing beneath his high, broad forehead, his sandy whiskers a chinstrap beard. The short, wiry 42-year-old native of Scotland had arrived in the booming border city a day earlier, a fugitive with a price on his head, after launching an ill-fated rebellion against the oligarchy that ruled colonial Canada.
More than 2,000 Buffalo residents waited anxiously to hear him speak, quite a crowd for a city of not even 18,000 souls. [Read more…] about The Forgotten War Between the United States and Canada
Road Trip: Montréal, Château Ramezay
Did Canada almost join the American Revolution?
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Bruno Paul Stenson, a historian and musicologist with the Château de Ramezay historic site in Montréal, joins us to discuss how the American Revolution played out in Canada. [Read more…] about Road Trip: Montréal, Château Ramezay
The 1826 Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott
Paul G. Schneider Jr’s new book Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott (SUNY Press, 2019) offers a firsthand account into early-nineteenth-century New York State and Lower Canada during a time of enormous growth and change.
In the pre-dawn of August 2, 1826, Alexander Stewart Scott stepped aboard the steamboat Chambly in Quebec City, Canada. He was beginning a journey that not only took him across New York State but also ultimately changed his view of America and her people. [Read more…] about The 1826 Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott
Memorial Planned For Am Rev Dead at Fort Chambly
Organizations and dignitaries from Northern New York and Southern Quebec are set to join members of the Saranac Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, for an International Memorial Service honoring the Revolutionary War Patriots interred at Fort Chambly, Chambly Quebec, on June 1, 2019. [Read more…] about Memorial Planned For Am Rev Dead at Fort Chambly
Fenian Irish Raids On Canada Historian Speaking In NYC
Christopher Klein, author of When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom (Doubleday, 2019), is set to share the true story of the Civil War veterans who fought for Ireland’s freedom by launching attacks on Canada, on Monday, April 8 at 6:30 pm at the American Irish Historical Society in New York City. [Read more…] about Fenian Irish Raids On Canada Historian Speaking In NYC
NNY American Canadian Genealogy Conference
The Northern New York American Canadian Genealogical Society (NNYACGS) Conference will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 28, 29 and 30, 2018, at the Dannemora Civic Center for three days of genealogical talks and research.
On Friday and Sunday, the genealogical library will be open from 10 am to 4 pm for free research. Saturday, the 29th is reserved for a talk on DNA testing, and an afternoon French-Canadian music session. [Read more…] about NNY American Canadian Genealogy Conference
Rebels on the Niagara: The Fenian Invasion of Canada
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Lawrence E. Cline’s new book Rebels on the Niagara: The Fenian Invasion of Canada, 1866 (SUNY Press, 2017) takes a look at what is now largely considered a footnote in history, the American invasion of Canada along the Niagara Frontier.
The group behind the invasion – the Fenian Brotherhood – was formed in 1858 by Irish nationalists in New York City in order to fight for Irish independence from Britain. [Read more…] about Rebels on the Niagara: The Fenian Invasion of Canada