The Democratic Island Nation of Canada. 1837-1838.

I love obscure wars.  Seriously, they are my favorite.  The Patriot War is one of those bizarre little wars that very few people have heard anything about.  So, without further delay, let me educate you about a cool, weird, obscure war.  

Here we go. 

In the late 1830s a few enterprising Canadians figured out what their American counterparts had figured out sixty years previous—being a British colony sucks.  For their part, Americans near the Canadian border were stoked.  The idea of pushing the British out of the rest of the continent after we had already repelled

them from our own territory—twice—seemed like the ultimate “fuck you” to an empire that we were still distrustful of.  See, after the American Revolution things with the Brits were tense.  Obviously.  But then, just a few decades later, we were deeply embroiled in the War of 1812 (see previous blog “Bitch Slaps and Badassery”).  The British were total dicks during the War of 1812 and tensions ran super high for a long time thereafter.  By the 1830s the US and Britain had come to an uneasy neutrality mainly due to Canada—we were so close to British territory, geographically, we had no choice but to get along.  But things were tense-- at this point our relationship can best be described as “still working with someone we formerly dated”.  It was not good.

So, at any rate, when the Canadians decided to rebel, they found a huge bed of support in the US.  So, that being said, how many of you are confused because you had no idea that there was a Canadian Rebellion in the 1830s?  Don’t feel bad about yourselves, the Rebellion came to be known as the Patriot War, and it was largely forgotten, mainly because it was also largely unsuccessful.  But it’s a great quirky story.  

So in 1837 Canadians were none too pleased with many things about their status as a British colony.   Particularly, certain elected officials, minor hereditary oligarchies in the region, and the participation of the large French population in Lower Canadian government.   After a botched insurrection in Upper Canada at a bar (seriously) the revolutionary fervor spread to Lower Canada via William Lyon Mackenzie.  Mackenzie was a Canadian journalist, born in Scotland, and the leader of the Patriot War.  He is perhaps most famous for “invading” a small island between Canada and Grand Island, NY—Navy Island.  Navy Island was basically uninhabited at this time and Mackenzie basically

sailed to the island from Buffalo, NY with 24 of his buddies and declared it the Republic of Canada.  By the end of December 1837—just over a month after he had first commandeered the island—500 loyal followers had joined Mackenzie.  While on the island Mackenzie and his troops planned invasions into the Canadian mainland, relying on support from Buffalo.  And it was this that would spark the biggest incident the Patriot War would offer history.  

On December 29, 1837 the British were about sick of Mackenzie’s shit, so they began bombarding Navy Island.  Now, there’s some international politics foundation that needs to be laid here.  Navy Island was Canadian territory however it lies just a few miles outside of the Western New York region.  When Mackenzie invaded Navy Island he did not upset the delicate neutrality that existed in the region because he was a Canadian invading Canada, even though he was being supplied from Buffalo.  However, when the British got a little too handsy with the bombardment and crossed the international boundary to capture The Caroline—a US ship ferrying supplies to the Patriots from Buffalo—shit got real.  The British captured the ship, set it on fire and then sent it drifting over Niagara Falls.  One American died in the process and the Patriot Wars had officially spurred an international incident.  In fact, the incident was so international that the US and Britain ended up in negotiations that would last for five years and culminate in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.  It was at this point that the US government began assisting the British in putting down the rebellion, if for no other reason than to just keep the neutrality in play.  However, a large number of Americans continued to support the efforts of the Patriots. 

By January 1838 the Patriots had left Navy Island, but the war was not over.  That same month, two other leaders of the Patriot cause led an attack on Fort Malden, Ontario.  Thomas Jefferson Sutherland had raised a force in Detroit where they had broken into the jail to steal the over 400 muskets stored there.  He then set out to lead a flotilla up to Bois Blanc Island to assist Edward Thellar and his force in the taking of Fort Malden.  However, Sutherland failed to materialize at Bois Blanc Island and the schooner Anne that Thellar was commanding beached.  Thellar was taken prisoner as a result.  Over a month later another force invaded at Fighting Island, seven miles from Detroit, but was quickly dispersed by the British.  Three days after that, on February 27, 1838 1500 men led by General Rensselaer departed from Watertown, NY to seize Hickory Island—part of the Thousand Islands.  From Hickory Island the men planned to lay siege to Kingston, Ontario.  No word on how they planned to do this with just 1500 men.  Whether the plan would have worked or not is unimportant, in-fighting between Rensselaer and Mackenzie caused the troops to disband before the attack could materialize. 

After the next attack at Pelee Island, Ontario Rensselaer and Mackenzie were both arrested for violating the Neutrality Laws.  The British considered the war over at this point, however they were wrong.  As the British tend to be.  Leaders of the Patriot movement formed the Canadian Refugee Relief Association in Lockport, NY in March of 1838 to give support for Canadian refugees in the Buffalo area.  

Let me state that again, in case you missed the glorious quirkiness of all of this. 

 

They formed an organization to help Canadian refugees in Buffalo.  

Simultaneously, the same people formed a secret society called the Hunter’s Lodges.  Estimates range from 40,000 to 160,000 men took part in the Hunter’s Lodges across the Niagara Frontier on both sides of the border.  These lodges were based heavily on Masonic Lodges and rituals and eventually subsumed other secret associations in the area, including the very cooly named Secret Order of the Sons of Liberty.  Planning, strategizing and support flowed through these lodges, the Patriot movement was not dead and the war was far from over.  

November 1838 the Battle of Windmill takes place.  The Hunter’s Lodge people agreed to invade Canada in a three pronged attack from the Niagara Frontier.  Leader John Birge and 200 men left Sackett’s Harbor, NY and sailed to Windmill Point in Prescott, Ontario.  What they were not counting on, however was a contingent of British and American soldiers meeting them there.  A stand-off ensued and 137 Patriots were taken prisoner and 80 died.  But the Patriots were undeterred.  Less than a month later 600 Patriots under Lucius V Bierce attacked Windsor, Ontario from Detroit, Michigan.  They seized the SS Champlain, set fire to the barracks at Windsor and also set fire to a Canadian Steamer.  They then took up a position at an apple orchard-- because, why not?-- where they were subsequently attacked by the Upper Canadian militia.  This was the last of the Patriot War battles. 

At the end of the day the US and British repaired their relations.  But not before 93 Americans and 58 rebel Canadians were imprisoned and sent to the British penal colony at Tasmania aboard the HMS Buffalo, ironically.  By 1848 nearly all were pardoned and on their way home, however over a dozen Americans, mostly from Western and Northern NY, died as a result of their imprisonment in Tasmania.

The Patriot Wars are often forgotten, much like my favorite obscure war—the Fenian Invasions (see previous blog).  The Patriot War was quirky, badly planned, ill-conceived, and did little more than seriously annoy the fuck out of the good people of Ontario.  But it’s important to remember the little wars throughout history.  The weird people that made weird decisions and did things that look patently ridiculous on paper are important to history, if for no other reason than to examine the fine line that separates a William Mackenzie from, say, a George Washington.     

Sources: 

There aren't a ton of sources floating around the internet about the Patriot Wars.  The problem/awesomeness of writing about obscure wars is that it takes work.  Lots of work.  Work like you're supposed to do when you're a historian.  It takes digging, and piecing, and reading between the lines.  It's a very cool, very infuriating process.  But, if you do want further information here's where to find it. 

The NY genealogy page has a great and detailed breakdown of the Patriot War.  Also, they have all of the names of those they can find from NY that participated (many that participated are unknown for various reasons) in a searchable database.  None of my family was involved.  Because we never do anything cool. 

http://www.nnygenealogy.com/pages/patriotwar/patriotwar.html

Andrew Bonthius has written extensively on the impact of the Patriot War-- something I only touched on here.  His writing is available on JSTOR, at least in part: 

Bonthius, Andrew.  2003.  "The Patriot War of 1837-1838:  Locofocoism with a gun".  Labour/Le Travail.  Available at jstor.org

The Buffalo Historical Society published a book regarding the Patriot War for obvious reasons.  

Tiffany, Orrin E. (1905). The relation of the United States to the Canadian rebellion of 1837–1838. Buffalo: Buffalo Historical Society.