History of War – Canada before
the War of 1812
By the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French
colonies in North America were passed to the British Crown. It was not until the American
Revolution of 1776 that Britain’s Dominion in the Americas was restricted to the
Canadas and other Northern colonies.
From the time of the American Revolution until the War of 1812, the
main trading centres in Lower Canada were Quebec and Montreal; in Upper Canada, Kingston and Niagara
(and later York) were the main ports. For the most part,
Upper Canada was administered by British army officers who were based at Fort Niagara, Fort York,
Fort George, Fort
Erie, and Kingston. The lands were largely
wilderness, and the condition of the few roads made land travel difficult. Mrs. Simcoe
(wife of Colonel John Graves Simcoe, the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada)
described them as "that terrible kind of road where the Horses’ feet are
entangled among the logs amid water and swamps". As a result, most travel took place
along the waterways of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
In the years between the American Revolution and the War of 1812,
many Loyalists (colonists who were loyal to the King) made their way north from the United
States to settle in the Canadas and other colonies, in part responding to the Crown’s
policy of land grants for Loyalists who swore allegiance to the King. This immigration
caused the population of Upper Canada to grow rapidly from 14,000 in 1791 to 90,000 by
1812. The first task for these settlers was to clear the land for settlement. Mrs. Simcoe
describes it well: "The way of clearing the land in this Country is cutting down all
the small wood, pile it & set it on fire … The settler first builds a log hut
covered with bark & after two or three years raises a neat House by the side of
it."
Loyalist Camp
In 1796, the terms of Jay’s Treaty transferred control of Fort Oswego, on the southern shores of Lake Ontario, and Fort Niagara, on the eastern shores of the Niagara
river, to the Americans. On the opposite western shore, the settlement at Niagara (also called Newark or Niagara-on-the-Lake), built
up around Fort George, became the first seat of
Upper Canada’s government.
Therefore, on the eve of the War of 1812, the main American ports
around Lake Ontario included Forts Oswego and Niagara, while the British were based in
Kingston, York, and Niagara.
Settlements around Lake
Ontario in 1812
The History & Battles of
the War of 1812
Navy Life & History
Shipbuilding in the early 19th
Century
| The Ships | War of 1812 | The Sinking | Discovery | Archaeology |
| Future Plans | Glossary | Forum | Search |
| Contact Us | Links |
| Continue the Guided Tour
|
|
