war1

A British/Canadian Perspective At the outset of war, Upper Canada consisted of a loose collection of villages scattered between Cornwall and Amherstburg. Most of the settlers were subsistence farmers who grew wheat, raised livestock, and distilled whiskey when they found the time. A substantial portion of the population were Loyalist refugees who had fled to Canada during the American Revolution. Many more were recent American immigrants who had been lured to Upper Canada by …

…First Nations, some of whom joined a native confederacy led by the Shawnee warrior Tecumseh, joined forces with the British Army to fight a common enemy - the Americans. In return for their services, the British promised the First Nations people they would not agree to peace without securing an autonomous native territory. When the British abandoned this pledge and signed the 1814 Treaty of Ghent the fate of a First Nations homeland was tragically sealed.