The Bicentennial of the War of 1812

Today’s Wall Street Journal had an amusing article about the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Since some of the battles happened in Canada, the Canadians are also going to celebrate the bicentennial, except that not many know much about it. The article said that a Canadian poll of American visitors found that, of those Americans who had even heard of it, 74% couldn’t name a single event from it. This song should help, though. (But don’t pay any attention to the lyrics they post; Old Hitcreek, indeed.) Anyway, the article mentions that we burned Canada’s Parliament buildings. I hadn’t known about that. I knew a few other things: the burning of our capital, Francis Scott Key, and the fact that the Battle of New Orleans actually took place after the peace treaty, but before news of it could reach them. The name Winfield Scott comes floating back to me, but I can’t remember anything he did in that war. And that's about it.

Comments

[Mark Spahn]

Western New York (and the Great Lakes) was an important region for the War of 1812. Buffalo was burned to the ground, as was Toronto (then known as York). The town of Newark, in Ontario where the Niagara River empties into Lake Ontario, is today called Niagara-on-the-Lake and is a chichi town of boutiques and Shaw Festival theaters. I expect that there will be 200th-anniversary commemorations starting this year, including Civil War-like reenactors.

[John Pepple]

And don't you live in Buffalo? So, it means more to you than it does to a lot of us, who live in places further west.