↗ View this article in the original PDF newsletter
Bicentennial Timeline: July to September Jul. A corps of about 30 Black soldiers was organized in the Niagara Peninsula at the urging of Richard Pierpoint, a Black veteran of Butler’s Rangers. Subsequently it fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights and in the siege of Fort George. Jul. 12 Home District Magistrates ordered that no person should bathe in front of the town of York between sunrise and sunset. Capt. Charles Roberts and his Native allies captured US Jul. 17 Fort Mackinac from its surprised defenders who had not heard that war had been declared. Isaac Brock addressing the Legislative Council and Jul. 28 House of Assembly: ‘We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By unanimity and dispatch in our Councils, and by vigor in our operations, we may teach the Enemy this lesson — that a Country defended by FREEMEN enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their King and Constitution, can never be conquored.’ Brock to a colleague: ‘Most of the people have lost Jul.29 confidence — I however speak loud and look big.’ ‘The acquisition of Canada, this year, as far as the Aug. 4 neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent.’ wrote former U.S. President Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, a Philadelphia journalist. reported that W. McKay left Aug. 8 Montreal Herald Montreal on July 1 with dispatches for St. Joseph and Fort William and returned after a journey of 3100 miles in the short space of 32 days.
1812 Aug. 20 When news of Detroit reached York a handbill was distributed headed ‘Glorious News!!!’ Not to be outdone a Quebec City newspaper a few days later entitled its bilingual notice ‘More Glorious.’
Credit: Toronto Public Library Aug. 27 On his arrival back in York Isaac Brock was presented with an Address of Congratulations by the inhabitants. Aug. 29 Alexander Wood, a merchant, reported every article in the grocery line is scarce in York.
The Battle of Borodino near Moscow, the largest and Sept. 7 bloodiest battle in the Napoleonic Wars, was a turning point in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. It inspired Tchaikovsky’s 1812 written in 1880. Overture photograph of
Original printed pages
