War breaks out between Detroit and Windsor...

[Lowell]

...200 year ago from tomorrow June 18 when the US Congress declared a war on Britain that would bring death and disaster to Detroit. Canadians and Americans would soon after exchange artillery fire across the Straits of Detroit. An increasingly savage war would rage along the shores of Lake Erie and the corridor between Detroit and Niagara.

American forces would soon begin an ill-fated invasion of Essex County that would end in ignominious defeat, the surrender of Detroit, and a year-long occupation of Detroit. A relief column from Kentucky would be massacred near Monroe and hundreds would die from cholera after Detroit was regained following the Battle of Lake Erie.

When we fixate on our present ills perhaps some historic perspective might make our current challenges shrivel in comparison to those faced by 1812-1815 Detroit and Windsor.

War of 1812 Thread

[BrushStart]

"I'll tell ya another thing, their beer sucks!"

[Don K]

150 years ago? We're up to the bicentennial on this one. Funny how nobody wants to remember this one, despite the fact our national anthem dates from this war...

[Hermod]

150 years ago? We're up to the bicentennial on this one. Funny how nobody wants to remember this one, despite the fact our national anthem dates from this war...

A very large part of the American "ethos' came from that war.

The Star Spangled Banner
"Don't give up the ship"
"We have met the enemy and he is ours"
Old Ironsides
The Battle of New Orleans
"Those are regulars, by God"

[401don]

150 years ago? We're up to the bicentennial on this one. Funny how nobody wants to remember this one, despite the fact our national anthem dates from this war...

Don't feel bad. Most Canadians think Laura Secord is a store that sells chocolates.

[Lowell]

150 years ago? We're up to the bicentennial on this one. Funny how nobody wants to remember this one, despite the fact our national anthem dates from this war...

Oops edited and corrected. I was getting mixed up with the 150th anniversaries of the American Civil War.

[Mikeg]

Along the U.S.-Canadian Border, Skirmishes Persist Over War of 1812
200 Years Later, Both Sides Feel Like Winners; Dueling Celebrations at Forts

By ALISTAIR MACDONALD
Walll Street Journal
June 17, 2012

FORT GEORGE, Ontario—As Canadian Dan Laroche, dressed as a British redcoat, fired a musket and regaled his audience here with tales of panicked American surrender, Marie DeVita, from Brooklyn, N.Y., turned to friends with a question: "Wait a minute, didn't we win the War of 1812?"

Two hundred years ago Monday, the U.S. officially declared war on Britain, starting a two-year conflict that became known as the War of 1812. Two centuries on, skirmishes continue across the Niagara River here. The cause: who won the war. [read the entire article]

[southofbloor]

Don't feel bad. Most Canadians think Laura Secord is a store that sells chocolates.

Ba ha! Very true.

[Brock7]

CBC's "Ideas in the Afternoon" re-broadcast "Who Started the War of 1812?" this afternoon.

Download MP3 from here:
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/ideas.xml

Or listen online:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Ideas/