THE WAR OF 1812: Bicentennial Re-enactment In Ontario - America And Britain's Future
Canadians who had helped repel several U.S. invasions in 1812 saw the war as their defining victory over U.S. aggression. This welded their bond as a separate British colony and began their struggle to self-rule achieved in 1864.
It began as a U.S. Declaration of War, considered as ill-conceived and unsupported by many U.S. colonies. The U.S. military was a mere shadow of the former Continental Army and the U.S. Navy consisted of only 16 ships. These would face the full force of what was supported by the 500 British worldwide naval fleet.
Remarkably, the U.S. naval victory on Lake Erie which successfully blocked British access to the port of Detroit, together with the victory in the battle of New Orleans led by a young Andrew Jackson, were the only areas of the war where the U.S. would win any lasting gains.
I visited the memorial and exhibition remembering the battle, which claimed the lives of 1 in 4, normally 1 in 8 men, who died in that horrific battle of wooden ships.
This was also on the site where the dead from both sides were buried side by side, a tragic loss of life that established a national boundary three thousand miles long, now the friendliest border in the world.
A Nation And A Company of Nations
Those who began the war did not know the prophecies of ‘A Nation And A Company Of Nations.’ These began in Genesis 35:11, outlined in the ‘United States And Britain In Prophecy’ short summary, found on Page 1 of the America And Britain’s Future Free Library.
They would have understood that Canada was destined by God to exist as a separate nation within the British Empire.
Just as The United States of America was to be the prophesied one great Nation mentioned in that same prophecy.
In both wars for national independence the weather controlled by God played a major role, forcing a quick British surrender in the final days of the American struggle, and in driving the British Army out of Washington with three days of heavy rain in the War of 1812.
The Bond Between Canada And Great Britain
The bond between Canada and Britain still holds fast 200 years later, by the respect the people of Canada holds for the British Royal Family. Thus maintaining strong ties even though Canada’s Constitution was secured and brought home.
And of course because a loving God who really does exist, has willed Canada’s existence.
One interesting footnote. Had there not been the war of 1812, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ would not have been written!
Francis Scott Key wrote this as a poem while watching the British bombardment of Fort McHenry at the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. This later became America’s National Anthem to the melody of an old English drinking song.
The War Of 1812-1815 Bicentennial Re-enactment in Ontario, Canada. March 4th, 2012.
BRIAN