Document generated on 09/25/2021 10:20 a.m. Ontario History The Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 as a Borderland War: A Retrospective Tom Dunning Consequences of Rebellious Acts: The 1837 & 1838 Rebellions Article abstract Volume 101, Number 2, Fall 2009 Historians of Southwestern United States history and culture have created the concept of a borderland to explain the historical circumstances of the area URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1065615ar where Anglo-America ran into Hispanic America. Its application to the Upper DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1065615ar Canada-Great Lakes area during 1837-1838 will allow a re-interpretation of the Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and the subsequent invasions of 1838 as part of a See table of contents borderland war. Hopefully this approach will eliminate any tensions over the nationalist component of the Canadian Exiles or American Patriot Hunters. I also want to focus on the Battle of Prescott or the Windmill as the significant event of this borderland war, relying on the writings of two of the Exile Publisher(s) narrativists, William Gates and Stephen Wright. Finally I hope to contribute The Ontario Historical Society some reflections on the significance of these Exiles/Patriots after almost twenty years of an acquaintance of sort with them. ISSN 0030-2953 (print) 2371-4654 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Dunning, T. (2009). The Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 as a Borderland War: A Retrospective. Ontario History, 101(2), 129–141. https://doi.org/10.7202/1065615ar Copyright © The Ontario Historical Society, 2009 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 129 The Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 as a Borderland War: A Retrospective by Tom Dunning moved to Tasmania [Van Diemen’s Cassandra Pybus.3 Land, (VDL)] in 1985 to take up an Whilst important works, they are academic position at the University not definitive in the sense of closing off Iof Tasmania, teaching North American further discussion and debate about the history. I soon became aware of the ex- significance of these men, their actions istence of a group of North Americans, and their experiences. This issue will il- referred to as the “Canadian Exiles,” who lustrate the ongoing significance of the had been transported to VDL in 1839- Exiles. It is with great pleasure and appre- 40 for invading Canada. I published my ciation that I make this contribution to first article about these men in 19911 and this edition of Ontario History. gradually, through Stuart Scott, became I want to return to material and is- aware of a dedicated group of scholars sues I first raised in two articles: one who had been chronicling their history. from 19954 and another in 1999.5 I want Some of these individuals are represented to revisit the idea that the invasions of in this issue of Ontario History. I was for- Canada can be usefully conceptualized tunate to meet some of them at a small as a borderland war. Hopefully this will conference at Brock University in 1997, eliminate any tensions over the national- organized by Stuart Scott. Work on the ist component of the Canadian Exiles or Exiles has accelerated with the publica- American Patriot Hunters. I also want to tion of book-length studies by Scott2 focus on the Battle of the Windmill at and by my colleagues at the University of Prescott, as the significant event of this Tasmania, Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and borderland war, and rely on the writings 1 Tom Dunning, “Convict Resistance: the American Political Prisoners in Van Deimen’s Land,” Tas- manian Historical Research Association (THRA) Papers and Proceedings, 38 (June, 1991), 88-97. 2 Stuart Scott, To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation: Americans and Canadians Transported to Tas- mania in the 18�0s (New York: iUniverse Press, 2004). 3 Cassandra Pybus & Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: Yankee Political Prisoners in an Australian Penal Colony, 1839-18�0 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002). 4 T. P. Dunning, “The Canadian Rebellions of 1837-38; An Episode in Northern Borderland His- tory,” Australasian Journal of American Studies, (AJAS) 14 (December, 1995) 31-49. 5 Thomas P. Dunning, “The Adventures of Patriot Hunters: Danger, Memory, Place and Virtue at the Windmill”, Canadian Review of American Studies 29 (1991) 109-121. Ontario History / Volume CI No. 2 / Autumn 2009 130 ONTARIO HISTORY ty years of an acquaintance of sorts with them. Hopefully Abstract this will form a useful intro- Historians of Southwestern United States history and culture have created the concept of a borderland to explain the histori- duction to this collection of cal circumstances of the area where Anglo-America ran into articles. Hispanic America. Its application to the Upper Canada-Great Historians of South- Lakes area during 1837-1838 will allow a re-interpreta- western United States his- tion of the Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and the subsequent invasions of 1838 as part of a borderland war. Hopefully tory and culture have created this approach will eliminate any tensions over the national- the concept of a borderland ist component of the Canadian Exiles or American Patriot to explain the historical cir- Hunters. I also want to focus on the Battle of Prescott or the cumstances of the area where Windmill as the significant event of this borderland war, rely- Anglo-America ran into His- ing on the writings of two of the Exile narrativists, William Gates and Stephen Wright. Finally I hope to contribute some panic America. These histori- reflections on the significance of these Exiles/Patriots after ans have shown little interest almost twenty years of an acquaintance of sort with them. in national mythologies or Résumé: Les historiens spécialisés dans l’étude de la culture et westward movement. Rather de l’histoire du sud-ouest des États-Unis, ont développé le con- than seeing lines of political cept de ‘région frontalière’ pour rendre compte des circonstances sovereignty, they describe historiques du face à face des Espagnols et des Anglo-Américains continuous terrains through dans cette région. Reprenant ce concept, et l’appliquant à la which they trace commercial région des Grands Lacs et du Haut-Canada pendant les années 1837-1838, nous réexaminons dans cet article les rébellions de ties, migration patterns, class 1837 et les invasions qui ont suivi en 1838. Nous les réinterpré- and racial structures and tons comme des épisodes d’une guerre de régions frontalières, une cross-cultural relationships. approche qui pourrait notamment permettre, nous l’espérons, These areas are the scenes d’éliminer les tensions créées par l’élément nationaliste chez les Exilés canadiens ou les Patriotes américains. Notre étude, qui of intense negotiations, of s’appuie sur les récits qu’en on fait deux exilés, William Gates cultural conflict, and of the et Stephen Wright, traite plus particulièrement de la bataille reshaping of multiple social de Prescott, celle dite du Moulin à Vent, un événement dé- roles and identities.6 terminant de cette guerre. Après avoir travaillé depuis près de South-western histori- vingt ans sur les Exilés / Patriotes, je cherche ainsi à ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives sur cet épisode de l’histoire canadienne. ans have principally used this concept, but it is certainly employable in other socio- of two of the Exile narrativists, William geographic regions. Its application to the Gates and Stephen Wright. Finally I hope Upper Canada-Great Lakes area during to contribute some reflections on the sig- 1837-1838 will allow a re-interpretation nificance of these men after almost twen- of the Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 6 See Gerald E. Poyo and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, “Spanish Texas and Borderlands Historiography in Transition: Implications for United States History,” Journal of American History, 75, (September 1988), 393-416. canadan rebellons as a borderlne war 131 the subsequent invasions of 1838 as part colony in British North America. It was of a borderland conflict.7 clearly an area for Loyalist colonisation, completely separate from the old seignio- pper Canada was a borderland from rial lands of Quebec.9 Uits inception in 1791, when the The first lieutenant governor, John British divided the territory of Quebec Simcoe, was a military leader with Amer- along the Ottawa River to form Lower ican Revolutionary war experience. He Canada and Upper Canada.8 It was the set up his capital near the American resettlement of Loyalist refugees after border at Newark. Here, Simcoe, in a the American Revolution that led to this fortress, established a nineteenth-cen- division. These refugees included thou- tury version of British garrison govern- sands of discharged soldiers, American ment, which placed a military executive Tory civilians, Indian allies of the British, in charge of a local elite, which itself free blacks, escaped slaves, religious dis- depended on monarchical patronage, senters and various ethnic groups. After in this instance through direct crown initial settlement in New Brunswick and financing of such items as Loyalist war Nova Scotia, many of these people agi- claims.10 Simcoe, however, was not con- tated for a new province. In response, the tent with this convenient arrangement. British undertook a vigorous program to He wished to substitute commercial val- develop and secure a first, wholly inland ues for the old imperial-military ones in 7 John Francis Bannon in The Spanish Borderlands Frontier (University of New Mexico Press: Albu- querque, 1974), first suggested comparison with the Anglo-American frontier.
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