Bicentennial Timeline: July to September 1812

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.

Jul. 17 Capt. Charles Roberts and his Native allies captured US Fort Mackinac from its surprised defenders who had not heard that war had been declared.

Jul. 28 Isaac Brock addressing the Legislative Council and 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 conquered.’

Jul. 29 Brock to a colleague: ‘Most of the people have lost confidence — I however speak loud and look big.’

Aug. 4 ‘The acquisition of Canada, this year, as far as the 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.

Aug. 8 Montreal Herald reported that W. McKay left 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.

Aug. 10 James Brock (for whom Brockton is named) wed Lucy Short at Three Rivers. James was Isaac Brock’s cousin and Paymaster of the 49th Regiment of Foot.

Aug. 16 In General Isaac Brock’s first victory, American General William Hull surrendered Detroit without a fight to British forces and their Native allies.

Aug. 16 Following the day’s events, Brock sent a message to his men: ‘Major General Brock has every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the troops, he had the honor to lead this morning against the enemy.’

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.’

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.

Sept. 4 Miles Macdonell, Governor of Assiniboia, took formal possession of 116,000 square miles of land near the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers that Lord Selkirk had acquired for settlement from the Hudson’s Bay Company. Manitoba traces its founding to this event.

Sept. 7 The Battle of Borodino near Moscow, the largest and bloodiest battle in the Napoleonic Wars, was a turning point in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. It inspired Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture written in 1880.