With all of Donald Trump’s talk of borders, ever wonder how our eastern border with the United States evolved? Sure there was America’s 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 1864 Charlottetown and Quebec City conferences, but what gave politicians and diplomats the muscle or impetus needed when negotiating their political positions and our eventual border? It was hard power of course, won on the battlefields of four national parks within one day’s drive of Toronto.
1759 The Plains of Abraham, Quebec City
Aerial view of Quebec City’s Plains of Abraham
The morning of September 13, 1759 marks the beginning of the end of the French Empire in North America. In a risky maneuver British General James Wolfe lands 4,800 soldiers at Anse-au-Foulon and silently moves them 200 feet up a cliff to the Plains of Abraham. It’s here within 15 minutes of the battle starting in earnest that the center of the French forces under the command of General Joseph-Louis de Montcalm are shattered. Both Wolfe and Montcalm die of their wounds and without control of Quebec City the French army within a year surrenders giving up North America to the British.
Learn more here: The National Battlefields Commission – Plains of Abraham
1781 Yorktown, Virginia
The French Grand Battery at Yorktown
With England’s initial military successes during the American Revolution evaporating, the French, ever mindful of their loss of Canada, begin providing the Americans with military and naval support. By late September 1781 a combined Franco-American army twice the size of the opposing British forces, and supported by a superior French naval fleet, arrives at Yorktown and lays siege to fortified British positions. Unable to break the siege the British commander, General Charles Cornwallis, surrenders his forces on October 19 marking the last major battle of the revolution and the beginning of a peace process which creates Canada’s current eastern boundary with the United States.
Learn more here: National Park Service – Yorktown Battlefield
1812 Queenston Heights, Ontario
Learning about the Battle of Queenston Heights
Successfully defeating the Americans at Michilimackinac and Detroit, British commander Major General Issac Brock hurries to Queenston Heights to blunt an anticipated invasion of Upper Canada (Ontario) which comes on October 13, 1812. Brock’s small force of British Regulars, Grand River Mohawks, Canadian militia and African-Canadian irregulars face a numerically superior American army which initially prevails. Brock killed during the battle doesn’t live to see his forces prevail through a combination of Mohawk guerrilla tactics and a determined counterattack by British and Canadian soldiers. Brock’s successes throughout 1812 do much to prevent the Americans from winning the War of 1812 and keeping Upper Canada’s border intact as Americans wanted to annex the colony.
Learn more here: Parks Canada – Queenston Heights National Historic Site
1863 Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg monument to the Union Army’s Irish Brigade
On July 3, 1863 after three days of bloody fighting the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere comes to an end. It would be the most crucial day in the American Civil War and was the beginning of the end for the southern Confederacy and slavery. Concerned that the Union might send its battle-hardened army north into its fragmented colonies Great Britain pressures the politicians of its eastern colonies in British North America* to form a political union to improve their chances of self-defence. Four years to the day after the Battle of Gettysburg had begun the Dominion of Canada** is born.
Learn more here: National Park Service – The Battle of Gettysburg
* In 1864 British North America consisted of the eastern British colonies of the Province of Canada (Canada West/Ontario and Canada East/Quebec), New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. While in western Canada its possessions consisted of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territory of Rupert’s Land and the two west coast crown colonies of Vancouver Island and (southern) British Columbia.
** The Dominion of Canada initially consists of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Photo Credits
Aerial view of Quebec City’s Plains of Abraham. Parks Canada
The French Grand Battery at Yorktown. National Park Service
Students learning about the Battle of Queenston Heights. Parks Canada
Gettysburg monument to the Union Army’s Irish Brigade. National Park Service
George, thanks for your comments. The roles that the French, British and Canadian military and naval forces played in the foundation of our country tends to be underestimated.
Interesting and informative article Joe.