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If you’ve never heard of Fort Amherstburg or even Fort Malden, I’ll forgive you. Being from the Greater Toronto/Hamilton region of Ontario, much of Western Ontario is a bit of a mystery. It also doesn’t help that today Fort Malden doesn’t look too much like a fort when you compare it to places like Fort York, Fort Erie, and Fort Wellington. Located in the small town of Amherstburg, the fort’s garrison saw some of the heaviest and earliest fightings during the Anglo-American War of 1812 and had a long history beyond that of a military post. They were initially constructed as Fort Amherstburg following theRead More →

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The American plan for the invasion of Upper Canada would be a simple one. A coordinated three-pronged attack that would strike at Fort Amherstburg in the West, Montreal in the East, and the Niagara Penisula in the center. But in the 19th-Century coordinating three attacks with such vast distances between them was impossible. The Americans also believed that the local population would welcome them as liberators, not invaders. The quick turnabout at Detroit proved this second part wrong. And while General Isaac Brock proved himself the Saviour of Upper Canada at Detroit he would soon face both his next challenge and his mortality. A PlaqueRead More →

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Negotiations to bring a higher-education campus to the small town of Germantown began in 1885, initially to be a satellite campus of the Cincinnati Wesleyan College. However, that did not end up being the case, and the town council found themselves in the office of Orvon Graff Brown, who at the time was the president of the Ohio Conservatory of Music and the School of Oratory. Brown agreed to build a branch of his College in Germantown. But by 1886, Brown was set on establishing a whole new college in the town, and by 1888 the Twin Valley College was established by charter and byRead More →

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I was bitten by the toy camera bug a while back after getting a Holga, which has served me well, but recently on the Film Photography Podcast they were pushing this odd “new” camera that Michael Raso had discovered on “The Bay” named The Debonair, it looked like a cross between a Diana and a Holga. He had managed to stumble upon a lot of 2000 of these cameras sitting in a warehouse in Rochester, New York. I didn’t need another toy camera, but after seeing some of the shots out of the camera I needed to get one, and at twenty bucks, it wasn’tRead More →

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The British Capture of Fort Niagara is one of many controversial engagements of the Anglo-American War of 1812 and certainly marked a shift in the tactics of both the British and Americans in the final year of the war. General Gordon Drummond’s orders came on the heels of the destruction of the town of Niagara, today Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, by the Americans and a group of traitorous Canadians. While the exact details of the destruction were blown out of proportion to justify the brutality of the capture better, it none the less is a dark stain on the British record of the war. Fort Niagara asRead More →

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With a commanding view of both Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, the old colonial fort has a long and complicated history connecting it to three different nations that formed the basis of the modern countries that exist today. Not to mention it serves as the oldest collection of stone buildings west of Montreal and the oldest fortification I have had the honour of visiting and documenting. I’m of course talking about Fort Niagara. The French Castle is the oldest and central structure of Fort Niagara and dates back to 1729. Pacemaker Crown Graphic – Schneider-Kreuznack Angulon 1:6,8/90 – Kodak Tri-X Pan @ ASA-320 KodakRead More →

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Nothing says end of summer for Toronto like the Canadian National Exibition. I usually make an effort to attend on the labour day weekend to take in the airshow, saldy this year the light was horrible so my airshow photos just didn’t turn out that well. But I took a chance to wander around the grounds a little more this time around to do some street photography of the crowds and came out with some wonderful candid shots of the many people who attend the CNE! A Great overlook of the CNE midway from the Atlantis Complex at Ontario Place A big part of theRead More →

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By the end of summer 1814, the jig was up for the American invasion. While they had managed to strike at the British and nearly pushed them off the Niagara peninsula again, the new commander-in-chief of the British forces in Upper Canada was going to have none of that. Following the quick movements, it all turned around at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane and General Drummond managed to push the Americans back to their beachhead at the now heavily fortified Fort Erie where the Americans had started not a month earlier. And Drummond would begin his siege that would lead up to one of theRead More →

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When the Americans retreated across the river in December of 1813 they left nothing but a charred ruin of the town of Newark (Today’s Niagara-On-The-Lake) and Fort George. Left with no fortifications in the area, General Drummond immediately ordered the capture of Fort Niagara (which was a huge success) and the construction of new fortifications to defend the Canadian Side of the mouth of the Niagara River. Drummond, quick to realize that Fort George was too distant to command the river mouth ordered the new fort be constructed closer to Lake Ontario. Construction of the new Fort Mississauga commenced in spring of 1814. It consistedRead More →

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Following a series of defeats that saw the surrender of three American Armies and the British in control of the entire Michigan Territory from Ohio to Mackinac Island. General Henry Dearborn needed a new plan, one that would not only boost the morale of his troops but give Washington DC a swift victory that they had been expecting. It was again decided that a three-pronged assault would be enough to force the British to retreat and surrender from Upper Canada. But it didn’t go exactly to plan. Dearborn believed the false report that 8,000 British Regulars garrisoned Kingston, home to the Royal Navy Squadron onRead More →