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109-808: During the War of 1812 , the Pacific Northwest was a distant region of the conflict. Two rival fur trading outfits, the Canadian North West Company (NWC) and the American Pacific Fur Company (PFC), had until then both operated in the region peaceably. Funded largely by John Jacob Astor , the PFC operated without many opportunities for military defense by the United States Navy . News of the war and of

218-647: A fleet action with the Royal Navy. On the high seas, the Americans pursued a strategy of commerce raiding , capturing or sinking British merchantmen with their frigates and privateers. The Navy was largely concentrated on the Atlantic coast before the war as it had only two gunboats on Lake Champlain , one brig on Lake Ontario and another brig in Lake Erie when the war began. The United States Army

327-653: A stakewall or a paling , is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall . Palisades can form a stockade . Palisade derives from pale , from the Latin word pālus , meaning stake, specifically when used side by side to create a wood defensive wall. (see 'pale' , English: Etymology 2 on Wiktionary). Typical construction consisted of small or mid-sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with as little free space in between as possible. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at

436-506: A British appeal to come to their aid. However, the Americans did not pursue the retreating British forces until they had largely escaped and organized a counter-offensive at the Battle of Stoney Creek on 5 June. The British launched a surprise attack at 2   a.m., leading to confused fighting and a strategic British victory. The Americans pulled back to Forty Mile Creek rather than continue their advance into Upper Canada. At this point,

545-677: A clerk until 1834 when he was promoted to the rank of Chief Trader. From October 1838 to November 1839, while McLoughlin was on furlough in Europe, Chief Trader Douglas was in charge. In November 1839 Douglas was promoted to the rank of Chief Factor. Douglas took on several temporary assignments elsewhere, to set up HBC's trading post at Yerba Buena (San Francisco) California in 1841, and to establish Fort Victoria in 1843, but from 1839 to 1845 there were normally two Chief Factors based at Fort Vancouver, with McLoughlin in charge and Douglas as his subordinate. At its inception, Governor George Simpson wanted

654-597: A coming British warship put the American company in a difficult position. In October 1813, management met at Fort Astoria and agreed to transfer its assets to the NWC. HMS Racoon arrived the following month and in honor of George III of the United Kingdom , Fort Astoria was renamed to Fort George . In negotiations with American Albert Gallatin throughout 1818, British plenipotentiary Frederick John Robinson

763-561: A complete victory. Late in 1813, the Americans abandoned the Canadian territory that they occupied around Fort George. They set fire to the village of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake ) on 10 December 1813, incensing the Canadians. Many of the inhabitants were left without shelter, freezing to death in the snow. The British retaliated following their Capture of Fort Niagara on 18 December 1813. A British-Indian force led by Riall stormed

872-406: A day. Their leaders sought to fight only under favourable conditions and would avoid any battle that promised heavy losses, doing what they thought best for their tribes. The Indigenous fighters saw no issue with withdrawing if needed to save casualties. They always sought to surround an enemy, where possible, to avoid being surrounded and make effective use of the terrain. Their main weapons were

981-777: A large enough gap in which to enter. In contrast, the Romans used smaller and easier to carry stakes which were placed closer together, making them more difficult to uproot. The Iroquoian peoples, who coalesced as tribes around the Great Lakes, often defended their settlements with palisades. Within the palisades the peoples lived in communal groups in numerous longhouses, sometimes in communities as large as 2,000 people. Archeological evidence of such palisades has been found at numerous 15th and 16th-century sites in both Ontario, Canada, and in New York, United States. Many settlements of

1090-565: A large press and wrapped in elk or bear hide to create overseas fur bales. The large 270-pound bales were then placed on boats on the Columbia River for shipment to London via the HBC trade routes. The furs would then be auctioned off to textile manufacturers in London. A large demand came from hatters who produced popular beaver felted hats . For most of its existence, Fort Vancouver was

1199-454: A long siege. He agreed to surrender on 16 August. Hull also ordered the evacuation of Fort Dearborn (Chicago) to Fort Wayne , but Potawatomi warriors ambushed them and escorted them back to the fort where they were massacred on 15 August. The fort was subsequently burned. Brock moved to the eastern end of Lake Erie, where American General Stephen Van Rensselaer was attempting a second invasion. The Americans attempted an attack across

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1308-663: A militia force, if I had not witnessed the scenes of this day". The United States was only a secondary concern to Britain, so long as the Napoleonic Wars continued with France. In 1813, France had 80 ships-of-the-line and was building another 35. Containing the French fleet was the main British naval concern, leaving only the ships on the North American and Jamaica Stations immediately available. In Upper Canada,

1417-460: A mixture of muskets, rifles, bows, tomahawks , knives and swords as well as clubs and other melee weapons, which sometimes had the advantage of being quieter than guns. On 1 June 1812, Madison sent a message to Congress recounting American grievances against Great Britain, though not specifically calling for a declaration of war. The House of Representatives then deliberated for four days behind closed doors before voting 79 to 49 (61%) in favour of

1526-583: A more suitable headquarters than Fort George at the mouth of the Columbia. Simpson was instrumental in the establishment of Fort Vancouver. Using the HBC position that any settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute would confirm the border placement along the Columbia; Simpson selected a location situated opposite from the mouth of the Willamette River . This expanse was an open and fertile prairie that

1635-575: A newspaper, which eventually led to over a month of deadly rioting in the city. Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in London on 11 May and Lord Liverpool came to power. He wanted a more practical relationship with the United States. On June 23, he issued a repeal of the Orders in Council , but the United States was unaware of this, as it took three weeks for the news to cross

1744-646: A palisade would be constructed around a castle as a temporary wall until a permanent stone wall could be erected. Both the Greeks and Romans created palisades to protect their military camps. The Roman historian Livy describes the Greek method as being inferior to that of the Romans during the Second Macedonian War . The Greek stakes were too large to be easily carried and were spaced too far apart. This made it easy for enemies to uproot them and create

1853-597: A plan was put together to preserve the location. Fort Vancouver was declared a US National Monument on June 19, 1948, and redesignated as Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on June 30, 1961. This was taken a step further in 1996 when a 366-acre (1.48 km) area around the fort, including Kanaka Village, the Columbia Barracks and the bank of the river, was established as the Vancouver National Historic Reserve maintained by

1962-526: A school, a library, a pharmacy, a chapel, a blacksmith, plus a large manufacturing facility. The Chief Factor's residence in the center of Fort Vancouver was two stories tall. Inside was a dining hall where company clerks, traders, physicians, and others of the gentleman class would dine with the supervising Chief Factor. In general, the entirety of the Chief Factor's House and its meals were typically barred for general laborers and fur trappers. After dinner

2071-527: A second American force led by Major Zachary Taylor in the Battle of Credit Island . These victories enabled the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo to harass American garrisons further to the south, which led the Americans to abandon Fort Johnson , in central Illinois Territory. Consequently, the Americans lost control of almost all of Illinois Territory, although they held onto the St. Louis area and eastern Missouri . However,

2180-693: A small American post on the Sandusky River near Lake Erie. They were repulsed with serious losses, marking the end of the Ohio campaign. Captain Oliver Hazard Perry fought the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813. His decisive victory at Put-in-Bay ensured American military control of the lake, improved American morale after a series of defeats and compelled the British to fall back from Detroit. This enabled General Harrison to launch another invasion of Upper Canada, which culminated in

2289-592: A threat to Canada in 1812, the United States Navy was a well-trained and professional force comprising over 5,000 sailors and marines. It had 14 ocean-going warships with three of its five "super-frigates" non-operational at the onset of the war. Its principal problem was lack of funding, as many in Congress did not see the need for a strong navy. The biggest ships in the American navy were frigates and there were no ships-of-the-line capable of engaging in

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2398-421: A variety of reasons such as protecting a strategically valuable area or a town Some palankas evolved into larger settlements.   In the late nineteenth century, when milled lumber was not available or practical, many Adirondack buildings were built using a palisade architecture. The walls were made of vertical half timbers; the outside, rounded half with its bark still on faced Adirondack weather, while

2507-476: The Columbia River . Once they were sorted and inventoried by the company's clerks, the furs were hung out to dry in the fur storehouse, a large two-story post-on-sill building located within the walls of the fort. After the furs had been processed, they were mixed, weighed into 270-pound (120 kg) bundles, and packed with tobacco leaves as an insecticide. The 270-pound bundle of furs would be placed in

2616-637: The Democratic-Republican Party in favour and the Federalist Party against. News of British concessions made in an attempt to avoid war did not reach the U.S. until late July, by which time the conflict was already underway. At sea, the Royal Navy imposed an effective blockade on U.S. maritime trade, while between 1812 and 1814 British regulars and colonial militia defeated a series of American invasions on Upper Canada . The April 1814 abdication of Napoleon allowed

2725-517: The Hawaiian Kingdom , and Mexican California. The HBC opened agencies in Sitka, Honolulu , and Yerba Buena (San Francisco) to facilitate such trade. Fort Vancouver was supplied in part through the overland York Factory Express . It originated from a route used by the NWC between Fort George to Fort William on Lake Superior . Each spring two brigades were sent, one from Fort Vancouver and

2834-562: The National Park Service . It is possible to tour the fort. Notable buildings of the restored Fort Vancouver include a bake house, where hardtack baking techniques are shown, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter shop and its collection of carpentry tools, and the kitchen , where daily meals were prepared. War of 1812 1814 1813 1814 1815 East Coast Great Lakes / Saint Lawrence River West Indies / Gulf Coast Pacific Ocean The War of 1812

2943-468: The Niagara River on 13 October, but they were defeated at Queenston Heights . However, Brock was killed during the battle and British leadership suffered after his death. American General Henry Dearborn made a final attempt to advance north from Lake Champlain, but his militia refused to go beyond American territory. After Hull surrendered Detroit, General William Henry Harrison took command of

3052-877: The Nodena sites in northeastern Arkansas , and the Etowah site in Georgia . Palisaded settlements were common in Colonial North America, for protection against indigenous peoples and wild animals. The English settlements in Jamestown, Virginia (1607), Cupids, Newfoundland (1610) and Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620) were all originally fortifications that were surrounded by palisades. Such defensive palisades were also frequently used in New France . In addition, colonial architecture used vertical palings as

3161-606: The Old Northwest . In 1807, these tensions escalated after the Royal Navy began enforcing tighter restrictions on American trade with France and impressed sailors who were originally British subjects , even those who had acquired American citizenship. Opinion in the U.S. was split on how to respond, and although majorities in both the House and Senate voted for war, they were divided along strict party lines, with

3270-642: The Oregon Treaty set the Canada–United States border at the 49th parallel north , putting Fort Vancouver within American territory. Although the treaty ensured that the HBC could continue to operate and had free access to navigate the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, and the Columbia River, company operations were effectively stifled by the treaty and became unprofitable and were soon closed down. Because of its significance in United States history

3379-603: The Six Nations of the Grand River began to come out to fight for the British as an American victory no longer seemed inevitable. The Iroquois ambushed an American patrol at Forty Mile Creek while the Royal Navy squadron based in Kingston sailed in and bombarded the American camp. General Dearborn retreated to Fort George, mistakenly believing that he was outnumbered and outgunned. British Brigadier General John Vincent

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3488-669: The native Mississippian culture of the Midwestern United States used palisades. A prominent example is the Cahokia Mounds site in Collinsville, Illinois . A wooden stockade with a series of watchtowers or bastions at regular intervals formed a three-kilometre-long (2 mi) enclosure around Monk's Mound and the Grand Plaza. Archaeologists found evidence of the stockade during excavation of

3597-488: The passage between Lakes Huron and Michigan , which was important to the fur trade. The British garrison, aided by fur traders of the North West Company and Sioux, Menominee, Winnebago, Chippewa, and Ottawa, immediately besieged and captured Mackinac . The war was conducted in several theatres: The war had been preceded by years of diplomatic dispute, yet neither side was ready for war when it came. Britain

3706-609: The American Army of the Northwest . He set out to retake the city, which was now defended by Colonel Henry Procter and Tecumseh. A detachment of Harrison's army was defeated at Frenchtown along the River Raisin on 22 January 1813. Procter left the prisoners with an inadequate guard and his Potawatomie allies killed and scalped 60 captive Americans . The defeat ended Harrison's campaign against Detroit, but "Remember

3815-652: The American Lake Ontario squadron began bombarding Fort George . An American amphibious force assaulted Fort George on the northern end of the Niagara River on 27 May and captured it without serious losses. The British abandoned Fort Erie and headed towards Burlington Heights . The British position was close to collapsing in Upper Canada; the Iroquois considered changing sides and ignored

3924-463: The American attack on Fort George and Newark in May. The British were vulnerable along the stretch of the St. Lawrence that was between Upper Canada and the United States. In the winter of 1812–1813, the Americans launched a series of raids from Ogdensburg, New York that hampered British supply traffic up the river. On 21 February, George Prévost passed through Prescott, Ontario on the opposite bank of

4033-556: The American attacks as he lacked artillery and supplies. Hull withdrew to the American side of the river on 7 August 1812 after receiving news of a Shawnee ambush on Major Thomas Van Horne 's 200 men, who had been sent to support the American supply convoy. Hull also faced a lack of support from his officers and fear among his troops of a possible massacre by unfriendly Indigenous forces. A group of 600 troops led by Lieutenant Colonel James Miller remained in Canada, attempting to supply

4142-560: The American position in the Sandwich area, with little success. Major General Isaac Brock believed that he should take bold measures to calm the settler population in Canada and to convince the tribes that Britain was strong. He moved to Amherstburg near the western end of Lake Erie with reinforcements and attacked Detroit , using Fort Malden as his stronghold. Hull feared that the British possessed superior numbers, and Fort Detroit lacked adequate gunpowder and cannonballs to withstand

4251-644: The American victory at the Battle of the Thames on 5 October 1813, where Tecumseh was killed. The Mississippi River valley was the western frontier of the United States in 1812. The territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 contained almost no American settlements west of the Mississippi except around St. Louis and a few forts and trading posts in the Boonslick . Fort Belle Fontaine

4360-467: The Americans into surrender. Meanwhile, Commodore James Lucas Yeo had taken charge of the British ships on the lake and mounted a counterattack, which the Americans repulsed at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor . Thereafter, Chauncey and Yeo's squadrons fought two indecisive actions, off the Niagara on 7 August and at Burlington Bay on 28 September. Neither commander was prepared to take major risks to gain

4469-640: The Atlantic. On 28 June 1812, HMS  Colibri was dispatched from Halifax to New York under a flag of truce. She anchored off Sandy Hook on July 9 and left three days later carrying a copy of the declaration of war, British ambassador to the United States Augustus Foster and consul Colonel Thomas Henry Barclay . She arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia eight days later. The news of the declaration took even longer to reach London. British commander Isaac Brock in Upper Canada received

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4578-462: The British general Phineas Riall engaged with Winfield Scott , who won against a British force at the Battle of Chippawa on 5 July. The American forces had been through a hard training under Winfield Scott and proved to the professionals under fire. They would deploy in a shallow U formation bringing flanking fire and well-aimed volleys against Riall's men. Riall's men were chased off the battlefield. Palisade A palisade , sometimes called

4687-548: The British had the Provincial Marine . While largely unarmed, they were essential for keeping the army supplied since the roads were abysmal in Upper Canada. At the onset of war, the Provincial Marine had four small armed vessels on Lake Ontario , three on Lake Erie and one on Lake Champlain. The Provincial Marine greatly outnumbered anything the Americans could bring to bear on the Great Lakes. When

4796-405: The British needed Indigenous allies to compensate for their numerical inferiority. The Indigenous allies of the British, Tecumseh's confederacy in the west and Iroquois in the east, avoided pitched battles and relied on irregular warfare , including raids and ambushes that took advantage of their knowledge of terrain. In addition, they were highly mobile, able to march 30–50 miles (50–80 km)

4905-937: The British to send additional forces to North America and reinforce the Royal Navy blockade, crippling the American economy . In August 1814, negotiations began in Ghent , with both sides wanting peace; the British economy had been severely impacted by the trade embargo, while the Federalists convened the Hartford Convention in December to formalize their opposition to the war. In August 1814, British troops captured Washington , before American victories at Baltimore and Plattsburgh in September ended fighting in

5014-407: The Indians in the Old Northwest from Montreal via Mackinac. On 3 July, the Americans sent a force of five vessels from Detroit to recapture Mackinac. A mixed force of regulars and volunteers from the militia landed on the island on 4 August. They did not attempt to achieve surprise, and Indians ambushed them in the brief Battle of Mackinac Island and forced them to re-embark. The Americans discovered

5123-418: The Northeast were opposed to the war, but it obtained financing from London-based Barings Bank to cover overseas bond obligations. New England failed to provide militia units or financial support, which was a serious blow, and New England states made loud threats to secede as evidenced by the Hartford Convention . Britain exploited these divisions, opting to not blockade the ports of New England for much of

5232-469: The PSAC to colonists. James Sinclair was later appointed by Finlayson to guide the settler families that signed the PSAC agreement to Fort Vancouver. They left Fort Garry (modern Winnipeg ) in June 1841 with 121 people that consisted of 23 families. When they arrived at Fort Vancouver, they then numbered 21 families of 116 people. Fourteen of them were relocated to Fort Nisqually, while the remaining seven families were sent to Fort Cowlitz. Signed in 1846,

5341-418: The Pacific Coast of North America. These largely originated in part from correspondence with the NWC and later HBC. The border would continue to extend west on the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains, where the Columbia (and some times the Snake River) would be used as the border until it reached the Pacific Ocean. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs George Canning has been appraised by later historians as

5450-407: The Pacific Northwest. Prior to the establishment of Fort Vancouver, the HBC's largest westward fort was Fort William in present-day Ontario , which the company gained through its merger with the NWC. From its establishment, Fort Vancouver was the regional headquarters of the HBC's fur trade operations in the Columbia District. The territory it oversaw stretched from the Rocky Mountains in the east to

5559-443: The Pacific Ocean in the west, and from Sitka in the north to San Francisco in the south. Fur trappers would bring pelts collected during the winter to the fort to be traded in exchange for company credit. The credit, issued by the company clerks, could be used to purchase goods in the fort's trade shops. Furs from throughout the Columbia District were brought to Fort Vancouver from smaller HBC outposts either overland, or by water via

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5668-401: The River Raisin!" became a rallying cry for the Americans. In May 1813, Procter and Tecumseh set siege to Fort Meigs in northwestern Ohio. Tecumseh's fighters ambushed American reinforcements who arrived during the siege, but the fort held out. The fighters eventually began to disperse, forcing Procter and Tecumseh to return to Canada. Along the way they attempted to storm Fort Stephenson ,

5777-642: The Royal Navy. The United States was also not prepared for war. Madison had assumed that the state militias would easily seize Canada and that negotiations would follow. In 1812, the regular army consisted of fewer than 12,000 men. Congress authorized the expansion of the army to 35,000 men, but the service was voluntary and unpopular; it paid poorly and there were initially few trained and experienced officers. The militia objected to serving outside their home states, they were undisciplined and performed poorly against British forces when called upon to fight in unfamiliar territory. Multiple militias refused orders to cross

5886-413: The Sauk raided even into these territories, clashing with American forces at the Battle of Cote Sans Dessein in April 1815 at the mouth of the Osage River in the Missouri Territory and the Battle of the Sink Hole in May 1815 near Fort Cap au Gris . This left the British and their Indian allies in control of most of modern Illinois and all of modern Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the British were supplying

5995-435: The St. Lawrence. Hampton was delayed by road and supply problems and his intense dislike of Wilkinson limited his desire to support his plan. Charles de Salaberry defeated Hampton's force of 4,000 at the Chateauguay River on 25 October with a smaller force of Canadian Voltigeurs and Mohawks . Salaberry's force numbered only 339, but it had a strong defensive position. Wilkinson's force of 8,000 set out on 17 October, but it

6104-401: The United States after the war. Some British officers and Canadians objected to handing back Prairie du Chien and especially Mackinac under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. However, the Americans retained the captured post at Fort Malden near Amherstburg until the British complied with the treaty. Fighting between Americans, the Sauk and other indigenous tribes continued through 1817, well after

6213-412: The United States and settled into winter quarters. He resigned his command after a failed attack on a British outpost at Lacolle Mills . The Americans again invaded the Niagara frontier. They had occupied southwestern Upper Canada after they defeated Colonel Henry Procter at Moraviantown in October and believed that taking the rest of the province would force the British to cede it to them. The end of

6322-414: The United States and the British Empire and its First Nation allies, have been long debated. The War of 1812 was caused by multiple factors and ultimately led to the US declaration of war on Britain : American expansion into the Northwest Territory (now Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and northeast Minnesota) was impeded by Indian raids. Some historians maintain that an American goal in

6431-474: The Willamette Valley as agriculturalists, through the use of priests François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers , utterly failed to convince any farmer to leave for vicinity of the Cowlitz farms. While additional plans called for recruitment in Scotland, these too came to nothing. The only successful source of early colonists for the PSAC would come from the Red River colony. In November 1839, Sir George Simpson instructed Duncan Finlayson to begin promoting

6540-400: The area and indications that it was rebuilt several times, in slightly different locations. The stockade seems to have separated Cahokia's main ceremonial precinct from other parts of the city, as well as being a defensive structure. Other examples include the Angel Mounds site in southern Indiana , Aztalan State Park in Wisconsin , the Kincaid site in Illinois , the Parkin site and

6649-516: The border and fight on Canadian soil. American prosecution of the war suffered from its unpopularity, especially in New England where anti-war speakers were vocal. Massachusetts Congressmen Ebenezer Seaver and William Widgery were "publicly insulted and hissed" in Boston while a mob seized Plymouth's Chief Justice Charles Turner on 3 August 1812 "and kicked [him] through the town". The United States had great difficulty financing its war. It had disbanded its national bank , and private bankers in

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6758-409: The first declaration of war . The Senate concurred in the declaration by a 19 to 13 (59%) vote in favour. The declaration focused mostly on maritime issues, especially involving British blockades, with two thirds of the indictment devoted to such impositions, initiated by Britain's Orders in Council. The conflict began formally on 18 June 1812, when Madison signed the measure into law. He proclaimed it

6867-422: The first two years of the war. He urged Lieutenant General George Prévost to maintain a defensive strategy. Prévost, who had the trust of the Canadians, followed these instructions and concentrated on defending Lower Canada at the expense of Upper Canada, which was more vulnerable to American attacks and allowed few offensive actions. Unlike campaigns along the east coast, Prevost had to operate with no support from

6976-699: The fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail where they could get supplies before starting their homestead. During the Great Migration of 1843 an estimated 700 to 1,000 American settlers arrived via the Oregon Trail. The signing of the RAC-HBC Agreement with the Russian-American Company pushed the HBC into creating an agricultural subsidiary, the Pugets Sound Agricultural Company in 1840. Herds of sheep and cattle were purchased in Alta California and raised at Fort Nisqually . Agricultural products were sown and grown in abundance at Fort Cowlitz and exported with foodstuffs produced at Fort Vancouver to Russian America. Recruitment from retired HBC laborers residing in

7085-728: The fort to be self-sufficient as food was costly to ship. Fort staff typically maintained one year's extra supplies in the fort warehouses to avoid the disastrous consequences of shipwrecks and other calamities. Fort Vancouver eventually began to produce a surplus of food, some of which was used to provision other HBC posts in the Columbia Department. The area around the fort was commonly known as "La Jolie Prairie" (the pretty prairie) or "Belle Vue Point" (beautiful vista). In time, Fort Vancouver diversified its economic activities beyond fur trading and begin exporting agricultural foodstuffs from HBC farms, along with salmon, lumber, and other products. It developed markets for these exports in Russian America ,

7194-421: The fur trade in much of what Americans styled the Oregon Country , had previously discouraged settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. By 1838, however, American settlers were coming across the Rocky Mountains and their numbers increased each subsequent year. Many left from St. Louis, Missouri , and followed a fairly straight, but difficult, route called the Oregon Trail . For many settlers

7303-445: The government called out 450,000 men from the state militias during the war. The state militias were poorly trained, armed, and led. The failed invasion of Lake Champlain led by General Dearborn illustrates this. The British Army soundly defeated the Maryland and Virginia militias at the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814 and President Madison commented "I could never have believed so great a difference existed between regular troops and

7412-619: The indigenous fighters attacked it and besieged it – with support from the British. This was one of the few battles fought west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk played a leadership role. The American victory on Lake Erie and the recapture of Detroit isolated the British on Lake Huron. In the winter a Canadian party under Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall established a new supply line from York to Nottawasaga Bay on Georgian Bay . He arrived at Fort Mackinac on 18 May with supplies and more than 400 militia and Indians, then sent an expedition which successfully besieged and recaptured

7521-569: The inside by buttressess. At each angle there is a bastion, mounting two twelve pounders, and in the centre there some eighteen pounders; ... these cannon have become useless. The area within is divided into two courts, around which are arranged about forty neat, strong wooden buildings, one story high, designed for various purposes... The fort was substantial. The palisades that protected it were 750 ft (230 m) long, 450 ft (140 m) wide and about 20 ft (6.1 m) high. Inside, there were 24 buildings, including housing, warehouses,

7630-404: The inside half was sanded and varnished for a finished wood look. Typically, the cracks between the vertical logs were filled with moss and sometimes covered with small sticks. Inside, the cracks were covered with narrow wooden battens. This palisade style was much more efficient to build than the traditional horizontal log cabin, since two half logs provided more surface area than one whole log and

7739-405: The key trading post of Prairie du Chien , on the Upper Mississippi. The Americans dispatched a substantial expedition to relieve the fort, but Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo warriors under Black Hawk ambushed it and forced it to withdraw with heavy losses in the Battle of Rock Island Rapids . In September 1814, the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo, supported by part of Prairie du Chien's British garrison, repulsed

7848-496: The largest non-Indigenous settlement in the Pacific Northwest. The population of the fort and the environs was mostly French Canadians , Métis, and Kanaka Hawaiians ; there were also English, Scots, Irish, and a variety of Indigenous peoples including Iroquois and Cree . The common language spoken at the fort was Canadian French , while company records and official journals were kept in English. However, trading and relations with

7957-425: The majority of these gentlemen would relocate to the "Bachelor's Hall" to "amuse themselves as they please, either in smoking, reading, or telling and listening to stories of their own and others' curious adventures". As Dunn recalled; The smoking room ... presents the appearance of an armory and a museum. All sorts of weapons, and dresses, and curiosities of civilized and savage life, and of the various implements for

8066-496: The most supportive British Foreign minister in securing a border along the Columbia. United States Secretary of State Henry Clay had given instructions to the American plenipotentiaries to offer a partition of the Pacific Northwest along the 49th parallel to the Pacific Ocean. The difference in the two considered plans were too much to solve, making the diplomats put off a formal colonial division once more. Fort Vancouver

8175-650: The natives and sought to maintain law and order with American settlers as well. McLoughlin was later hailed as the Father of Oregon for allowing Americans to settle south of the Columbia River. Against the company's wishes, he provided substantial aid and assistance to westbound American settlers in the territory. He left the company in 1846 to found Oregon City in the Willamette Valley . James Douglas spent nineteen years in Fort Vancouver; serving as

8284-409: The neighbouring town of Lewiston, New York on 19 December; four American civilians were killed by drunken Indians after the battle. A small force of Tuscarora warriors engaged Riall's men during the battle, which allowed many residents of Lewiston to evacuate the village. The British and their Indian allies subsequently attacked and burned Buffalo on Lake Erie on 30 December 1813 in revenge for

8393-418: The new base at Nottawasaga Bay and on 13 August they destroyed its fortifications and the schooner Nancy that they found there. They then returned to Detroit, leaving two gunboats to blockade Mackinac. On 4 September, the British surprised, boarded, and captured both gunboats. These engagements on Lake Huron left Mackinac under British control. The British returned Mackinac and other captured territory to

8502-410: The news much faster. He issued a proclamation alerting citizens to the state of war and urging all military personnel "to be vigilant in the discharge of their duty", so as to prevent communication with the enemy and to arrest anyone suspected of helping the Americans. He also ordered the British garrison of Fort St. Joseph on Lake Huron to capture the American fort at Mackinac . This fort commanded

8611-654: The next day. This was the first time that the United States had formally declared war on another nation, and the Congressional vote was approved by the smallest margin of any declaration of war in America's history. None of the 39 Federalists in Congress voted in favour of the war, while other critics referred to it as "Mr. Madison's War". Just days after war had been declared, a small number of Federalists in Baltimore were attacked for printing anti-war views in

8720-659: The north. In the Southeastern United States , American forces and Indian allies defeated an anti-American faction of the Muscogee . In early 1815, American troops led by Andrew Jackson repulsed a major British attack on New Orleans , which occurred during the ratification process of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent , which brought an end to the conflict. The origins of the War of 1812 (1812–1815), between

8829-524: The other from York Factory . A typical brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men. These men carried supplies, furs and correspondence by boat, horseback and in backpacks for various HBC posts and personnel along the route. Furs stored at the York Factory would in turn be sold at London in an annual fur sale. Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. The HBC, which controlled

8938-484: The proposal and subsequent talks did not focus on establishing a permanent border west of the Rocky Mountains. The Treaty of 1818 made the resources of the vast region were to be "free and open" to citizens from either nation. The treaty wasn't made to combine American and British interests against other colonial powers in the region. Rather, the document states that the joint occupancy of the Pacific Northwest

9047-535: The prosecution of the [fur] trade, may be seen there. Outside the ramparts there was additional housing, as well as fields, gardens, fruit orchards, a shipyard, a distillery, a tannery, a sawmill, and a dairy. By 1843, situated roughly 600 yards outside Fort Vancouver were about sixty wooden houses. This small settlement was inhabited by fur trappers, machinists and other laborers of the fort. There they resided with their Indigenous or Métis wives and families. The dwellings were organized into orderly rows. The settlement

9156-441: The river with reinforcements for Upper Canada. When he left the next day, the reinforcements and local militia attacked in the Battle of Ogdensburg and the Americans were forced to retreat. The Americans made two more thrusts against Montreal in 1813. Major General Wade Hampton was to march north from Lake Champlain and join a force under General James Wilkinson that would sail from Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario and descend

9265-657: The surrounding community were done in Chinook Jargon , a pidgin of Chinook, Nootka, Chehalis, English, French, Hawaiian, and other elements. A survey of the total personnel at Fort Vancouver in 1846 reveals a culturally and materially diverse populace. Notably, the number of employees from the Hebrides , Orkney , and Shetland Islands was 57 men. This is exactly the same number as the combined number of workers from England and mainland Scotland. The number of men hired from Upper Canada , Lower Canada , and Rupert's Land

9374-452: The thousands of sailors and shipwrights assigned there and recruited more from New York. They completed a warship (the corvette USS Madison ) in 45 days. Ultimately, almost 3,000 men at the shipyard built 11 warships and many smaller boats and transports. Army forces were also stationed at Sackett's Harbor, where they camped out through the town, far surpassing the small population of 900. Officers were housed with families. Madison Barracks

9483-689: The top, and were driven into the ground and sometimes reinforced with additional construction. The height of a palisade ranged from around a metre to as high as 3–4 m. As a defensive structure, palisades were often used in conjunction with earthworks . Palisades were an excellent option for small forts or other hastily constructed fortifications. Since they were made of wood, they could often be quickly and easily built from readily available materials. They proved to be effective protection for short-term conflicts and were an effective deterrent against small forces. However, because they were wooden constructions they were also vulnerable to fire and siege weapons. Often,

9592-659: The vertical alignment meant a stronger structure for supporting loads like upper stories and roofs. It also presented a more finished look inside. Examples of this architectural style can still be found in the Adirondacks, such as around Big Moose Lake . In areas with extremely high rates of violent crime and property theft, a common means to prevent crime is for residential houses to be protected by perimeter defenses such as ornamental iron bars, brick walls, steel palisade fences, wooden palisade fences and electrified palisade fences ( railings ). The City of Johannesburg promotes

9701-731: The walls of houses, in what was called poteaux en terre construction. Some 18th-century houses in this style survive in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri , initially settled by French colonists from the Illinois Country to the east of the Mississippi River . A "palanka" was a type of wooden fort constructed of palisades, built by the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans during the 16th and 17th centuries. They could be erected for

9810-714: The war and encouraging smuggling. An American army commanded by William Hull invaded Upper Canada on July 12, arriving at Sandwich ( Windsor, Ontario ) after crossing the Detroit River . Hull issued a proclamation ordering all British subjects to surrender. The proclamation said that Hull wanted to free them from the "tyranny" of Great Britain, giving them the liberty, security, and wealth that his own country enjoyed – unless they preferred "war, slavery and destruction". He also threatened to kill any British soldier caught fighting alongside Indigenous fighters. Hull's proclamation only helped to stiffen resistance to

9919-547: The war and played pivotal roles in several engagements, including the Battle of the Chateauguay which caused the Americans to abandon the Saint Lawrence River theatre. The highly decentralized bands and tribes considered themselves allies of, and not subordinates to, the British or the Americans. Various tribes fighting with United States forces provided them with their "most effective light troops" while

10028-704: The war broke out, the British Army in North America numbered 9,777 men in regular units and fencibles . While the British Army was engaged in the Peninsular War , few reinforcements were available. Although the British were outnumbered, the long-serving regulars and fencibles were better trained and more professional than the hastily expanded United States Army. The militias of Upper Canada and Lower Canada were initially far less effective, but substantial numbers of full-time militia were raised during

10137-442: The war ended in the east. Both sides placed great importance on gaining control of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River because of the difficulties of land-based communication. The British already had a small squadron of warships on Lake Ontario when the war began and had the initial advantage. The Americans established a Navy yard at Sackett's Harbor, New York , a port on Lake Ontario. Commodore Isaac Chauncey took charge of

10246-473: The war was to annex some or all of Canada, a view many Canadians still share. However, many argue that inducing the fear of such a seizure was merely an American tactic, which was designed to obtain a bargaining chip . Some members of the British Parliament and dissident American politicians such as John Randolph of Roanoke claimed that American expansionism , rather than maritime disputes,

10355-458: The war with Napoleon in Europe in April 1814 meant that the British could deploy their army to North America, so the Americans wanted to secure Upper Canada to negotiate from a position of strength. They planned to invade via the Niagara frontier while sending another force to recapture Mackinac. They captured Fort Erie on 3 July 1814. Unaware of Fort Erie's fall or of the size of the American force,

10464-569: Was an old trading post converted to an Army post in 1804 and this served as regional headquarters. Fort Osage , built in 1808 along the Missouri River , was the westernmost American outpost, but it was abandoned at the start of the war. Fort Madison was built along the Mississippi in Iowa in 1808 and had been repeatedly attacked by British-allied Sauk since its construction. The United States Army abandoned Fort Madison in September 1813 after

10573-457: Was commonly referred to as Kanaka Village because of the many Hawaiians in company employ who lived there. In fact, it has been suggested that the Fort had the "largest single group of Hawaiians ever to congregate outside their home islands". With high demand from Europe for fur-based textiles in the early 19th Century, the HBC was forced to expand its fur trade operations across North America to

10682-525: Was delayed by weather. Wilkinson heard that a British force was pursuing him under Captain William Mulcaster and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison and landed near Morrisburg, Ontario by 10 November, about 150 kilometres (90 mi) from Montreal. On 11 November, his rear guard of 2,500 attacked Morrison's force of 800 at Crysler's Farm and was repulsed with heavy losses. He learned that Hampton could not renew his advance, retreated to

10791-408: Was encouraged when about 800 Iroquois arrived to assist him. An American force surrendered on 24 June to a smaller British force due to advance warning by Laura Secord at the Battle of Beaver Dams , marking the end of the American offensive into Upper Canada. British Major General Francis de Rottenburg did not have the strength to retake Fort George, so he instituted a blockade, hoping to starve

10900-455: Was established on the north bank of the Columbia River in the winter of 1824–1825. The London-based Hudson's Bay Company established it to serve as the headquarters of the Company's interior fur trade. In the early 1820s a general reorganization of all NWC properties, now entirely under HBC management, was overseen directly by Sir George Simpson . The newly established Columbia District needed

11009-850: Was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in North America . It began when the United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent , the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Congress on 17 February 1815. Anglo-American tensions stemmed from long-standing differences over territorial expansion in North America and British support for Tecumseh's confederacy , which resisted U.S. colonial settlement in

11118-775: Was heavily engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, most of the British Army was deployed in the Peninsular War in Portugal and Spain, and the Royal Navy was blockading most of the coast of Europe. The number of British regular troops present in Canada in July 1812 was officially 6,034, supported by additional Canadian militia. Throughout the war, the British War Secretary was Earl Bathurst , who had few troops to spare for reinforcing North America defences during

11227-427: Was in total 91. These men came from English, French Canadian, Métis, Iroquois, Cree, and other cultural backgrounds. Most notable however, was that Kanaka Hawaiians totaled 154 that year, or 43% of the total fort population. Chief Factor Dr. John McLoughlin was its first manager, a position he held for nearly 22 years, from 1824 to 1845. McLoughlin applied the laws of Upper Canada to British subjects, kept peace with

11336-476: Was initially much larger than the British Army in North America. Many men carried their own long rifles while the British were issued muskets , except for one unit of 500 riflemen. Leadership was inconsistent in the American officer corps as some officers proved themselves to be outstanding, but many others were inept, owing their positions to political favours. Congress was hostile to a standing army and

11445-741: Was intended to "prevent disputes" between the two nations from arising. In the ensuing years, the North West Company continued to expand its operations in the Pacific Northwest. Skirmishes with its major competitor, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), had already flared into the Pemmican War . The end of the conflict in 1821 saw the NWC mandated by the British Government to merge into the HBC. Throughout 1825 and 1826, British officials continued to offer Americans partition plans for

11554-563: Was later built at Sackett's Harbor. Having regained the advantage by their rapid building program, on 27 April 1813 Chauncey and Dearborn attacked York , the capital of Upper Canada. At the Battle of York , the outnumbered British regulars destroyed the fort and dockyard and retreated, leaving the militia to surrender the town. American soldiers set fire to the Legislature building, and looted and vandalized several government buildings and citizens' homes. On 25 May 1813, Fort Niagara and

11663-716: Was offered a proposition for a partition that would have, as Gallatin stated, "all the waters emptying in the sound called the Gulf of Georgia ." Frederick Merk has argued the definition used by the negotiators of the Gulf of Georgia included the entirety of the Puget Sound , in addition to the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca . This would have given the United Kingdom the most favorable location for ports north of Alta California and south of Russian America. Robinson did not agree to

11772-432: Was outside the flood plain and had easy access to the Columbia. An employee of the HBC, wrote a general description of Fort Vancouver and its structural composition as it was in 1843: The fort is in the shape of a parallelogram, about 250 yards long, by 150 broad; enclose by a sort of wooden wall, made of pickets, or large beams firmly fixed in the ground, and closely fitted together, twenty feet high, and strong secured on

11881-399: Was the primary motivation for the American declaration of war. That view has been retained by some historians. During the years 1810–1812, American naval ships were divided into two major squadrons, with the "northern division", based at New York, commanded by Commodore John Rodgers, and the "southern division", based at Norfolk, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur. Although not much of

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