Canadian War Between The States Veterans Honored In Ontario

Members of the Quebec-based Civil War Reenactment group Grays And Blues Of Montreal
one of the groups largely responsible for the erection of the monument in the background.
(Photo courtesy of Yahoo News)

On Saturday, September 16th of this year, a new American Civil War marker was unveiled and dedicated honoring the services and memories of more than 40,000 men and boys from Canada who served on both sides during the conflict. 

The black obelisk monument honors Canadians who took up arms on both sides of the war was unveiled Saturday at the Lost Villages Museum in South Stormont outside of Cornwell, Ontario. The monument was a collaboration between the Grays and Blues of Montreal and the Lost Villages Historical Society, a group that preserves the history of pioneer villages flooded by the 1950s widening of the Saint Lawrence River to form the Seaway.

It is a little known fact to many Americans who saw the War Between The States as largely a strictly American affair that Canadian volunteers also served in the war. It is believed that 36,000 Canadians wore the Union blue while another 4,000 or so wore the Confederate gray and butternut. These Canadian-born citizen-soldiers came from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Of that number about 7,000 died during the war.

The British government was officially neutral during the war and Canada would not exist as an independent country until 1967. The colonial government took this neutral stance, though a number of government officials in Canada and most Canadian citizens supported Confederate independence. For example when the report of the Confederate victory at the First Battle of Manassas arrived in Canada’s legislature, a spontaneous cheer is said to have gone up. 

   

On the other side of the coin, there is Canada's role as the final stop in the Underground Railroad where slaves escaping America's institution of slavery found refuge from slave catchers in communities such as Birchtown, Nova Scotia which had been founded after the American Revolutionary War by exiled Black American Loyalists and escaped slaves. 

Although the British Empire had spearheaded global efforts to abolish African slavery, and despite the fact that most of the Southern States appear to have seceded from the Union in protest of congressional interference with the institution of slavery most Canadians seemed to have identified with the South as a fellow agrarian country facing an invasion from the United States. No doubt such support for Confederate independence was seen as a way to thumb the eye of the United States government after several failed invasions of Canadian soil by America during the American Revolutionary War and War of 1812. 

Relations with the United States were not always so antagonistic for many Canadians who lived along the St. Lawrence River. At the time the War began in 1861, tens of thousands of Canadians were  already living in U.S. territory. Many of these men enlisted to be a part of the "adventure" of fighting in war. Others were supporters who trekked south to enlist -- those that wished to join the C.S. ranks traveled much farther south. 

Perhaps two of the most famous Canadians who served in the Union Army of the Potomac were Lieutenant Calixa Lavallee, a French-Canadian who would compose the music to the Canadian National Anthem "O Canada" and Captain Edward P. Doherty, an Irish-Canadian officer who led the detachment of the 16th NY Cavalry that cornered and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. The conflict also saw 29 Canadian soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration for US military personnel. 

This blogger would like to express gratitude to those responsible for the construction and erection of this new monument honoring forgotten veterans of that terrible war. Not only does it further promote the global diversity of Southern-Confederate historical heritage, but it shows the love and dedication that those of us who respect the sacrifices of those willing to fight for the causes they supported in that war continue to promote overall, in spite of the forces of division the seek to erase the memories of these men and spit on their memories collectively.

This blogger also contributed a small amount of money to the erection of the monument in question. I only wish I could have given more to such a worthy endeavor.

Least We Forget.

Auther's Note: YIKES!!! I can't believe I made a typo in the blog title, worse that I actually misspelled "Canadian". To my friends in the north, I am truly sorry and have made the appropriate corrections. Thanks to my friend and coworker M.J. for pointing out the error.