Hamilton Spectator Book Review

On Saturday, December 1, 2012 the Hamilton Spectator newspaper reviewed Redcoat 1812 in its Book Section.  The review was done by Jeff Mahoney and entitled:

A poetry of feeling in a novel of the War of 1812
(Redcoat 1812: A writer's craft and a historian's knowledge come together beautifully)

The reviewer says:
"I'm not sure there exists another volume that so vividly animates the War of 1812, in both physical and psychological terms, with such individuality of character, texture of description and conviction of scene setting."

The entire review may be accessed at
www.thespec.com/news/local/article/846701

Novelist Blends Fact and Fiction

The Ancaster News covered and reported on the official launch of Redcoat 1812 in its November 1, 2012 edition:
"Nixon discussed how he weaved fact and fiction together to create a compelling tale of the war that is both entertaining and accurate."
The entire article may be found at http://www.hamiltonnews.com/whats-on/novelist-blends-fact-and-fiction-in-redcoat-1812/

Upcoming Appearances

This week I will be at Indigo in Upper Stoney Creek on Thursday, November 8 from 6-8 pm. and at Indigo in Burlington on Saturday, November 10 from 1-4 pm.  Hope to meet you.

Book Review

Just recently I received a review of Redcoat 1812 by email from retired secondary school principal and current Catholic school trustee John Valvasori. This is what he said:
"I finished your book yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly.  It was amazing to put into historical context all the streets, villages, sites in the Niagara peninsula that I am so familiar with. I found the story-line exciting. You have great insights into not just the facts, but the personal feelings of one who was there.  As the book progressed, your descriptive prose in many scenes was outstanding.
You could actually change my mood just by describing the scene.  Most importantly, you educated me, and I believe that was your primary aim."

Hamilton Public Library Talk

On Monday, December 3, 2012 I will be doing a reading from the novel at the Turner Park Library Branch on Rymal Road at 7:00 pm.  It is terrific to be included in the Hamilton Public Library Authors Series.

Also, I will be participating in the 2013 War of 1812 Bicentennial Symposium/Living History Conference
in Hamilton on March 2, 2013.  As details are confirmed I will provide more information.

CH TV Interview

 

On Thursday, October 18, 2012 I was interviewed on CH Morning Live by Bob Cowan about Redcoat 1812. The five minute interview may be seen at www.chch.com/index.php/morning-live-blog/item/10073-redcoat-1812 Special thanks to Bob Cowan.  He is an enthusiatic interviewer with a genuine interest in the Wat of 1812. His support contributed to a filled Old Ancaster Town Hall for the book launch.

If you missed the launch but are interested in meeting me, I am having book signings at the following locations:  Saturday, October 27 12-3 pm. at Chapters in Ancaster, Thursday, November 8, 6-8 pm at Indigo in Stoney Creek, and Saturday, November 10, 1-4 p m at Indigo in Burlington.  Hope to see you there.

Book Launch

Fieldcote Museum and the Hamilton Historical Board will host the launch of Redcoat 1812 on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at the Old Ancaster Town Hall in Ancaster, Ontario at 7 pm.  Admission is free and all are welcome.  I will discuss the differences between historical fiction and non-fiction history before reading

a passage from the novel.  Bring your questions about the War of 1812.  I will try my best to answer them.

The Star Spangled Banner

The Star Spangled Banner

Inside the Smithsonian Museum of American History hangs the fifteen star and fifteen stripe flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the British naval attack in 1814.  This is the flag that inspired the poem and eventually the American national anthem, for most Americans the most enduring legacy of the War of 1812.  But was this the flag that the American infantry carried into Canada during the war?

Apparently not. Although there are reports of the Stars and Stripes flying above Fort Niagara, on Oliver Perry's ship during the Battle of Lake Erie, and with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, American infantry regiments as their national colours appear to have carried the Presidential Ensign.  This flag, essentially displaying the presidential seal, has an American eagle with wings spread, on a navy background beneath
a field of stars. In 1812 the flag had seventeen stars,  reflecting the number of states in the union prior to the war.  The Presidental Ensign can still be seen today on ceremonial occasions opposite the Stars and Stripes flanking the President.

Why might the United States Army entering Canada not carry the Stars and Stripes?

I offer this speculation.  The Stars and Stripes flag adopted by the Continental Congress during the American Revolution represented the thirteen colonies.  As additional states joined the union, adjustments to the flag were deemed necessary.  But just adding stars and stripes became problematic.  By the time that
Mary Pickersgill's banner flew over Fort McHenry there were already seventeen states in the union, not fifteen.  Not until after the War of 1812 had ended, did the American Congress in 1818 approve President Munro's bill establishing the national flag as thirteen alternating red and white stripes and twenty stars, twenty being the number of states in the union at that time.  Given the debate over how to alter the flag, U.S. Regiments must have decided to avoid any controversy and to carry the Presidential Ensign instead.

Speaking Possibilities

What does a retired secondary school teacher/guidance counsellor do when he is not working on his novel?

He volunteers with the Hamilton Historical Board.  I am currently Chair of the Communication and Education Sub-Committee,  and a writer and member of the Editorial Team for our magazine historiCITY, which will be focusing on the War of 1812 during the entire three year Bicentennial.  The Hamilton Historical Board provides a Speakers' Bureau for the community and I participate in this endeavour as well.
 
At present I am willing to give three different talks: "James FitzGibbon's War: The War of 1812 As Seen Through One Soldier's Eyes," "Who Really Won the War of 1812?" and "Life in Upper Canada During the War of 1812". And of course, I am willing to give "An Author's Talk on Redcoat 1812."  Anywhere within an hour's drive of my home in Hamilton, Ontario is a definite possibility. 

Novel Now Available

Redcoat 1812 is now available to order from www.friesenpress.com  More details on the official book launch will follow soon.

An Army Marches on its Stomach

Historical events and circumstances that affect ordinary people are what interest me most.

Below is an article I've written that should appear in the 1813 issue of historiCITY's War of 1812 series.

An Army marches on its stomach.

Armies consume massive amounts of food, and supplying soldiers with their daily rations often poses problems.  This is certainly the case for both the British and the Americans in the War of 1812. Each side seeks solutions to its problems, and their choices have a profound effect upon the

people of Upper Canada.

How much food is being consumed?  In 1812 at Fort Amherstberg on the Detroit River Colonel Henry Proctor tells Major-General Isaac Brock that he requires 14 cattle and 7,000 pounds of flour a day to feed his redcoats and Tecumseh's coalition of tribes settled nearby.  In Niagara at the height of the war the British soldiers are consuming 149 tons of flour and 960 cattle per month.  The allied tribes require 12,000 barrels of flour per month.  The oxen and horses that pull the guns and supply waggons consume as well - 168 tons of oats and hay per month.  Throughout the Canadas soldiers require food.

The British army, at war with the French for nearly twenty years, has experienced commissary officers who work diligently to get what is needed from nearby farms.  Unfortunately, Upper Canada is still very much a pioneer society.  People work long and hard just to meet their own needs and have little excess to sell.  The army in Upper Canada often pays for its purchases with paper notes promising future payment; these promissory notes will be worthless if the British lose the war, and some farmers are reluctant to accept paper.  Fortunately, smuggling from anti-war New England States eases the situation.  There are reports that Boston merchants secretly sell 30,000 barrels of flour to Canada in November of 1813.  The Madison Administration sees the smuggling of cattle grow to scandalous proportions but is unable to stop this lucrative trade.

Sir George Prevost, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Canadas, reports to London "two-thirds of the army in Canada are at this moment eating beef provided by American contractors."  The British army is largely successful in feeding its soldiers and its allies.  The same can not be said of the Americans.

The American armies invading Canada are a long way from home.  The supply lines are long, and the fledgling army has no experienced commissariat capable of handling this major endeavour.  The Madison Administration relies upon private contractors to supply soldiers' rations, often selecting the lowest bids.  The inexperienced contractors underestimate the difficulty and expense of transporting food through wilderness to the armies fighting in Canada.  It costs seventy-five cents to move a barrel of flour one hundred miles by boat, but if there are no direct river routes, or the British control the waterway, the cost of transportation overland jumps to five dollars for the same task.  The expense of feeding draft animals pulling waggons on dirt roads can exceed the value of the provisions they carry.  In Spring and Fall rain makes the roads impassable.  The availability of food varies with the seasons.  Prices fluctuate.  Some contractors walk away and default on their commitments.  The unscrupulous ones provide rancid beef and rotten flour.  The easiest thing to purchase is whiskey; that is plentiful  There are accusations of war profiteering.  The government's reluctance to raise taxes to pay for the war complicates matters.  Malnutrition makes armies vulnerable to sickness.  In the eyes of the soldiers, there is only one logical solution to the problem: foraging

American forces take food from local farmers to supplement their diet.  Beginning with General Hull's invasion in July of 1812 the inhabitants of Upper Canada see their flour, livestock, fruit, and winter food supplies stolen.  They see their wooden fences turned into firewood for cooking.  Sometimes out of spite the enemy burns their homes and barns.  As the plundering increases so too does the animosity the people of Upper Canada feel for the "liberators" who according to Hull are there to free them from "British tyranny."

Following the capture of Fort George in May of 1813, foraging accelerates on the Niagara Peninsula.  The local population is constantly harassed by American soldiers searching for food.  After the American defeat at Stoney Creek, Colonel John Harvey selects Lieutenant James FitzGibbon for a special mission.  He is to take fifty soldiers from the 49th Regiment, proceed to DeCew House (near modern-day Thorold) and begin a campaign to stop the foraging from American-occupied Fort George.  Using guerilla-style tactics FitzGibbon ambushes small, searching parties.  He also prevents plundering by civilians taking advantage of the American occupation of the area.  The most notorious group is from Buffalo and led by Dr. Cyrenius Chapin;

they are known by locals as "The Forty Thieves".  The people recognize FitzGibbon's band as protectors; they refer to them as "the Bloody Boys" because of the damage they are able to inflict on enemy raiding parties.  Eventually, an American army leaves Fort George in an attempt to put an end to "the Bloody Boys."  They march through a marshy area on the escarpment known as Beaver Dams on their way to DeCew House, FitzGibbon's base camp.

When the War of 1812 begins, approximately 30% of the population of Upper Canda is Loyalist.  They remember their expulsion from the United States and the confiscation of their property.  They hate the Americans.  Another 10% of the population is British although some of the Irish immigrants are not fond of the Crown.  The majority of the population, approximately 60%, has come from the United States taking advantage of the free land grants in the 1790's.  These rugged pioneers have little contact with government, and initially many are indifferent to who governs them.  However, as the war progresses, as American soldiers continue to steal their food, destroy their property and damage their livelihood, as the British army continues to pay for the food it confiscates with promissory notes that will be worthless if the British lose, as it becomes evident that there will be no reparations paid if the Americans win, and as casualties among the neighbours serving in the militia increase, the sentiment in Upper Canada changes.  The conflict is no longer the King's war; it is their war as well.

My New Novel

Canadian author, Pierre Berton, said that history should not just be about what happened.  It should reveal what it was like to be there.  American Pulitzer-winning David McCullough, author of John Adams, said that history should be a collection of pictures painted with words. In my new novel I have attempted to follow this advice.  

Redcoat 1812 is the fictional memoire of Irish adventurer James FitzGibbon; it is the story of the War of 1812 seen through one man's eyes.  When you've finished reading the novel you'll know exactly what it was like to live in Upper Canada during this pivotal event in Canadian history, and understand a soldier's life better.

The book is due for release on or about September 20, 2012 and will be available on-line from Friesen Press in soft cover, hard cover and e-book versions. (www.friesenpress.com)

An official launch is planned for October.  More details will follow on this blog.

Meanwhile if you are interested in learning more about about the first year of this war check out the articles in the magazine, historiCITY, at www.hamiltonhistoricalboard.ca/historiCITY_SpecialWarof1812Edition.pdf

It contains articles I've written on the Causes of the War, Tecumseh and LaColl Mill.