Little Known Facts The Burning of Washington Further Reading British in the Bay: The Washington Campaign James Wilkinson

Facts 1: From Traitors and Treason to the Wiley Wilkinson Traitors and Treason: In June 1813, three members of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada formed a unit known as the "Canadian Volunteers" to fight with the American army against the Crown. This unit soon gained an infamous reputation for looting and the destruction of property in the Niagara area. In June 1814, as a result of these acts and others in Upper Canada, the British commander convened a special court at Ancaster where 22 Canadians were tried for high treason. Eight, who were found guilty, were hung and beheaded the following month. Why the British burned Washington: Most Canadians and Americans think that the British burned Washington in 1814 in retaliation for the burning of the provincial parliament buildings at York (Toronto) in April 1813. This is not true. In January 1814, after the Americans had burned Niagara-on-the-Lake and the British had devastated the American side of the Niagara, the British commander-in-chief, Sir George Prevost, issued a proclamation stating that Britain would refrain from such acts in the future if the United States would do the same. All was well until May 1814 when, in an unauthorised action, an American force burnt two small Canadian villages on the north shore of Lake Erie. It was this act that caused Prevost to ask the British admiral commanding the North American fleet to retaliate in kind against the Atlantic coast of the United States and the result was the destruction of public buildings in Washington. The Most Dangerous Killer: Statistical research shows that between three and four times as many soldiers died of disease during the war as did of bullets. An improbable General: General James Wilkinson of the American army is remembered in history as the general "who never won a battle but never lost a court martial". An unrepentant scoundrel who was a paid spy of Spain for at least ten years before the war, and received over $4000 in pay from that country during the war, he commanded the large U.S. force that moved against Montreal by small boat down the St. Lawrence in the fall of 1813. This force was defeated on 11 November by a considerably smaller British force at the battle of Chrysler’s Farm. Wilkinson did not lead his troops into battle but remained on board his boat in the river. Charitable witnesses say he was "indisposed by illness". Uncharitable witnesses say that he was incapable because he had been dosing himself with laudanum, a mixture of opium and brandy.