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George Sheppard, Canadian Historian
Further Reading |
Laura SecordQuestion: So was the story of Laura Secord actually true?George: For the most part, it seems to ring true. Anyone who was there at the time says that she did make a march of a long duration and through difficult times, didn't have a cow; that was added by a historian in the 1860's, a guy named William Coffin, but she did travel to warn the British. There is some dispute over how effective the warning was. Some say that she - that the news was known already; others say that it wasn't that significant a battle, the Battle of Beaver Dams. More than five hundred Americans were captured, but at the same time they still stayed in control of much of the Niagara region. There was a much larger garrison still sitting back at Fort George. So it seems that she did do what she claimed to do and had a very difficult time getting any recognition for it as well. For years she applied for positions. She applied to take care of Brock's monument, and was refused that. She applied for all sorts of things and she herself didn't receive immense recognition, the start of the Laura Secord story, until about the 1860's. And then after that, she became a fairly well known person. Question: So was it necessary in the 1860's to have a heroine from the war of 1812? Is that why they gave her recognition? George: Well, it is a period when Canada is about to come into being. It's a period where Italy is coming into being and Germany is coming into being. It's a period where nation states are forming. Also, in the United States, you've got a nation state that's in the midst of a tremendous civil war. So the idea of forming a strong nation and having a past you can relate to comes into being. And you've got people, by the 1860's, who are looking for heroines or heroes that they can put forth to the population and say, "Look it. We are Canadians, we have done this in the past. We've thrown back..." - it's especially nice that you're throwing back the Americans, you know, so that's - "You don't have to worry about annexation; we've pushed them back in the past." So that creates the argument that it was the militia who did it, or even an ordinary housewife like Laura Secord, all the more enticing. That's a really good story, in a sense. |
