The Fenian raids played an important role in the creation of
Canada, but now, 146 years later, how many people in Canada have even heard of
them? I vaguely remember one brief mention of them in my history classes.
After I became aware of the raids, I felt that there was a
story that I’d like to see more widely known. At the time I wasn’t able to find
much information on the raids. Last week I tried again and found more
information.
The Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids
has a reasonable overview of the raids. It doesn’t have much depth though.
My current interest was provoked when I stumbled upon the
recent book Delusion:
The True Story of Victorian Superspy Henri Le Caron. Henri Le Caron (aka Thomas
Miller Beach) was a spy for the British and Canadians. An interview with the
author, Peter Edwards, is available on-line: Peter
Edwards interview. I plan to read this book.
Henri Le Caron’s
work was critical to the survival of Canada. Without his information and his efforts
to sabotage of the Fenians, their raids would have been much more dangerous
than they were. Most of the Fenians were veterans of the American Civil War,
while the Canadians were mostly untrained volunteers.
I found some other
books about Le Caron.
Twenty-five years
in the secret service : the recollections of a spy is an autobiography that
you can download as an e-book.
The
Spy Who Came in from the Coalfield - A British Spy in Illinois by Joseph
Clark is an article from the Journal Of Illinois History. You can download it as
a pdf.
Prince
of Spies: Henri Le Caron by J.A.Cole
Short biographies
on-line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Billis_Beach
and
I found some books about other aspects of the Fenian raids.
Troublous
times in Canada; a history of the Fenian raids of 1866 and 1870 by John A.
MacDonald. This is not the Prime Minister of Canada. You can download this as an
e-book.
Ridgeway:
The American Fenian Invasion and the 1866 Battle That Made Canada by Peter
Vronsky is history of one of the major battles with the Fenians.
A
Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe is a fictional work that involves the Battle
of Ridgeway.
I haven’t decided if I will pursue this idea any further. I
do want to learn more about the subject though. I am open for suggestions, if
you have any.
This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
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