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Chapter 37 Invasion of Canada
Chapter 37 Invasion of Canada
"We may have won the battle here. Though it remains to be seen if history will see us as conquerors or liberators."- Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln 1846
"Congratulations boys, Oregon is ours. Now let's head back east and make sure the British stay the hell away from America."- Colonel Stephen Keary 1846
"Ah the Oregon War. It's kind of a stupid conflict really, it all started over a simple misunderstanding and the greed of land between nations. I will say this though. Without it I would have never gained the experience to fight the south."- General Ulysses S. Grant 1865
For the third and not the last time, the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain were in a state of war. Unlike the Great War the Oregon War would be fought primarily within North America and mostly within the plains and forests of Canada, where the fate of America's expansion to the Pacific would be decided. Each side both had their advantages and disadvantages in the conflict. For the United States they had recently modernized and enlargened their professional army to a fighting force equivalent to the average Prussian Corps. Since the theater of war was directly on the border the United States could immediately dispatch and coordinate its armies in a quick time compared to the months of organization of the British Imperial forces, by the time redcoat reinforcements could arrive from Great Britain America would make considerable gains and conscript tens of thousands of volunteers. On the downside the United States did not have the industrial or economic capacity for a prolonged war with Britain. The United Kingdom's main strength was that it could draw multiple resources from the largest empire in the world. At the time Britain was also the leading financial and industrial producer in Europe. Though as mentioned previously if it wanted any reinforcements from say India, then it would take near a year to get them organized and ship them to America. Due to these strengths and weaknesses the Oregon War became one of speed and tactical maneuvering. If America could conquer Canada and defend its coast then it would have an upper hand in any negotiations. If it's objectives under the Carolus Plan were not achieved by the end of the year then the advantage would go to Britain. The Third Invasion of Canada had begun.
Western Theater: The Western theater of the war was perhaps the one that had the most amount of success for the Americans at the start of the war. With relatively no one to stop him after the fall of Fort Vancouver, Colonel Kearny was free to move about his army and conquer the rest of the Oregon territory. To say that this itself was a conquest though is mostly an exaggeration, there were no highly developed towns or cities in Oregon so it was mostly a matter of securing any British ships on the post as well as securing the multiple trade outposts and farms on the British side in order to prevent any form of rebellion. With the large amount of the Oregon territory captured the United States then held their Casus belli and thus could assume a superior role in negotiations. Around mid-September Kearny took around 1200 of his men and headed southeast in order to join the main fight before the arrival of winter would impede any troop movements. He would not be able to see action for the rest of the year but for his actions in securing Oregon, was promoted to Brigadier General. As for Army Group West itself, the army received a similar amount of success due to most Canadian/British defenses being set up around Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. This left the west door open in what was analyzed by historians to be one of the worst strategic mistakes for an defending nation. Under the leadership of Brigadier General William J. Worth, Army Group West would virtually tear through the Canadian countryside in a manner slightly similar to modern day Blitzkrieg. The two most noteworthy battles of this time were the Battles of Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon. At Thunder Bay the American force had met an opposing force of 2000 Canadian soldiers who were guarding a small port that was used as the Canadian's main access to Lake Superior. The battle was fought on August 5th with the outcome being a decisive American victory due to the British garrison not yet receiving word of the war's deceleration as well as support from the U.S Coast Guard who bombarded British positions at Thunder Bay. After the battle the remaining ships left in port were either burned or captured by the Coast Guard to be served for defense of Minnesota and Michigan. The battle of Lake Nipigon was fought around two and a half weeks later on the 23rd when the Americans rested at the lake and were then assaulted by 1500 Canadian forces and their Indian allies in the region. Unfortunately for the Canadians the battle was only meant to be a raid to cripple the Americans, but failed when the infantry stood their ground and protected the supply lines due to advance warning from other Indian elements who were dissatisfied of Canadian rule. The Americans would win the battle after the cavalry was organized and began a rout to displace the Canadian army. The aftermath of the battle was 137 Americans KIA, 156 WIA, and 12 MIA. For the Canadians it was 208 KIA, 216 WIA. 32 MIA, and 364 POW, the Indian forces of the battle however were not properly accounted for. For the next month Army Group West would sweep through Ontario and proceed to crush any resistance. They later gathered in a group of 15,000 troops due to reinforcements from the Midwestern states and proceeded to Oshawa, Ontario on October 1st with half going to help Army Group Central, while the other half proceeded to reinforce Army group New York.
Michigan/Ontario: For the first month of the war the Michigan/Ontario theater was one in a high stalemate. The first action of the theater would be do to the Canadians in the Battle of Detroit on July 31st where a group of around 2,000 Canadian troops under the command of Brigadier Wesley Jenkins would launch an assault on the city. Like the previous battle in the War of 1812 it was a Canadian victory, though unlike the previous battle it was far bloodier due to the American's not being outduped this time and fierce resistance from the American garrison as well as the civilian population. Over the course of several hours a large street battle took place, with American troops and frontier rifleman taking multiple potshots of the Canadian forces from within the town's buildings and around hastily erected barricades in the streets. The main reason that the Canadian force was able to hold superiority throughout the battle was due to their superior artillery positions with a ratio of 4:1 to the Americans along with the larger Canadian cavalry force. In order to draw the Americans out Brigadier Jenkins made the mistake of ordering his men to set fire to the local fort, while this succeeded in forcing the Americans to retreat and giving the battle to the British, it also resulted in the fire spreading and forcing most of Detroit to be burned to the ground. These actions would make the Canadians and British much hatred among the Midwestern population and contributed to much resentment and distrust of the American population towards Canada until the Great War. After the battle Brigadier Jenkins then made the poor mistake of proceeding to continue a march into the rest of Michigan. Although his army took around 700 casualties in the previous battle he had wanted to set control of much of Michigan in order to conquer the state in a British victory. For two weeks he marched with his men were they were constantly attacked by guerrilla forces in retaliation for the burning of Detroit. These conditions caused the Canadian force to have a high amount of fatigue and low morale when they met Army Group Central under the command of Major General Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Lansing. Here the Canadian forces were virtually wiped out by the American force who outnumbered them 5 to 1, only around 100 Canadians survived form the bloody battle (Brigadier Jenkins being among the dead) due to most of Army Group Central being made up of Michigan natives who were furious of Detroit, some of them men even hailing form the city. The Americans in counterpart only suffered around 200 casualties. After the battle Army Group Central would march back to the border where they met a hastily set up group of 3,000 Canadian men who were intended to reinforce Jenkins's position at Detroit before he made his blunder. For one week Taylor would make his forces wait at the Border in order to hear word of the Great Lakes battles and see which side had Naval superiority. Luckily for him the Americans were constantly gaining the advantage in all lake operations due to the United States Navy constantly investing a heavy amount in the coastal lake fortifications and freshwater navy of the Great Lakes region. The British in contrast had little funds used for the upgrade of the Great Lakes fleet due to the Royal Navy's constant priority of spending. For the past month the Americans had been wiping out Canadian ships with their use of recently upgraded steamers. The climax of the naval campaign was the Battle of Lake Huron on August 26th where reinforcements from Lake Michigan totaled the United States Coast Guard forces to around 60 ships under the command of Commodore David Kirk versus the opposing 20 Canadian ships. The resulting battle was one where the Americans would pick off the Canadians one by one until the end of the day where only 3 Canadian ships remaining to surrender compared to the only 4 American losses. The American fleet would then head straight for the British camp at Samia on August 31st where they proceeded to bombard the Canadian encampment while the Americans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln across the border advanced to overtake the Canadian forces and surround them. Down south a similar charge was being lead by General Taylor at Windsor with the American group now numbering 15,000 men due to reinforcements. After the victories of the Battles of Windsor and Samia, Army Group Central would then march North where they managed to successfully invade Canada this time around with superior equipment as well as numbers of men. Taylor's forces would rendezvous with elements of West and New York where they would surround the capital of Toronto on September 19th, causing the town to surrender unconditionally to the army (much to the dismay of Michigan troops who wanted to burn it a second time in revenge for Detroit).
View attachment 295265
Burning of Detroit (Right) Battle of Lansing (Left)
New York/Quebec: At the New York border the Canadian forces would once more try to invade the United States. At first it looked as though an invasion would go through Eastern New York with the Battle of Buffalo occurring on August 3rd after 9,000 of Army Group New York would come to defend the state. When the battle commenced it was a confusing eyes in the those of Major General Winfield Scott as the Canadians had only come with 2500 men and once the American cavalry and infantry had begun to advance on the Canadian lines, the Canadians would retreat in good order without any resistance being put up. It was later found out that this action was a ruse as a main invasion force under Major General Harold Cameron would come as a force of 6000 men through Northern New York. The invading force proceeded to gain victory over the defending Americans at the Battles of Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga with the Americans losing both times due to numerical superiority from their Canadian foes as well as the disorganization in the wake of the unexpected invasion. After these two defeats the remaining American forces under the leadership of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, would make a stand at Valley Forge with reinforcements from the New York militia in order to prevent a further advancement unto Albany and New York City. For three days and nights from August 12th-15th a bloody battle was fought in the valley as the American forces fought to the death in order to protect their homeland from further invasion. Cavalry charges would be met in bloody frays while fire from the infatry and artillery was always constant across the field. One notable action was that of Second Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant who assumed command of the 3rd battalion on the second day after his superiors were wounded or killed and prevented the left flank from collapsing with his method of last stand fighting. On the third day it looked as though the Americans would collapse, until reinforcements finally arrived from General Scott and were able to drive the Canadians back across the border. The battle resulted in multiple losses with 841 Americans KIA, 888 WIA, and 310 POW. On the Canadian side was an equal amount of heavy casualties with 1023 KIA, 937 WIA, and 459 POW. After two weeks of organization and rest, Army Group New York then proceeded to launch the invasion of Quebec with 20,000 men now in force from reinforcements. The first Major Battle on Quebecois soil would be the Battle of Montreal where the American forces would proceed to converge on the city in a siege on August 27th while 5,000 troops where directed westward to capture Ottawa. On September 3rd Ottawa was captured with relatively light resistance with most of the cities usual defenders being directed to invasions or the defense of Quebec. After this 25,000 men would march from the rest of the forces in the west while 10,000 others would remain in order to garrison the conquered territories while they would receive reinforcements from down south. With the American forces outside of Montreal now numbering 45,000; General Scott sent word to the cities mayor on September 14th to surrender or else face the wrath of the US Army. Knowing that the cities garrison was terribly outnumbered and that a battle would result in the destruction of Montreal, the mayor relented and the city surrendered the next day. It was on September 15th where General Scott would surprise the British Canadians by gathering up members of the Patriotic Order and announce the formation of the Republic of Quebec to liberate the region from British rule and give freedom to oppressed French Quebecois. This battle and announcement would have the desired result intended by President Harrison and on October 2nd, the Quebecois of Quebec City would launch a revolt against the British and after 5 days of intense fighting would force the garrison to surrender. American forces would enter Quebec City on October 18th and were met with much cheers and fanfare from the cities citizens. For the rest of the year Army Group New York would spend its time helping the Quebecois to consolidate their new nation in preparation for a future British invasion.
Battle of Valley Forge (Right) Quebecois Uprising (Left)
Maine/New Brunswick: Next to the Western theater, Army Group Maine would be met with the least amount of intense conflict. Most of the Canadian forces were directed westward and both sides knew that the Royal Navy could later help to gain superiority in the theater. Still much fighting did go on as some of the Canadian troops advanced into Maine in order to correct the Granger-Ashburton treaty of 1842. Instead of meeting this invading force however, most of Army Group Maine was directed to New Brunswick in order to secure the region before any form of Canadian resistance could be organized. The primary battle within New Brunswick was the battle of Fredricton where the 5000 American force under Brigadier General Franklin Pierce captured the lightly defended town with few casualties on August 11th. For the next month it was a rather odd stalemate between the two forces as the Canadians held control of Northern Maine while the Americans New Brunswick. This stalemate would be broken in September with the American victories at Montreal and the reinforcement of Maine by elements of the northern states as well as Army Group North. Faced with the prospect of being wiped out by superior forces, opposing British General Matthew Elric chose to instead surrender peacefully on September 26th. The remainder of the year had Army Group Maine consolidating New Brunswick while an invasion was being planned for Nova Scotia. The only reason that the Americans did not attack at this time was due to the chance of the Royal Navy cutting off an invasion force as well as the priority to set up defenses of the United States East Coast coming first.
Atlantic Naval engagements: It was on the waters of the Atlantic where the British would clearly gain the upper hand in the fight. Throughout the first months of the war dozens of American merchant vessels were seized by the Royal Navy in retaliation for Canada's invasion and in order to cripple the American economy. This forced the United States to intensify trade with Texas by using them as a neutral party to safely transport American goods under the Texan flag to Europe, an action the British could not counter for fear of creating a war with France. Throughout the Atlantic ocean multiple small battles were being engaged between single American and British ships with the Royal Navy winning 7 times out of 10. For 1846 however there would be no major battles in the direct middle of the Atlantic as most American forces were in the Gulf or Eastern Seaboard. One major engagement of note was the Invasion of Liberia where on November 18th a British squadron of 15 ships defeated the stationed American fleet of two schooners and launched an invasion of the colony with 5000 Royal Marines. Ironically when the Royal Marines captured the capitol of Monrovia they had killed or captured most of the dissident forces within Liberia who were agitating for Liberian independence, this would cause Liberia to remain an American colony after the war well into the remainder of the 19th century. On the American side there were also some amount of success with the Great Lakes engagements being a prime example, all lakes having coming under American control well by October. The most successful American campaign was the St. Laurence river Campaign where forces of the US Navy under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry would proceed to use the American fleet to enter the Quebec coast during the month of September and proceed to virtually wipe out the stationed Canadian fleet with assistance from the Quebecois revolutionaries on shore. Down south was also the Battle of the Bahamas where a 22 ship fleet under the command of Commodore John Sloat would defeat the stationed 5 Royal ships in the Bahamas and then proceed to use the United States Marines to capture the multiple islands, preventing a direct invasion of Florida. The rest of the year would see a series of Skirmishes take place in both the Gulf and Eastern Seaboard. The next naval objective of the United States Navy was a possible invasion of Jamaica which was being planned for the next year after consolidation of coastal defenses.
View attachment 295266
Royal Navy on Patrol
Overall 1846 was a great year for the Americans as they had accomplished all of their objectives of the Carolus Plan; conquering western Canada as well as liberating Quebec. In addition multiple future officers of the American Civil War would gain valuable experience from the fighting in the North. By the end of the year the United States had managed to raise up a force of 250,000 men and were now preparing for multiple seaborne invasions while negotiators were sent in order to claim Oregon and the liberation of Quebec while the Americans still had the advantage and Britain was occupied with German Unification and the beginning of the Russian intervention in the conflict. Unfortunately for the Americans, Queen Victoria would not take any defeat easily without putting up a fight first. And so, 1847 would see the beginning of the Second British invasion of the United States.
View attachment 295267
Map of the Oregon War by the end of 1846.
"We may have won the battle here. Though it remains to be seen if history will see us as conquerors or liberators."- Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln 1846
"Congratulations boys, Oregon is ours. Now let's head back east and make sure the British stay the hell away from America."- Colonel Stephen Keary 1846
"Ah the Oregon War. It's kind of a stupid conflict really, it all started over a simple misunderstanding and the greed of land between nations. I will say this though. Without it I would have never gained the experience to fight the south."- General Ulysses S. Grant 1865
For the third and not the last time, the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain were in a state of war. Unlike the Great War the Oregon War would be fought primarily within North America and mostly within the plains and forests of Canada, where the fate of America's expansion to the Pacific would be decided. Each side both had their advantages and disadvantages in the conflict. For the United States they had recently modernized and enlargened their professional army to a fighting force equivalent to the average Prussian Corps. Since the theater of war was directly on the border the United States could immediately dispatch and coordinate its armies in a quick time compared to the months of organization of the British Imperial forces, by the time redcoat reinforcements could arrive from Great Britain America would make considerable gains and conscript tens of thousands of volunteers. On the downside the United States did not have the industrial or economic capacity for a prolonged war with Britain. The United Kingdom's main strength was that it could draw multiple resources from the largest empire in the world. At the time Britain was also the leading financial and industrial producer in Europe. Though as mentioned previously if it wanted any reinforcements from say India, then it would take near a year to get them organized and ship them to America. Due to these strengths and weaknesses the Oregon War became one of speed and tactical maneuvering. If America could conquer Canada and defend its coast then it would have an upper hand in any negotiations. If it's objectives under the Carolus Plan were not achieved by the end of the year then the advantage would go to Britain. The Third Invasion of Canada had begun.
Western Theater: The Western theater of the war was perhaps the one that had the most amount of success for the Americans at the start of the war. With relatively no one to stop him after the fall of Fort Vancouver, Colonel Kearny was free to move about his army and conquer the rest of the Oregon territory. To say that this itself was a conquest though is mostly an exaggeration, there were no highly developed towns or cities in Oregon so it was mostly a matter of securing any British ships on the post as well as securing the multiple trade outposts and farms on the British side in order to prevent any form of rebellion. With the large amount of the Oregon territory captured the United States then held their Casus belli and thus could assume a superior role in negotiations. Around mid-September Kearny took around 1200 of his men and headed southeast in order to join the main fight before the arrival of winter would impede any troop movements. He would not be able to see action for the rest of the year but for his actions in securing Oregon, was promoted to Brigadier General. As for Army Group West itself, the army received a similar amount of success due to most Canadian/British defenses being set up around Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. This left the west door open in what was analyzed by historians to be one of the worst strategic mistakes for an defending nation. Under the leadership of Brigadier General William J. Worth, Army Group West would virtually tear through the Canadian countryside in a manner slightly similar to modern day Blitzkrieg. The two most noteworthy battles of this time were the Battles of Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon. At Thunder Bay the American force had met an opposing force of 2000 Canadian soldiers who were guarding a small port that was used as the Canadian's main access to Lake Superior. The battle was fought on August 5th with the outcome being a decisive American victory due to the British garrison not yet receiving word of the war's deceleration as well as support from the U.S Coast Guard who bombarded British positions at Thunder Bay. After the battle the remaining ships left in port were either burned or captured by the Coast Guard to be served for defense of Minnesota and Michigan. The battle of Lake Nipigon was fought around two and a half weeks later on the 23rd when the Americans rested at the lake and were then assaulted by 1500 Canadian forces and their Indian allies in the region. Unfortunately for the Canadians the battle was only meant to be a raid to cripple the Americans, but failed when the infantry stood their ground and protected the supply lines due to advance warning from other Indian elements who were dissatisfied of Canadian rule. The Americans would win the battle after the cavalry was organized and began a rout to displace the Canadian army. The aftermath of the battle was 137 Americans KIA, 156 WIA, and 12 MIA. For the Canadians it was 208 KIA, 216 WIA. 32 MIA, and 364 POW, the Indian forces of the battle however were not properly accounted for. For the next month Army Group West would sweep through Ontario and proceed to crush any resistance. They later gathered in a group of 15,000 troops due to reinforcements from the Midwestern states and proceeded to Oshawa, Ontario on October 1st with half going to help Army Group Central, while the other half proceeded to reinforce Army group New York.
Michigan/Ontario: For the first month of the war the Michigan/Ontario theater was one in a high stalemate. The first action of the theater would be do to the Canadians in the Battle of Detroit on July 31st where a group of around 2,000 Canadian troops under the command of Brigadier Wesley Jenkins would launch an assault on the city. Like the previous battle in the War of 1812 it was a Canadian victory, though unlike the previous battle it was far bloodier due to the American's not being outduped this time and fierce resistance from the American garrison as well as the civilian population. Over the course of several hours a large street battle took place, with American troops and frontier rifleman taking multiple potshots of the Canadian forces from within the town's buildings and around hastily erected barricades in the streets. The main reason that the Canadian force was able to hold superiority throughout the battle was due to their superior artillery positions with a ratio of 4:1 to the Americans along with the larger Canadian cavalry force. In order to draw the Americans out Brigadier Jenkins made the mistake of ordering his men to set fire to the local fort, while this succeeded in forcing the Americans to retreat and giving the battle to the British, it also resulted in the fire spreading and forcing most of Detroit to be burned to the ground. These actions would make the Canadians and British much hatred among the Midwestern population and contributed to much resentment and distrust of the American population towards Canada until the Great War. After the battle Brigadier Jenkins then made the poor mistake of proceeding to continue a march into the rest of Michigan. Although his army took around 700 casualties in the previous battle he had wanted to set control of much of Michigan in order to conquer the state in a British victory. For two weeks he marched with his men were they were constantly attacked by guerrilla forces in retaliation for the burning of Detroit. These conditions caused the Canadian force to have a high amount of fatigue and low morale when they met Army Group Central under the command of Major General Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Lansing. Here the Canadian forces were virtually wiped out by the American force who outnumbered them 5 to 1, only around 100 Canadians survived form the bloody battle (Brigadier Jenkins being among the dead) due to most of Army Group Central being made up of Michigan natives who were furious of Detroit, some of them men even hailing form the city. The Americans in counterpart only suffered around 200 casualties. After the battle Army Group Central would march back to the border where they met a hastily set up group of 3,000 Canadian men who were intended to reinforce Jenkins's position at Detroit before he made his blunder. For one week Taylor would make his forces wait at the Border in order to hear word of the Great Lakes battles and see which side had Naval superiority. Luckily for him the Americans were constantly gaining the advantage in all lake operations due to the United States Navy constantly investing a heavy amount in the coastal lake fortifications and freshwater navy of the Great Lakes region. The British in contrast had little funds used for the upgrade of the Great Lakes fleet due to the Royal Navy's constant priority of spending. For the past month the Americans had been wiping out Canadian ships with their use of recently upgraded steamers. The climax of the naval campaign was the Battle of Lake Huron on August 26th where reinforcements from Lake Michigan totaled the United States Coast Guard forces to around 60 ships under the command of Commodore David Kirk versus the opposing 20 Canadian ships. The resulting battle was one where the Americans would pick off the Canadians one by one until the end of the day where only 3 Canadian ships remaining to surrender compared to the only 4 American losses. The American fleet would then head straight for the British camp at Samia on August 31st where they proceeded to bombard the Canadian encampment while the Americans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Lincoln across the border advanced to overtake the Canadian forces and surround them. Down south a similar charge was being lead by General Taylor at Windsor with the American group now numbering 15,000 men due to reinforcements. After the victories of the Battles of Windsor and Samia, Army Group Central would then march North where they managed to successfully invade Canada this time around with superior equipment as well as numbers of men. Taylor's forces would rendezvous with elements of West and New York where they would surround the capital of Toronto on September 19th, causing the town to surrender unconditionally to the army (much to the dismay of Michigan troops who wanted to burn it a second time in revenge for Detroit).
View attachment 295265
Burning of Detroit (Right) Battle of Lansing (Left)
New York/Quebec: At the New York border the Canadian forces would once more try to invade the United States. At first it looked as though an invasion would go through Eastern New York with the Battle of Buffalo occurring on August 3rd after 9,000 of Army Group New York would come to defend the state. When the battle commenced it was a confusing eyes in the those of Major General Winfield Scott as the Canadians had only come with 2500 men and once the American cavalry and infantry had begun to advance on the Canadian lines, the Canadians would retreat in good order without any resistance being put up. It was later found out that this action was a ruse as a main invasion force under Major General Harold Cameron would come as a force of 6000 men through Northern New York. The invading force proceeded to gain victory over the defending Americans at the Battles of Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga with the Americans losing both times due to numerical superiority from their Canadian foes as well as the disorganization in the wake of the unexpected invasion. After these two defeats the remaining American forces under the leadership of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, would make a stand at Valley Forge with reinforcements from the New York militia in order to prevent a further advancement unto Albany and New York City. For three days and nights from August 12th-15th a bloody battle was fought in the valley as the American forces fought to the death in order to protect their homeland from further invasion. Cavalry charges would be met in bloody frays while fire from the infatry and artillery was always constant across the field. One notable action was that of Second Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant who assumed command of the 3rd battalion on the second day after his superiors were wounded or killed and prevented the left flank from collapsing with his method of last stand fighting. On the third day it looked as though the Americans would collapse, until reinforcements finally arrived from General Scott and were able to drive the Canadians back across the border. The battle resulted in multiple losses with 841 Americans KIA, 888 WIA, and 310 POW. On the Canadian side was an equal amount of heavy casualties with 1023 KIA, 937 WIA, and 459 POW. After two weeks of organization and rest, Army Group New York then proceeded to launch the invasion of Quebec with 20,000 men now in force from reinforcements. The first Major Battle on Quebecois soil would be the Battle of Montreal where the American forces would proceed to converge on the city in a siege on August 27th while 5,000 troops where directed westward to capture Ottawa. On September 3rd Ottawa was captured with relatively light resistance with most of the cities usual defenders being directed to invasions or the defense of Quebec. After this 25,000 men would march from the rest of the forces in the west while 10,000 others would remain in order to garrison the conquered territories while they would receive reinforcements from down south. With the American forces outside of Montreal now numbering 45,000; General Scott sent word to the cities mayor on September 14th to surrender or else face the wrath of the US Army. Knowing that the cities garrison was terribly outnumbered and that a battle would result in the destruction of Montreal, the mayor relented and the city surrendered the next day. It was on September 15th where General Scott would surprise the British Canadians by gathering up members of the Patriotic Order and announce the formation of the Republic of Quebec to liberate the region from British rule and give freedom to oppressed French Quebecois. This battle and announcement would have the desired result intended by President Harrison and on October 2nd, the Quebecois of Quebec City would launch a revolt against the British and after 5 days of intense fighting would force the garrison to surrender. American forces would enter Quebec City on October 18th and were met with much cheers and fanfare from the cities citizens. For the rest of the year Army Group New York would spend its time helping the Quebecois to consolidate their new nation in preparation for a future British invasion.
Battle of Valley Forge (Right) Quebecois Uprising (Left)
Maine/New Brunswick: Next to the Western theater, Army Group Maine would be met with the least amount of intense conflict. Most of the Canadian forces were directed westward and both sides knew that the Royal Navy could later help to gain superiority in the theater. Still much fighting did go on as some of the Canadian troops advanced into Maine in order to correct the Granger-Ashburton treaty of 1842. Instead of meeting this invading force however, most of Army Group Maine was directed to New Brunswick in order to secure the region before any form of Canadian resistance could be organized. The primary battle within New Brunswick was the battle of Fredricton where the 5000 American force under Brigadier General Franklin Pierce captured the lightly defended town with few casualties on August 11th. For the next month it was a rather odd stalemate between the two forces as the Canadians held control of Northern Maine while the Americans New Brunswick. This stalemate would be broken in September with the American victories at Montreal and the reinforcement of Maine by elements of the northern states as well as Army Group North. Faced with the prospect of being wiped out by superior forces, opposing British General Matthew Elric chose to instead surrender peacefully on September 26th. The remainder of the year had Army Group Maine consolidating New Brunswick while an invasion was being planned for Nova Scotia. The only reason that the Americans did not attack at this time was due to the chance of the Royal Navy cutting off an invasion force as well as the priority to set up defenses of the United States East Coast coming first.
Atlantic Naval engagements: It was on the waters of the Atlantic where the British would clearly gain the upper hand in the fight. Throughout the first months of the war dozens of American merchant vessels were seized by the Royal Navy in retaliation for Canada's invasion and in order to cripple the American economy. This forced the United States to intensify trade with Texas by using them as a neutral party to safely transport American goods under the Texan flag to Europe, an action the British could not counter for fear of creating a war with France. Throughout the Atlantic ocean multiple small battles were being engaged between single American and British ships with the Royal Navy winning 7 times out of 10. For 1846 however there would be no major battles in the direct middle of the Atlantic as most American forces were in the Gulf or Eastern Seaboard. One major engagement of note was the Invasion of Liberia where on November 18th a British squadron of 15 ships defeated the stationed American fleet of two schooners and launched an invasion of the colony with 5000 Royal Marines. Ironically when the Royal Marines captured the capitol of Monrovia they had killed or captured most of the dissident forces within Liberia who were agitating for Liberian independence, this would cause Liberia to remain an American colony after the war well into the remainder of the 19th century. On the American side there were also some amount of success with the Great Lakes engagements being a prime example, all lakes having coming under American control well by October. The most successful American campaign was the St. Laurence river Campaign where forces of the US Navy under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry would proceed to use the American fleet to enter the Quebec coast during the month of September and proceed to virtually wipe out the stationed Canadian fleet with assistance from the Quebecois revolutionaries on shore. Down south was also the Battle of the Bahamas where a 22 ship fleet under the command of Commodore John Sloat would defeat the stationed 5 Royal ships in the Bahamas and then proceed to use the United States Marines to capture the multiple islands, preventing a direct invasion of Florida. The rest of the year would see a series of Skirmishes take place in both the Gulf and Eastern Seaboard. The next naval objective of the United States Navy was a possible invasion of Jamaica which was being planned for the next year after consolidation of coastal defenses.
View attachment 295266
Royal Navy on Patrol
Overall 1846 was a great year for the Americans as they had accomplished all of their objectives of the Carolus Plan; conquering western Canada as well as liberating Quebec. In addition multiple future officers of the American Civil War would gain valuable experience from the fighting in the North. By the end of the year the United States had managed to raise up a force of 250,000 men and were now preparing for multiple seaborne invasions while negotiators were sent in order to claim Oregon and the liberation of Quebec while the Americans still had the advantage and Britain was occupied with German Unification and the beginning of the Russian intervention in the conflict. Unfortunately for the Americans, Queen Victoria would not take any defeat easily without putting up a fight first. And so, 1847 would see the beginning of the Second British invasion of the United States.
View attachment 295267
Map of the Oregon War by the end of 1846.
- Kaiser Chris
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