 By Tom Fournier
When I think of John Richardson, it is because of his time with the 41st Regiment of Foot during the War of 1812. He turned those experiences into a widely read and often cited book on the War of 1812. The most common form is Richardson’s War of 1812 edited by Alexander Casselman. I have had the good fortune of seeing an original copy of the 1842 edition in the holdings of the Royal Welsh Museum. This was once the property of another member of the 41st Regiment who underscored passages and made margin notes critical of Richardson and many Officers of the 41st Regiment (perhaps a subject for another day). Richardson was very proud of his time with the 41st Regiment and he was extremely protective of its reputation. This can be seen in his passionate defense of the Officers of the 41st Regiment as a reaction to comments attributed to Major General Sir Isaac Brock in the book written by his nephew Ferdinand Brock Tupper. That defense can be read here. I would like to spend a little time looking at Richardson as a precursor to another article on the Battle of the River Raisin. Richardson was a participant in that action and he wrote about it as a historian but interestingly, he also wrote about it as a novelist in his book “The Canadian Brothers”. My hypothesis is that it would be interesting looking at the novel for an account of the lead up to the battle, the battle and the aftermath without the need to act as a historian or journalist (as Richardson spent much of his life). For much more information on Richardson I would recommend a biography written by David Beasley and/or the very detailed article (which I have drawn from extensively) written by Beasley for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography which can be found here. Richardson was born in Upper Canada on 4 October 1796 in the Niagara region. His father Robert had come to Canada from Scotland as a surgeon with the Queen’s Rangers. His mother was Madelaine Askin daughter of Joseph Askin (the famous fur trader and merchant) and Manette an indigenous woman. Richardson spent his adolescent years in Amherstburg on the Detroit River. In July 1812, Richardson, at the age of 15, joined the 41st Regiment as a Gentleman Volunteer. A Gentleman Volunteer was an individual who wished to join the Officers of a regiment but for whom there was no place. The Gentleman Volunteer would serve in the ranks but mess with the Officers. They would hope to distinguish themselves in battle and earn a promotion to the rank of Officer. Richardson was one of four Gentleman Volunteers with the 41st Regiment including Colonel Henry Proctor’s own son Henry. Richardson took part in a number of military engagements in the Lake Erie area (the Right Division for the British) including the Battle of the River Raisin. On 5 October 1813 he was captured at the battle of Moraviantown and imprisoned in Kentucky. Released in July 1814, he joined the 8th Regiment of Foot (in which he had been commissioned ensign on 4 August 1813) in October and was sent to Europe with it in June 1815 to fight Napoleon. Arriving too late to engage in the battle of Waterloo, he was promoted lieutenant in July and then went on half pay in London in February 1816 before joining the 2nd Foot as a second lieutenant in May. He served with this regiment for more than two years, primarily in Barbados and Grenada. As a result of a severe case of malaria and for personal reasons, he went on half pay again in the autumn of 1818 in the 92nd Foot. For at least three years Richardson lived in London and then moved to Paris. His experiences in these cities were later to figure in several of his novels. By 1826 he was back in London, where he engaged in journalism, began writing novels, and pestered the War Office to be taken back on active duty. In 1835 Richardson’s wish to return to active service had been realized after a fashion when, as a captain, he joined the British auxiliary legion raised for service in Spain during the First Carlist War. His writings on the British Legion were used by Tories to embarrass the Whig government of Lord Melbourne, whose representatives retaliated by making personal attacks on Richardson in parliament. But the troubles of the British Legion were internal as well, and Richardson, by describing his sufferings at the hands of its commander, Lieutenant-General George de Lacy Evans, exposed the petty intrigues of military adventurers and place-seekers. While still serving in Spain he had been brought before a military court of inquiry for casting “discredit on the conduct of the Legion,” a charge altered to “cowardice in battle.” Richardson, who had been wounded in the campaign, was exonerated, and then promoted major in 1836. Henceforth, his books, which had been published anonymously, carried his name and rank. Another product of the Spanish campaign was a knighthood in the military Order of St Ferdinand, which he had received for courage in battle. It was his most prized award aside from his majority. In the spring of 1838 the Times of London, a Tory newspaper, hired Richardson on a year’s contract as foreign correspondent to cover the rebellions of 1837–38 in Upper and Lower Canada, perhaps as compensation for his services to the Tories. After his arrival in Montreal, however, Richardson became a strong supporter of the governor-in-chief, Lord Durham, prompting the Times to dismiss him. Having sold his lieutenancy to buy a printing-press in June 1840, he settled in Brockville, Upper Canada in July and published there from June 1841 to August 1842 the New Era, or Canadian Chronicle, in which he tried to bring “polite literature” to Canadians. Then, living in Kingston, he issued the Canadian Loyalist, & Spirit of 1812 from January 1843 to July 1844. Despite his frequent quarrels with senior political officials, Richardson repeatedly tried to win appointment to government office, but his enemies were too numerous. Early in 1842 he had petitioned Queen Victoria in vain for a pension, claiming to be “the only Author this Country has hitherto produced.” After his newspapers failed, he fell into debt. Finally in May 1845 Governor Metcalfe, whom Richardson had energetically supported in the Canadian Loyalist, appointed him superintendent of police on the Welland Canal, and Richardson moved to St Catharines. Richardson now faced the task of trying to maintain order on the Welland Canal, where rioting, often politically inspired to embarrass the government, had broken out among canal workers, who also protested the starvation wages paid by private contractors. Richardson set out to fashion a disciplined force and end violence along the canal. He went through a series of humiliations, violent confrontations, and a farcical trial in his struggle to assert his authority before all real power was taken away from him. His troubles were compounded by the unexpected death on 16 August 1845 of his wife from apoplexy provoked by the strain of her husband’s difficulties. In December, when it appeared that relative peace had been restored, Samuel Power, the chief engineer, recommended that the police force be reduced and Richardson be dismissed since his presence was no longer required. Richardson was dismissed from office at the end of January 1846. From August 1846 to January 1847 Richardson published a weekly newspaper in Montreal, the Weekly Expositor; or, Reformer of Public Abuses and Railway and Mining Intelligencer. During this time, he also did some writing for the Montreal Courier. The passage in April 1849 of the Rebellion Losses Bill, which granted the rebels of 1837–38 compensation equal to that received by the loyalists for losses suffered during the uprising, offended loyalists and led to rioting in Montreal. The troubles prompted Richardson to relocate in New York in the fall of 1849. Americans, after all, celebrated him as an author while Canadians showed little interest in his work. Richardson died in New York on 12 May 1852 of erysipelas brought on by undernourishment. His friends took up a collection to pay the expenses of his funeral but there is no record of where he is buried, other than that his body was removed from the city.
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By Tom Fournier There was some recent excitement over photos of a coat that I saw in the old Welch Regiment Museum in Cardiff from a trip back in 2006. It is now in the holdings of the Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh and the curator of the museum, Richard Davies was kind enough to pull out the coat and take some pictures. This is the coat of a Grenadier Officer of the 41st Regiment circa 1822. Unfortunately there is no record of who the coat belonged. This first two photos are of the coat in a display case from my original visit. The following pictures are those sent by Richard:
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By Abel Land  As promised, this is the next dispatch in the series, looking at how the serjeants would formulate the basic training of the recruit during the current war in America. Last week the content was on the foundation position for the recruit without arms; this week, the topic will be on how to stand at ease as explained in the Rules and Regulations 1807.
I would at this time like to backtrack a bit and thank one person who has helped me research and look critically at period manuals, along with clarification on some terms. This person puts his heart and soul into the knowledge of the late 18th and 19th-century foot drill — Ewan Wardle program development officer at Fort York National Historic Site in Toronto, Ontario. Thanks for your dedication to further our knowledge of historic military exercises. By Abel Land  This is a new idea to help pass on the information acquired on foot drill of his Majesties forces during the North American conflict of 1812. Each Wednesday, there will be a new dispatch, including excerpts from the manuals employed to help train recruits.
This week's post is on the position of the soldier, not under arms. This starting post sets the foundation into which all foot drill is rooted. This first manual is the Rules and Regulations 1807, now the dates of for the conflict are 1812-15, why is a book published in 1807 crucial, the General Regulations and Orders from 1811, and 1815 both have this to say on the subject; “Every Serjeant of Cavalry and Infantry is required to have in his Possession a Copy of the Abstract of the Rules and Regulations for the Manual and Platoon Exercises; Formations, Field-Exercises, and Movements of His Majesty's Forces, which was printed for their Use, and issued, in the Month of January, 1807.” (Orders and Regulations 1811, 89) This manual should be the most common reference for all serjeants conducting foot drill, unless ordered differently, or future military historians in the 21st century where there will be multiple other sources to do research from. 1807 breaks the exercise down into three sections, the first is of the drill or instruction of the recruit, in 40 parts. The first section, which will be looked at over the next few posts, is on training without arms, beginning with the position of the soldier.  By Tom Fournier
Whenever I hear the adage “if he did not have bad luck, he would have no luck at all”, I think of Porter Hanks. Lieutenant Porter Hanks is most often known as the American Officer who surrendered Fort Mackinac to an attacking British force representing one of the first land actions associated with the War of 1812.  Medicine Chest By Tom Fournier
My knowledge or interests do not naturally align with science or medicine but I could not resist this list of medical supplies that come from the Messages and Letters of William Henry Harrison; Volume 2 Part 2. Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory and led the American military forces at the victories at Tippecanoe (1811) and Moraviantown (1813). He had command of Fort Meigs in Ohio in 1813. To my thinking, medical knowledge was at a strange crossroads at this time. Knowledge of anatomy had become quite advanced but the understanding of how it all worked still fell to a notion that the body had an ideal equilibrium and to solve for an illness or disruption meant restoring that equilibrium. Treatments such as bleeding, purging or blistering were still common. Equilibrium could be restored by releasing things like blood, urine, stool or perspiration. The body had four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) and too much or too little of any of these humours would result in illness. Bored Officers, An Afternoon of Whisky and a Deserter on the Loose in Detroit. What Could Go Wrong?4/14/2019  Detroit 1812 from the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library By Tom Fournier
This incident has fascinated me for some time. It happened in 1805 in Detroit involving Officers of the British Army (41st Regiment) and the U.S. Army. By way of some background, Officers from the British and American armies stationed in remote outposts with limited society, were there to observe each other, but they would often end up taking advantage of their common background and experiences to develop friendships and a culture of visiting. The British had a policy of rounding up and returning American deserters to the U.S. Army. They asked for reciprocal actions or support from the Americans. For the Americans, this proved more difficult in or near American communities as their citizens were protective of British deserters seeking liberty and a new life in the United States. |
