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You should have arranged to have been born in the late 1950's.
I tried. But my brother was the one who won that lottery. He was born in '59, too young for Vietnam, too old to have to register for the draft in the 1980s.
A lot in Europe. I have one Great Great Great...Grandmother who was the nth daughter of a minor nobleman and through her I am very very very distantly related to many of the noble families/former noble families in Europe so I figure I am distantly related to at least someone in a bunch of the renaissance and medieval era conflicts.
In the states as far as I know
I had several relatives in the revolution including at least one direct ancestor.
and again as militiamen against the incursions of American Fenians into Canada in the era after the American War Between the States.
I hate to nitpick but the Fenains weren't American and were not authorized by the US - They were Irishmen who had an intense dislike of the British Empire. US authorities arrested them.
I hate to nitpick but the Fenains weren't American and were not authorized by the US - They were Irishmen who had an intense dislike of the British Empire. US authorities arrested them.
Considering the actions of the British in Ireland it's not surprising. Who wouldn't intensely dislike a country that sends troops to rape and kill in their country?
As for the sometimes precious attitudes of Canadians about military action after the revolution and including the war of 1812, Americans had to continue to fight the British forces to maintain independence. Canada was the British empire in North America at the time.
I say this as someone whose ancestry is both Irish and English, both American and Canadian. Not trying to stir up a fuss, but I'm a fan of accuracy.
Considering the actions of the British in Ireland it's not surprising. Who wouldn't intensely dislike a country that sends troops to rape and kill in their country?
As for the sometimes precious attitudes of Canadians about military action after the revolution and including the war of 1812, Americans had to continue to fight the British forces to maintain independence. Canada was the British empire in North America at the time.
I say this as someone whose ancestry is both Irish and English, both American and Canadian. Not trying to stir up a fuss, but I'm a fan of accuracy.
Me too.
And to elaborate on even considering Canada taking credit for anything in 1812 i'll quote from another thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hobbesdj
My point in saying that was that there wasn't really a Canada as we know it today - at that time people who were reffered to as Canadian or Canadien were what we would consider Quebecois (French-Canadian) today - and most of them chose to remain neutral. That's why some Quebecois feel that they are the real Canadians and that they were colonized by the British Empire. Some of them, like Charles Salaberry, helped the British, and some of them helped the Americans. The few thousand people we would consider "English Canadians" who resided in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and the forts of Ontario and Nova Scotia wouldn't have even referred to themselves as Canadian. In my classes we've read first-hand accounts of letters written by these provincial militia soldiers - they would refer to themselves as "British", "Provincials", or even still "Loyalists" and the people from the US as "Americans". Even if one looks at the names of units from modern day Ontario or Nova Scotia, their names were never "The Canadian xxxxx Regiment" - only units comprimised by French-speakers (Quebecois) such as the Voltigeurs and the Canadian Dragoons were referred to as "Canadian", even if the officers were sometimes British. Most of the English speaking militia soldiers from modern day Ontario, Eastern Townships and Nova Scotia were themselves or the sons of United Empire Loyalists - the roughly 2% of Americans who remained staunchly loyal to the crown during the revolution of 17776-83 and who migrated north to "British North America" to remain part of the Empire.
This is why English Canada and the US are different countries today and why they seem so eerily similar - what we consider today to be English Canadians are the people who historically rejected nationalism (hence the identity of I am NOT American) in favor of an identity as part of the British Empire. They decided that they are not American, and tried to hold onto the concept as part of the greater British Empire as late as the 20th century - notice "Canadian" citizenship didn't come into being until 1947. The Americans considered themselves to be fighting to end trade restrictions and kick the British out of North America - they didn't consider themselves to be fighting a "Canadian" nationality. Furthermore, the provincial militias who fought in the war would have no idea what the maple leaf represents, what parliament is, what Toronto is, and wouldn't be keen on the idea of Canadian democracy. They would even spell with "American English". They would, however, identify with the Queen and the Union Jack.
Saying the "Canadians" defeated the Americans in the War of 1812 is like saying the "Americans" conquered Quebec and Nova Scotia (Acadia) from France in 1760 and 1713, respectively. There was no concept of "American" identity at that time either. The British Empire repelled the American invasion of Canada during the War of 1812 and returned to the status quo.
And we learned in my Canadian Studies class yesterday afternoon (Concordia University) that most of the English speakers in Ontario especially Western Ontario were on the fence about who to support during the war.
And to elaborate on even considering Canada taking credit for anything in 1812 i'll quote from another thread:
And we learned in my Canadian Studies class yesterday afternoon (Concordia University) that most of the English speakers in Ontario especially Western Ontario were on the fence about who to support during the war.
Not surprised about that fence-sitting.
In our family tree we have loyalists who stayed inthe US.
Loyalists who fled to Canada.
As well as both Americans and Canadians whose sentiments are unknown, but who stayed put in which ever territory they happened to reside in.
I suspect a lot of people have the same mixed loyalities for the revolution, the civil war, and other conflicts in other times and places.
My grandfather was in WWII he was a Naval Officer on a Destroyer ship..
Several Great Grandfathers and cousins were drafted in to WWI..(All were Army division).
I have 3 great grandfathers that was in Civil War..two survived it came home and lived a long live with their loved ones.. and one of them my 3rd Great Grandfather William A. Ward (Confederate Soldier) fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and died there on July 3rd, 1863 they were under General George Pickett that participated in the massive charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
As for the Revolutionary War I have one known Grandfather that fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in Greensboro, NC. My 7th great grandfather...Thomas Smith was Captain under Colonel Penn who commanded 21 companies in Henry County Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War. Captain Thomas Smith's Company consisted of 12 men namely:
William Stewart, John Hurd, James Strange, Henry Smith, Francis Telston, Jesse Burnett, Thomas Hurd, David Atkins, Jonathon Pratt, George Bowles and Henry Law.
Judith Parks Hill worte the History of Henry County, VA, recorded in 1925...
She Wrote:
"On March 11, 1781, Colonel Penn and his men marched from Beaver Creek in Henry County, crossed Rowland's Ford just below Fontaine, followed the Old Road, deep cuts showing it's location, up Marrowbone Valley crossing the creek west of where Ridgeway now stands, thence along the ridge 2 miles, then crossing Matrimony creek half a mile to the state line, only one mile from the Marrowbone home of Old Rusty Hairston to the National Highway is now used for public road. From the south is not known, however, they marched so rapidly they soon reached General Lord Cornwallis a few mile North of Greensboro, NC and begin what become known as The Battle of Guilford Court House on March 11, 1781."
my great great grandfather was a cop in scotland then came to canada and my great grandfather fought in WW1 and my grandfather was in the navy he got stationed on a aircraft carrier HMS Nabob in the Royal Navy. She served as an anti-submarine warfare carrier and the ship's crew was drawn from personnel provided by the Royal Canadian Navy. Flight crew were Royal Navy personnel
On 22 August 1944, while returning from a strike against the German battleship Tirpitz (Operation Goodwood), she was torpedoed by U-354 in the Barents Sea and sustained heavy damage. Five days later she steamed into Scapa Flow under her own power but had lost 21 men
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