Wednesday's Assignment

Good morning! If you haven't already done so, you need to do so immediately. Register for the IEP Conference right away (details in yellow at the top), and email me your confirmation.


Today, we're having a special TRCA workshop on Great Lakes in the morning and on Solid Waste in the afternoon.


And tomorrow, it's off to Niagara Falls. Be sure to gather at the pick-up area of Don Mills Station at 8:50 so as to depart by 9 a.m.





Read the following account of the 1814 Battle of Lundy's Lane (how long ago was that?), and then follow again on this text-to-speech program:

Brigadier General Winfield Scott, United States Army, regarded the red-coated infantry before him. He had not expected to find the British in strength on this side of the Niagara River. His small, isolated brigade now faced an apparently superior enemy and could not rely on immediate assistance from his divisional commander, Major General Jacob Brown. A lesser man would have been daunted, but Winfield Scott - six feet, five inches tall, deep-chested, stern-visaged, and twenty-eight years old - decided to attack. What followed was one of the bloodiest and most hard-fought military actions in North American history. For nearly five hours, American, British and Canadian soldiers struggled desperately into the night in a close range, vicious battle. As one participant recalled, it was "a conflict, obstinate beyond description." When dawn came, more than 1600 men lay dead or wounded. In his interpretation of a still controversial action, Donald E. Graves fills in the planning and operational background of the Niagara campaign of 1814 - one of the most bitterly contested of military operations of the War of 1812. He narrates the action at Lundy's Lane and provides a thorough examination of the weaponry, tactics, organization, and prominent personalities of the two opposing armies. In what is possibly the most detailed analysis of musket-period combat to appear in print, The Battle of Lundy's Lane will appeal to readers interested in the much-neglected War of 1812, American and Canadian local and regional history, and the development of the U.S. and Canadian armies.

Enjoy watching this short video:

The Battle of Lundy's Lane from Canada's History on Vimeo.
Lundy’s Lane saw one of the deadliest battles ever fought on Canadian soil. On July 25, 1814, the American army proved that they were no longer a band of frightened militia, but were soldiers that could stand toe to toe with the British. Nonetheless, their losses at Lundy's Lane forced the Americans to retreat to Fort Erie, and they were never again able to advance into Upper Canada.