[Peace-discuss] US invasions - June 6

[C. G. Estabrook]

June 6, the 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, is also the date
of an important battle in another US invasion -- of Canada.  During the
War of 1812, the US launched an attack on Ontario (Upper Canada), aimed at
Toronto (then called York). On June 6 the American forces were defeated
by British troops at the battle of Ston(e)y Creek.

"Some 1600 troops took part in the offensive and more than a fifth of them
became casualties when a powder magazine blew up. The force's commander,
General Zebulon Pike [for whom the peak is named], was killed in the
incident.

"Going against orders, the Americans then burnt York's public buildings.

"In May, there some success for Washington when American troops attacked
and captured Fort George, which overlooked the mouth of the Niagara River.

"The 700 British defenders retreated followed by some 2100 Americans. The
pursuers may have been too eager to follow the redcoats and were caught by
surprise when the British abruptly turned around and stood at Stony Creek.
Despite their huge advantage in numbers the Americans were routed."

	--<http://www.napoleonguide.com/campaign_1812a.htm>

American plans for the seizure of Canada begin even before the
Revolutionary War and last at least until 1935:

[1] By the Treaty of Paris (1763), ending the Seven Year's War (Americans
called it "The French and Indian War"), France ceded its the French colony
to Britain on the condition that the colonists be granted liberty to
practice Catholicism. In 1774 Parliament passed the Quebec Act to protect
rights of Catholics, the French civil code, French language and culture.  
The Continental Congress of the British colonies took offense and added to
Thomas Jefferson's draft of the bill of offenses of the British sovereign
that justified treason ("Declaration of Independence") the following
condemnation of the king:  "For abolishing the free system of English laws
in a neighbouring province [Canada], establishing therein an arbitrary
government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an
example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into
these colonies."  Immediately war broke out (April 19, 1775) the
Continental Congress invaded Canada: American troops captured Montreal but
were defeated (under Benedict Arnold) at Quebec. (There's an excellent
novel by Kenneth Roberts on the invasion.)

[2] In US War Plan Red, approved in May 1930 by the Secretary of War and
the Secretary of Navy, the US Army's mission was to "gain complete control
of Crimson" (the code name for Canada).

"...In 1934, War Plan Red was amended to authorize the immediate first use
of poison gas against Canadians and to use strategic bombing to destroy
Halifax if it could not be captured.  In February 1935, the War Department
arranged a Congressional appropriation of $57 million dollars to build
three border air bases for the purposes of pre-emptive surprise attacks on
Canadian air fields.  The base in the Great Lakes region was to be
camouflaged as a civilian airport and was to 'be capable of dominating the
industrial heart of Canada, the Ontario Peninsula' ... In August 1935, the
US held its largest peacetime military manoeuvres in history, with 36,000
troops converging at the Canadian border south of Ottawa, and another
15,000 held in reserve in Pennsylvania..."

	--<http://www.glasnost.de/hist/usa/1935invasion.html>