The Russians are wailing about the evil Ukranian Secret Service killing him, just as the Russians tried to do with the Skripals in England in March. As ye sow shall ye reap.

I have the most recent poll results for the Major just to make his heart do a little flutter. The polls were done separately by  WAPO and ABC news.

Trumps approval rating have dropped down to 36 approve and 60 disapprove. With the Mueller Russian investigation 63 approve of it and only 29 disapprove.

With the question, should Trump fire Sessions 62 % say no and only 23% say yes.

I don't think most Americans really know yet Mark on how intertwinded Manafort, Gates and Flinn really were with Russia and it election tappering with the Ukraines.

This is something I just read and find odd. The people of the Province of British Columbia have stopped buying anything made in America and 19 % of them have cancelled trips and holidays to the States. What has American done to them? They are an odd group at the best of times but I just put it down to them living in in a place where it is always raining and cloudy. They do or did export a lot of soft wood lumber to the States and they were charged awhile back a 38% tariff on their paper they sell to them but that was settled under chapter 19 of the free trade deal in which they won the decision and were paid back what was paid out in tariffs. 

Cut the crap, Pete. We have allowed you to screw us via trade policy for decades now. You industries are the most regulated in North America. See your dairy policy which favors the frogs in Quebec. Speaking of B.C. they get their milk transported thousands of miles from Quebec because of it. The chickens have come home to roost.....you are either with us or against us. See dead or alive.

Why would the States want to remove Chapter 19 from any new trade deal with Canada unless they were planning on screwing us? Charter 19 is how any disputes or disagreements are settled fairly between the two parties. Could it be that everytime it goes to arbatration Canada wins?? We have regulations on our industries and on our banks and your country is a perfect example of what can go wrong without them. You don't even have enough gold to cover the money you keep printing and passing out or even pay the Germans back their gold that you owe them. You are again backing corrupt Governments which seems to be a habit of yours by giving the Saudi's planes and American bombs to bomb school children with. You seem to be starting more wars than you have ever managed to finish. You don't have enough steel aluminum urainium wood or even potash to keep your country going. You want to unload milk products on us that comes from sick abused three legged cows but won't allow us into your Markets. Trade is a two way street and not a one way one that your lobbyist want and are trying to force on us. With a good and fair trade deal both countries prosper. Right now we buy more off of you that you do off us which shows the present NAFTA deal is working just fine for you. We are stuck breathing your polluted air from your unregulated substandard industries who don't care about anything but profits. You can't even manage to control the Asia carp in your rivers that you introduced which soon will destroy the Great Lakes. No deal is better than a bad one and if you don't learn anything else from Canada then learn that.

Donald Trump threatens to terminate NAFTA if Congress stands up for Canada.Why would Congress stand up for Canada if they thought we have been ripping the States off for the past 30 years. They wouldn't right? I suspect they know a lot more about the important of trade and making deals than Trump and his lobbyist friends who have everything to gain do.

Whatever it takes to not go back': Saudi students fear consequences of defying regime deadline

Saudi students speaking to CBC News on the condition of anonymity said they defied their government's orders to leave Canada by the end of the August, because they fear they'll be jailed upon their return.

More than 8,000 Saudi students at Canadian universities had their lives upended in early August when they were told to pack their bags by the end of the month as a result of a diplomatic feud between Saudi Arabia and Canada. Now, at least 20 Saudi students are applying for asylum in Canada in the hopes that they won't be sent back.

One student, a man in his early 20s who is studying at a university in Ontario, said he's still torn between whether he should apply for asylum or try to stay in Canada via other means.

"I will do whatever it takes to stay in Canada, because I truly fear for my life," he said, adding that since he left Saudi Arabia, he's been critical of the government on his Twitter account.

"I discovered the meaning of what it's like to be a human being here. I can't just leave."

A second student, a man in his late 20s working toward a master's degree at a Quebec university, said he's chosen to apply for asylum in Canada because he fears that if he returns to Saudi Arabia, he'll be jailed for his social media activism.

"I feel so nervous and so scared, I can't sleep," he said.

He said he's made the decision to stay against his family's wishes.

"I will be harmed or go to jail, just for freedom of speech. All my future plans will go to hell. I just can't do it."

Warned not to speak to journalists

The students' lives were thrown into limbo in early August, when the Saudi government accused Canada of meddling in its internal affairs after Global Affairs Canada called for the "immediate release" of detained Saudi women's rights activist Samar Badawi.

The Saudi government has now said that  around 1,000 medical trainees can stay until "an alternative assignment can be arranged," but all other students were instructed to leave.

In a tweet posted in early August, the Saudi government warned students not to speak to journalists about their situation.

Both students interviewed said the government has not contacted them since the Aug. 31 deadline passed.

'Very little tolerance for dissent'

Since coming to power in 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has promised to modernize Saudi Arabia and has introduced reforms, including giving Saudi women the right to drive.

But Farida Deif, Canadian director at Human Rights' Watch, said a number of recent cases demonstrate Saudi Arabia has an "very little tolerance for dissent."

"What we've seen most recently was that there were women's rights activists, for example, that have been sentenced to death for their peaceful activism, so it didn't come as a surprise that these individuals potentially fear for their safety."

In May, several prominent women's rights' activists,  including a graduate of the University of British Columbia , were arrested. Most remain jailed without charges.

© Facebook Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent women's rights activist and a graduate of the University of British Columbia, has been in jail in Saudi Arabia since May.

'I'm going to be a fugitive'

In a statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)  said anyone making an asylum claim must prove they have a "well-founded fear of persecution, or that, if removed, they would be subjected to a danger of torture, or a risk to life, or of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment."

IRCC said that despite the instructions of the Saudi government, students may continue to study in Canada, so long as their student visa remains valid, and they can eventually apply for permanent residency.

But the student studying in Ontario said he's concerned about what will happen to him when his Saudi passport expires, and that without his Saudi-sponsored scholarship, he has no way of paying for tuition in Canada.

"I'm in my prime years, and I'm just sad that [they're] not being spent on me doing what I do best but spent worrying about my country and what's going to happen to me, and if I'm going to be a fugitive," he said.

"I just worry that I'm not going to see my family for a very, very long time."

In a statement, a spokesperson from Global Affairs said the government is continuing to advocate for students as part of its diplomatic dialogue with Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in Canada did not immediately respond to CBC's request for comment. 

• Activist says Saudi police threatened his family after he tweeted about diplomatic row with Canada    

• Concern grows for detained UBC grad after Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for another activist    

• Saudi students file for asylum in Canada as deadline to return home passes    

Canadians are proud that their goverment stood up to the Saudi's for their human rights record. Can you say Major that the British people are proud of yours for not??

"I will do whatever it takes to stay in Canada, because I truly fear for my life," he said, adding that since he left Saudi Arabia, he's been critical of the government on his Twitter account.

"I discovered the meaning of what it's like to be a human being here. I can't just leave."

What better lesson could a country not only preach but teach Major.

Why are those posts aimed at me? If Canada wants to keep them, go ahead, you're right, they would be fortunate people.

They are aimed at you Major just to let you know if you come over we will treat and teach you the same.

Most gratifying Pete and for my part, if ever I become an insurance salesman, you shall be the very first person I visit.

What's our Littlemisspearlnailpolish up to. Hope she's moving to high ground with her squirrels until after Florence comes visiting. With the lastest predictions it could get dicey for both the Carolinas and Virginia. A lot will depend I guess on if the tides or high or not when it makes land fall.

She is inland & on high ground & does not have to worry about hurricanes. She does have to worry about neighborhood inbreds tho.

They are starting to compare this one to Hurricane Hazel Tommy and it will be making land roughly in the same spot. Hazel came inland and them veered north and travelled that direction right up into James Bay and Hudson Bay in Canada. In the States it was responsible for 95 deaths and 81 in Canada. Here alone it took out 50 bridges and much of the highways like the 400 which you travel north on was under 10 feet of water. 4,000 here were left homeless. I was 5 when it hit and before it did we got a very bad hail storm first. The hail came in the day time and the main storm hit during the night. The two kids next door that got caught in the hail storm tried to run from under a train over pass down the street the 150 yards to their front door of their house and were screaming the whole way. I had been watching them from an upstairs front window laughing like hell at them until the hail took out the old storm windows which covered the main ones in front of me. When I again seen them the next day they were black and blue and had big bumps all over their heads.

Shula did mention where she was at many moons ago and I think she was southwest of Richmond. 

The first fast video is were I live now and the second is of some of the damage in Toronto.   It must have hit Buffalo also Tommy.  Dam yankee storms.

And dangerously close to West Virginia.

Florence probably won't give us much here.  We are surrounded by mountains.  We're being given a lot of hype about the dangers and toilet paper is flying off the shelves.  I could be wrong, but I doubt we'll get more than a lot of rain.  The folks living on the river are pretty nervous.  I talked to a guy yesterday who says he is expecting the first floor of his cabin to flood when the river rises.  Just in case, I've stocked up on ice cream.

Don't forget your Cadbury's flakes. Stick one into your ice cream cornet and you have a 99, a singularly magnificent British invention.

Florence probably won't give us much here.  We are surrounded by mountains.  We're being given a lot of hype about the dangers and toilet paper is flying off the shelves.  I could be wrong, but I doubt we'll get more than a lot of rain.  The folks living on the river are pretty nervous.  I talked to a guy yesterday who says he is expecting the first floor of his cabin to flood when the river rises.  Just in case, I've stocked up on ice cream.

Well the last thing you would want to run out of is toilet paper. Pearl nail polish is one thing but soft wipe is another.(the island people haven't ever experience soft wipe so won't have a clue what we are talking about.) I don't think they know for sure what the storm will do once it hits land. It could head north or south or just sit there and drop large amounts of rain. If you have a chain saw girl I would go up right now into the crawl space above your living room and cut a big hole in your roof just incase that river rises more and you need an escape route. If you lose power how are you going to keep all that ice cream from melting? Here's hoping all that rain from those surrounding mountains doesn't run down hill and pool in the low spots around you. Does your Walmarts have back up generators?

Don't forget your Cadbury's flakes. They have been my favourite since a kid in Brighton but I don't even thing they sell them in the States. They are even hard to find here now. I guess they don't cost threepence anymore.

Have you ever taken a drive up to Harper's Ferry Shula? I often wondered what John Brown was doing up in Chatham Canada West. (Chatham Ontario today). 

I knew he was there having meetings of some kind but I didn't know with who or for what reason. Also I didn't know one person escaped capture at Harper's Ferry and ended up back in Chatham Ontario.

Land  was purchased for this church in 1850 and the Land Registration Title was recorded as The First Coloured Baptist Church in 1852. Reverend Horace Hawkins, a former slave in Kentucky, signed the document. Portions of the original structure remain under the brick facade. It is the site of a meeting that took place on May 10, 1858 after a letter was written by John Brown, calling a convention to organize a free state for slave families, within the United States. An oath of secrecy was made and a 48-article Constitution was signed by the participants. Seventeen months later, on October 16, 1859, John Brown and his supporters made a raid on the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, but were captured within days. Brown was executed by hanging on December 2, 1859, but Osborn Perry Anderson escaped, returned to Chatham and wrote, A Voice From Harper’s Ferry chronicling the events.

The plaque at Ontario Historical Plaque at First Baptist Church reads:

[EN]
On May 10, 1858, American abolitionist John Brown held the last in a series of clandestine meetings here at First Baptist Church. Brown planned to establish an independent republic within the United States and wage guerrilla war to liberate the South from slavery. He came to Upper Canada to recruit blacks who had fled here in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Law (1850). On October 16, 1859, Brown and 21 supporters seized the government arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and held it against counter-attack for two days. Brown, executed as a traitor, became for many a martyr and hero. His actions escalated the tensions between North and South that led to civil war in 1861.

Osborne Perry Anderson was one of the five African American men to accompany John Brown in the raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in October 1859.  Anderson was a free-born black abolitionist, born in West Fallow Field, Pennsylvania on July 27, 1830.  Along with John Anthony Copeland Jr., another member of the Brown raiding party, Anderson attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.  He later moved to Chatham, Canada, where he worked as a printer for Mary Ann Shadd's newspaper, the Provincial Freeman.   In 1858 Anderson met John Brown and eventually became persuaded to join his band of men determined to attack Harpers Ferry.

One year after meeting John Brown, on October 16, 1859 Anderson took part in Brown’s radical scheme to free the United States of slavery.  Like Brown and the other followers, Anderson believed that if the group seized weapons at Harpers Ferry and then marched south, they would create a massive slave uprising that would liberate all of the nearly four million African Americans in bondage.  

Osborne Anderson was among the five followers of Brown who escaped capture when U.S. Marines attacked the Arsenal to stop the raid.   He was the only African American to escape capture.  In 1861 Anderson, now safely in the North, wrote A Voice From Harper’s Ferry with assistance from Mary Ann Shadd, in which he described his role in the raid and argued that many local slaves would have welcomed their liberation and some in fact had helped Brown and his men.  Anderson's account was the only one published by a member of Brown's party and provided a rare first hand description of the events and the motivation of these abolitionists.

In 1864, five years after the Harpers Ferry Raid, Anderson enlisted in the Union Army, serving as a recruitment officer in Indiana and Arkansas.  Osborne Anderson died on December 13, 1872 in Washington, D.C. at the age of forty-two.

I don't know how much in the way of arms were stored at the armoury in Harpers Ferry but surely not enough to equip a slave army with. The people that followed him seemed just as nieve.

They called Montreal during the civil war, the City of Secrets because it was full of spys from both sides.

10 ways Canada fought the American Civil War

Canada played many important roles during the war between the states

1. Slavery: Canada abolished slavery in 1833. Over the next three decades, about 30,000 racial refugees followed the North Star to forge lives of dignified freedom. Southerners were enraged. Abolitionists were inspired. Harriet Beecher Stowe based Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the book Abraham Lincoln said caused the war, on an escaped slave living in Canada.

2. Soldiers: About 40,000 Canadians donned the blue and grey. Most volunteered, some were tricked, and others, even children, were kidnapped. Canadians fought in every major battle and 29 earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Canadians stood with Ulysses S. Grant at Robert E. Lee’s surrender, and a Canadian led the troops that captured Lincoln’s assassin.

3. Self-defence: American secretary of state William H. Seward advocated reuniting America by instigating a war with Britain by capturing Canada. British and Canadian officials took his threat seriously. Thousands of British soldiers were stationed along the border, and the royal navy was redeployed. Canadian militia were trained and armed. Fortifications were enhanced and artillery stood ready.

4. Spies: Confederate president Jefferson Davis created a spy network in Canada. Stationed in Toronto, spy leader Jacob Thompson organized Confederates and their Canadian sympathizers to run communications for, and weapons to, the South. In Halifax, money was made by selling supplies and information to Southern blockade runners and the Northern ships pursuing them.

5. Sorties: Jacob Thompson disturbed and distracted Northern military operations with raids to free Confederate prisoners. He had yellow-fever-infected clothing distributed in Northern cities and plotted to burn Manhattan. The raid on St. Albans, Vt., led to deaths, an incursion of American troops and Congressional reprisals designed to punish Canada.

6. Separation: The Copperheads hated Lincoln. They wanted the war stopped with the Confederacy preserved and, failing that, the formation of a new country comprised of several Midwest states. The Copperhead’s chief spokesman was Clement Vallandigham, who inspired the Copperheads and campaigned to be governor of Ohio from his headquarters in Windsor, Ont.

7. Salvation: Confederation had been discussed for years. When it appeared that Lincoln would win the war and then turn northward, the notion became a necessity. George Brown got them in a room, John A. Macdonald kept them talking, Georges Étienne Cartier forced federalism, and Charles Tupper and Samuel Tilley brought the Maritimes. A nation forged in war was born.

8. Suspicion: Hours after a shot echoed in Ford’s Theatre, it was determined that Canada was involved in the conspiracy to kill Lincoln. The border was sealed. Questions about Canada’s involvement dominated the conspirator’s trial. It was proven that John Wilkes Booth spent time planning the assassination in Montreal.

9. Sanctuary: When the guns fell silent, many Confederate leaders fled to Canada, including General George Pickett, who led Gettysburg’s tragic final charge. President Davis’s family had been in Quebec for some time and, after his release from prison, he joined them. Cheering crowds welcomed his appearance in Kingston, Ont., Toronto and Niagara Falls, Ont.

10. Self-preservation: Britain had helped the Confederacy by supplying ships and, after the war, president Grant demanded an inordinate sum in reparation. American and British officials discussed cleaning the slate by ceding Canada to the United States. Prime minister Macdonald ventured to Washington to negotiate Canada’s survival in the Civil War’s final battle.

At the time of the American Civil War, Canada did not yet exist as a federated nation.  Instead, British North America consisted of the Province of Canada (parts of modern southern Ontario and southern Quebec) and the separate colonies of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Vancouver Island, as well as a crown territory administered by the Hudson's Bay Company called Rupert's Land.  Britain and its colonies were officially neutral for the duration of the war. Despite this, tensions between Britain and the United States were high due to incidents on the seas, such as the Trent Affair and the Confederate commissioning of the CSS Alabama from Britain.^[1]

Canadians were largely opposed to slavery, the preservation of which was the main goal of the Confederate States of America, and Canada had recently become the terminus of the Underground Railroad. Close economic and cultural links across the long border also encouraged Canadian sympathy towards the Union. Between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America enlisted in the war, almost all of them fighting for Union forces. The press in Canada East supported the secession and ridiculed the Yankees as lacking in morality.^[2] There was talk in London in 1861–62 of mediating the war or recognizing the Confederacy. Washington warned this meant war, and London feared Canada would quickly be seized by the North.^[3]

In November 1861 tensions escalated between Washington and London when an American warship stopped the British mail ship RMS Trent on the high seas and seized two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. London demanded their return and an apology, and to signal its intention to defend its possessions sent 14,000 combat troops to Canada and the Maritimes, while the colonials planned to raise 40,000 militia. President Abraham Lincoln defused the crisis by releasing the diplomats; he did not issue an apology. He cautioned his Secretary of State William H. Seward, "One war at a time."  The British decided that unification of the North American colonies was now a high priority—a new strong dominion would relieve London of the need to station large British forces to defend British North America.^[4]

Grand Trunk Railway Brigade[edit]

Rising concerns over the security of railways in Canada while the Civil War raged in the United States led to the 1862 creation of the Grand Trunk Railway Brigade. This unit of Canadian Volunteer Militia recruited amongst railway employees had infantry and artillery companies deployed along the railway lines in Canada East and Canada West.

Confederate activity in Canada[edit]

Because of Canada's location and sympathy for the Southern cause, Confederate operators secretly used Canada as a base, in violation of British neutrality, particularly in the Maritimes. The Maritimes' struggle to maintain its independence from Canada led some Maritimers to be sympathetic to the South's desire to maintain its independence from the North. For example, Halifax merchant Benjamin Wier (1805–1868) acted as Halifax agent for many of the Confederate blockade runners active during the Civil War. In return for ship repair facilities in Halifax, the Confederates supplied him with valuable cotton for re-export to Britain, a lucrative but hazardous course for Wier which required severing his business connections with New England.

Chesapeake[edit]

On 7 December 1863, while the new Union tug Chesapeake was preparing for service in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 17 Confederate agents disguised as passengers seized it off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Word of the takeover reached Portland on the morning of 9 December and quickly spread from there. The news prompted federal officials at northern ports along the coast to speedy action.

On 17 December, the recently captured blockade runner Ella and Annie — which had been hastily manned, armed and sent to sea — finally caught up with the Chesapeake at Sambro, Nova Scotia. Shortly thereafter, the Northern gunboat Dacotah arrived on the scene; and its commanding officer prevented Ella and Annie from taking the recaptured tug back to Boston, lest such action seriously undermine relations between the United States and the British Empire. Instead, to observe diplomatic protocols, he escorted Chesapeake to Halifax where he asked the colonial Admiralty court to restore it to its owner. The court ruled the Confederate attack was illegal and returned SS Chesapeake to its Union owners but the Confederate sympathizers escaped with the help of some Haligonians, creating tensions that received international attention.

CSS Tallahassee[edit]

On August 18, 1864, the Confederate ship CSS Tallahassee under the command of John Taylor Wood sailed into Halifax harbor for supplies, coal and to make repairs to its mainmast. Wood could only stay 48 hours under neutrality laws and began loading coal at Woodside, on the Dartmouth shore. Two Union ships were closing in on the Tallahassee, the Nansemont and the Huron but had not yet arrived at the harbor approaches.  Wood slipped out of the harbor under the cover of night. It is believed he departed by the seldom-used Eastern Passage between McNab's Island and the Dartmouth Shore to avoid Union warships in case they had arrived.  The channel was narrow and crooked with a shallow tide so Wood hired the local pilot Jock Flemming.  The Tallahassee left the Woodside wharf at 9:00 p.m. on the 19th.  All the lights were out, but the residents on the Eastern Passage mainland could see the dark hull moving through the water, successfully evading capture.^[5]

St. Albans Raid[edit]

The most controversial incident was the St. Albans Raid. Montreal was used as the secret base for a team of Confederates attempting to launch covert and intelligence operations from Canada against the United States. To finance their cause in October 1864, they robbed three banks in St. Albans, Vermont, killed a citizen, and escaped back across the border with $170,000. They were pursued by Union forces over the Canada–United States border, creating an international incident. The Canadians then arrested the Confederate raiders, but the judge ruled the raid was an authorized Confederate government operation and not a felony which would permit extradition via the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.^[6]

Canadian fighters[edit]

 

Grave of a Canadian soldier who fought in the US Civil War, at Old St. Thomas Church, St. Thomas, Ontario

The best recent estimates are that between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America (BNA) served in the Union army, and a few hundred in the Confederate army. Many of them already lived in the United States and were joined by volunteers signed up in Canada by Union recruiters.^{[7][better source needed]}

Canada refused to return about 15,000 American deserters and draft dodgers.^[8]

Calixa Lavallée was a French-Canadian musician and Union officer during the American Civil War who later composed the music for "O Canada", which officially became the national anthem of Canada in 1980. In 1857, he moved to the United States and lived in Rhode Island where he enlisted in the 4th Rhode Island Volunteers of the Union army during the American Civil War, attaining the rank of lieutenant.

Canadian-born Edward P. Doherty was a Union Army officer who formed and led the detachment of Union soldiers that captured and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, in a Virginia barn on April 26, 1865, 12 days after Lincoln was fatally shot.

Canadian-born Sarah Emma Edmonds was a noted Union spy.

One of the longest-living Canadians to have fought in the American Civil War was James Beach Moore, who died on August 29, 1931.

Anderson Ruffin Abbott was a Toronto-born son of free people of color who had fled Alabama after the store was ransacked. Canada's first Black physician, he applied for a commission as an assistant surgeon in the Union Army in February 1863, but his offer was evidently not accepted.  That April, he applied to be a "medical cadet" in the United States Colored Troops, but was finally accepted as a civilian surgeon under contract.  He served in Washington, D.C., from June 1863 to August 1865, first at the Contraband Hospital which became Freedmen's Hospital. He then went to a hospital in Arlington, Virginia. Receiving numerous commendations and becoming popular in Washington society, Abbott was one of only 13 black surgeons to serve in the Civil War, a fact that fostered a friendly relationship between him and the president.^[9] On the night of Lincoln's assassination, Abbott accompanied Elizabeth Keckley to the Petersen House and returned to his lodgings that evening. After Lincoln's death, Mary Todd Lincoln presented Abbott with the plaid shawl that Lincoln had worn to his 1861 inauguration.^[10][11]

At least 29 Canadian-born men were awarded the Medal of Honor.^[12]

Economic effects[edit]

The Civil War period was one of booming economic growth for the BNA colonies. The war in the United States created a huge market for Canada's agricultural and manufactured goods, most of which went to the Union. Maritime ship builders and owners prospered in the wartime trade boom.

Political effects[edit]

The American Civil War had decisive political effects on the BNA colonies. The tensions between the United States and Britain, which had been ignited by the war and made worse by the Fenian Raids, led to concern for the security and independence of the colonies, helping to consolidate momentum for the confederation of the colonies in 1867.^[13]

In this regard, the conflict also had an important effect on discussions concerning the nature of the emerging federation.  Many Fathers of Confederation concluded that the secessionist war was caused by too much power being given to the states, and thus resolved to create a more centralized federation.^[13] It was also believed that too much democracy was a contributing factor and the Canadian system was thus equipped with checks and balances such as the appointed Senate and powers of the British appointed Governor-General.  The guiding principles of the legislation which created Canada – the British North America Act – were peace, order, and good government.  This was a collectivist antithesis to American individualism that became central to Canadian identity.^[14]

It could be argued that with 50,000 Canadians serving in the American Civil War, there were probably 50,000 reasons why they served. For some it was money. Rich Americans who did not wish to serve in the ranks of the Union or Confederate armies could hire themselves a substitute. In addition, the United States government offered bounties for those who enlisted. Canadians could make as much as $402 (in the case of the 2nd Michigan) to serve.

For some, it was a chance to fight against slavery. With homes in both Upper and Lower Canada serving as stops on the Underground Railroad, many Canadians had strong feelings about the institution of slavery and many were willing to join the Union army in order to take up arms in defence of their beliefs. In addition, many of the United States Colored Regiments found their rosters bolstered by free Negroes from Canada.

For others, having left Canada in the years prior to the war, they felt duty-bound to serve in the armies that defended their new homes, just as their friends and neighbours did. For example, many French-Canadians living in New Orleans enlisted in the Confederate army, so as to join their friends who enlisted. Foreigners in both armies were not uncommon. The 10th Louisiana Infantry became known as "Lee's Foreign Legion" because of the number of foreign-born soldiers who served in the unit.

Some were forced into service for the armies of both sides. Many young Canadians were kidnapped and taken by force into the armed service. More than one story is told of a Canadian leaving a bar or pub, being hit over the head, and waking up to find themselves serving Union or Confederate naval vessels.

For many, as countless young men have done since the beginning of time, Canadians crossed the border in search of adventure. They saw the coming of the American Civil War as a reason to leave their farms and homes and see some action. The prevailing feeling was that the war would be over after the next big battle.

Of the approximately 50 000 Canadians who served in the American Civil War, New York tops the list of states in which they served with approximately 10 000 men. Michigan regiments, the U.S. Army Regulars and the U.S. Navy each saw approximately 4000 Canadians serve their ranks. Maine regiments had Canadians number about 3000 men, with Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire and Wisconsin each having over 1000 Canadians serving in their units.

Canadian Civil War Generals

---

John McNeil

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on February 14, 1813, McNeil was a hatter, a politician and an insurance company president before the American Civil War broke out. He had lived in St. Louis since 1849 and in May 1861, was made Colonel of the 3rd Missouri and, in June, was transferred to command of the Missouri State Militia Cavalry.

In 1862, McNeil clashed with Confederate Colonel Joseph C. Porter, whose command of 2500 men was systematically destroyed by McNeil's Union troops. However, during Porter's rampage through Missouri, his men captured and, it is believed, killed a pro-Union civilian, Andrew Allsman. McNeil threatened to have 10 captured Confederates killed if Allsman was not produced in short order. When the Union man was not found, McNeil made good on his threat. It was a move that both U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis condemned.

Despite the controversy, McNeil was made Brigadier General of Volunteers in November 1862. After the battle of Westport, however, he was relieved of command by Alfred Pleasanton for not attacking under orders. McNeil would later go on to command the Department of Central Missouri and was made a Major General of Volunteers at war's end in April, 1865. After the war, McNeil was a county clerk, a county sheriff, a postal official and an inspector of Indian Services.

John Franklin Farnsworth

Farnsworth was born in Compton City, Quebec in 1820. Moving to Michigan, he became a lawyer and was elected to Congress in 1856 as a Republican. Farnsworth became a close friend to fellow Republican, Abraham Lincoln, advising him during the Lincoln-Douglas debates and nominating Lincoln for President.

In September 1861, Farnsworth was made Colonel of the 8th Illinois Cavalry, serving in the Peninsula and Maryland Campaigns. In November, 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers, and led the 1st Brigade of Pleasanton's Cavalry during the Battle of Fredericksburg. In March, 1863, he resigned his commission to return to Congress where he served until 1872.

Farnsworth was the uncle of Elon J. Farmsworth, the young cavalry general who was killed at Gettysburg, performing Judson Kilpatrick's order to lead a reckless charge against Confederate lines.

Jacob Cox

Born in Montreal on October 27, 1828, Cox moved to Oberlin, Ohio where he taught at Oberlin College, even marrying the College president's daughter, Helen Finney. Later he became a superintendent of schools in Warren, Ohio before taking up law, being admitted to the bar in 1853.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Cox was made a Brigadier General of Ohio State troops. He first served in West Virginia in 1861 before being given command of the Kanawha region from the spring to August, 1862. In September, Cox and his troops were ordered to Maryland, where they saw action at South Mountain and Antietam as part of Burnside's IX Corps. After heading up the Department of Ohio for the majority of 1863, Cox took part in the campaigns for Franklin, Nashville and Atlanta. Promoted to Major General in 1864, Cox was placed in command of XXIII Corps during the latter part of those campaigns.

A state senator for Ohio before the war, in 1866, Cox was elected the 28th Governor of Ohio, serving until 1868. In March 1869, President Grant appointed him Secretary of the Interior, although he resigned after eighteen months, upset over government practices. He served in Congress and a variety of other posts, including the president of the Toledo and Wabash Railroad Company. As well, he wrote several histories on the American Civil War before his death in August, 1900.

Canadians who received Medals of Honor

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Please keep in mind: these simply samples of Canadians who won the Medal of Honor, and not the entire list.

Charles Asten

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1834, Asten was a Quarter Gunner on the USS Signal. In May of 1864, as the Signal patrolled on the Red River, it engaged shore batteries and sharpshooters until it was totally disabled, at which time it raised the white flag. Although on the ship's sick list, Asten served out his duties, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Frank Bois

Bois was listed as being from Canada, although an exact place was unknown. On May 27, 1863, he was serving as a signalman and quartermaster on the USS Cincinnati during the naval siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Having taken fire, the Cincinnati was destroyed by the shells of the Confederate shore batteries. With all of the ship's staffs shot away, Bois, noted for his coolness under fire, nailed an American flag to the ship's forestall so that the ship would go down with its colors flying.

Robert F. Dodd

Born in Canada in 1844, Dodd served as a private in the 27th Michigan Infantry. During the battle of Petersburg, he served as an orderly, but volunteered to assist the wounded in front of the Crater, coming under heavy fire as he did so. He was killed at Petersburg on July 30th, 1864, but was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic deeds.

Thomas J. Higgins

In May, 1863, the Canadian-born Higgins was a Sergeant in the 99th Illinois Infantry, serving at Vicksburg. During one assault on the Confederate lines, his unit was repulsed and driven back. Higgins continued on, making it to the Rebel defenses. He placed his flag in the parapet, only to be captured.

Other Notable Canadians

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Sarah Emma Edmonds

Stories of women serving in the armies engaged in the Civil War are not unusual. In addition to working as nurses, history is filled with incidents of women masquerading as men in order to take up arms with their male counterparts in the rank and file of both the Union and Confederate armies. Sarah Edmonds was one of them. Born in New Brunswick, she ran away from home in 1850 to avoid an arranged marriage. She sustained herself by selling bibles, disguised as a man and using the pseudonym of Frank Thompson. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Edmonds was living in Flint, Michigan. As Thompson, she enlisted as a private in the 2nd Michigan Infantry and was present at the Battle of First Bull Run and the Peninsular Campaign. At the battle of Fredericksburg, she was the aide to Colonel Orlando M. Poe and, on at least two occasions, crossed Confederate lines, "masquerading" as a woman and, more surprisingly, as a Negro.

In 1863, the 2nd Michigan was sent to Kentucky. There, Edmonds contracted malaria and, fearing that her true sex would be discovered, deserted. Later she worked as a nurse for the United States Christian Commission, even publishing a popular fictional account of her experiences as a nurse and spy. After the war, she married a fellow Canadian, L.H. Sleeve and raised three children, while living in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana and Kansas. She fought for and finally received a pension. Shortly before her death in 1898, she became the only woman to be mustered into the Grand Army of the Republic as a regular member.

John A. Huff **

Huff was born in Holland's Landing, Upper Canada, where he was born in 1816, but later moved to Michigan. He began the war serving with Borden's Sharpshooters but later transferred to Company E of 5th Michigan Cavalry. The unit was involved at the battle of Yellow Tavern and it was there that famed Confederate cavalry leader, J.E.B. Stuart, was killed. A crack shot from his days in the sharpshooters, Huff was given credit for falling the great general.

Huff himself did not survive long after the battle. Wounded at the battle of Haw's Shop, Virginia on May 28, 1864, Huff died of those wounds sometime later.

George Fairweather

Born in Canada in 1838, Fairweather served in Company A of the 4th Maine Infantry and, later, the 19th Maine, seeing action at First and Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and the Wilderness. After the war, Fairweather becoming one of approximately 100 Civil War veterans that, it has been discovered, emigrated to Australia and, dying in 1908, is buried on Australian soil.

William Winer Cooke **

Cooke was born in Mount Pleasant, Upper Canada (near Brantford) and at the age of 17, enlisted in the 24th New York Cavalry. At first he served as a recruiter with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant but saw action at Petersburg where he was wounded in June, 1864.  After being released from the hospital, he served at a commissary depot. By the time he returned to front-line duty in March 1865, he held the rank of 1st Lieutenant, having been promoted in December, 1864. On April 2nd, he was breveted to Captain and three days later, was breveted to Major at Dimwiddie Court House, Virginia. His time as a Major was only a matter of hours, as he was breveted to Lieutenant Colonel that same day at Saylor's Creek. Although his time of service ended in June, 1865, he reenlisted a year later in the U.S. Cavalry. In 1876, Cooke, a member of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, died at Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn. His body was later recovered from the battlefield and buried in Hamilton, Ontario.

Dr. Solomon Secord

Secord, the great-nephew of Laura Secord, left his home in Kincardine, Ontario, several years before the outbreak of the Civil War and was living in Georgia. An outspoken abolitionist whose views on slavery nearly got him lynched, Secord wasn't the most likely person to serve the cause of the Confederacy. However, serve he did, as a surgeon in the 20th Georgia Infantry.

Dr. Secord was captured at the Battle of Gettysburg and imprisoned in Maryland. He soon escaped however and returned to his regiment. In October, 1864, he left Georgia and returned to Kincardine.

In 1910, a statue was dedicated to Secord in his hometown of Kincardine. It is believed to be the only statue in Canada dedicated to a Confederate officer.

Lester E. Alexander

Alexander was born in St. John, New Brunswick. He served as a private in the 2nd Maine and was one of nearly 300 men who was charged with desertion when the enlistment papers of the majority of the 2nd Maine ran out. He was transferred to the 20th Maine just prior to the battle of Gettysburg. Alexander was killed serving with the 20th Maine on Little Round Top on July 2nd, 1863.

Calixa Lavallee

Lavallee was born in Vercheres, Quebec in 1842 but moved to Rhodes Island in 1857. When the American Civil War broke out, he enlisted in the 4th Rhodes Island Regiment and served as a musician. By the fall of 1862, he had risen to the rank of Musician 1st Class (some sources list him as being a lieutenant) and was the Regiment's principal cornetist. Wounded at the battle of Antietam, he was given a full discharge.

But while Lavallee would not be entered into the history books for his battlefield efforts, he would be remembered in Canadian history as the man who, in 1880, composed our national anthem,"O Canada".

John Lang Bray

Bray was born in Kingston, Canada West (now Ontario) in 1841 where he graduated from Queen's University in 1863. He travelled to Richmond to serve as a Surgeon in the Confederate Army Surgeon Corp in Richmond, Virginia for two years. Returning home, Bray became a prominent medical practitioner, and was later named President of the Canadian Medical Association. When he died on November 24, 1915, he was buried in Maple Leaf Cemetery in Chatham, Ontario.

Joseph Vallor

Vallor was a farmer from Toronto and joined the 42nd Illinois Infantry, in Chicago, on August 1, 1861 at the age of 25. Two months after enlisting, Vallor made Corporal and in April 1862, was made Quarter Master Sergeant. He was nominated to the Army of the Cumberland's Roll of Honor on March 2, 1863, likely for his actions at the battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro).

Jerry Cronan **

Born in Canada, Cronan served the Confederacy and was killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania. He was buried in Arlington Cemetery, shortly before it became a cemetery for Union soldiers, thus having a double distinction of being a Canadian and a Confederate buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Canadians at Gettysburg

Forty-nine Canadians served in the 24th Michigan and saw action at McPherson's Woods on July 1st. Over half of them were killed, wounded or captured in the day's fighting. Three men, all from New Brunswick, died while defending Little Round Top on July 2nd as members of the 20th Maine, including: Alexander Lester, age 18, Aaron Adams, age 27, and George Leach, age 25.  In all, at least two dozen Canadians are known to have been killed or wounded as a result of the three days at Gettysburg.

Guess what? I’m staying in a cottage on the grounds where Sir Hugh De Morville,s home was, he was one of the murderers of Thomas Becket.

After effects from Hurricane still on going with severe flooding causing some areas still unable to reach. Thousands who stayed behind to ride out the storm are now having to be rescued by small boats. 750,000 without power and even though they have men and equipment ready to fix all the problems they also can't get in and have to wait until water levels drop. It may take another two weeks or longer before the work restoring power even starts. A lot of rain fall records have been broken in North Carolina. Some places getting over 34 inches of it in two days. Besides all the water that came in from the ocean the rain that came in further inland has no where now to drain to.  

All right, I give up, how do you post pics on here?