By Karen Robinet/Chatham This Week
Posted 16 hours ago
Regional War of 1812 Bicentennial events will begin this year, but for Chatham-Kent, 2013 will be the big year.
October 5, 2013 will mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of the Thames and the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, both significant events in the three-year conflict between the United States and the British Empire.
On June of 1812, the Americans declared war on Britain, with President James Madison assuming it would be a relatively easy task to seize Canada.
However, on July 12 of that year, American General William Hull led about 1,000 untrained militia across the Detroit River to occupy Sandwich, but by August, the Americans were forced to retreat to Detroit, where they surrendered to a force of British regulars, Canadian militia and Native Americans, led by British Major General Isaac Brock and Tecumseh.
On October 13, 1812, the Americans were defeated again at the Battle of Queenston Heights, but Brock was killed.
Tecumseh and his Indian Confederacy continued to fight with the British, but on October 5, 1813, he was killed in the Battle of the Thames and soon afterwards, the tribes of his confederacy surrendered at Detroit.
• To commemorate the occasion, the battle will be re-created at its actual site at the Tecumseh Monument just outside of Thamesville on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The event is being organized by a committee headed up by Dr. Mark Dickerson, and has been in the works for a couple of years already.
Dickerson said holding the event on the actual site does pose some logistical challenges, as there will be no on-site parking.
However, plans are underway to organize shuttle buses to bring in the crowds, which he anticipates will number at least 5,000.
A similar event was held in Thamesville in 1988 and attracted that many visitors, and Dickerson anticipates the bicentennial will mean much larger crowds.
“Ten thousand would be great,” he said.
The Battle of the Thames has been designated the ‘signature event,’ for the Southwest Ontario region, one of seven in Ontario involved in the bicentennial.
Dickerson said he anticipates staging the event will cost approximately $200,000 and committee members are seeking federal and provincial monies to help defray those costs.
Even so, he anticipates about $60,000 will still need to be raised through sponsorships, private donations and a local fundraising drive.
There are also plans for an education day on October 4, which will be open to schoolchildren.
The committee is working with the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment and Dickerson said the Kentucky National Guard is looking at sending representation to the event.
As well a large number of re-enactors will be taking part in the battle re-creation.
And, while local residents may not all be aware of its significance, Dickerson said, “the Battle of the Thames was a very important point of history to the Americans.”
He also said there’s confusion over the fact the commemoration is being held in 2013, rather than this year.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘why are you doing this in 2013? It’s the War of 1812.’ But, the war lasted three years, until 1815,” he said.
Dickerson said in the actual battle, the British were only on the field for 15 to 20 minutes before they were overrun by the Americans, “and then the battle between the Americans and the native forces lasted probably at least an hour after that.”
However, the re-creation will likely last approximately 45 minutes, and will include the death of Tecumseh.
And, while the original battle occurred in the late evening/early afternoon, its re-creation will likely be held mid-afternoon, Dickerson said.
Volunteers in a number of areas are still needed, and anyone interested in becoming involved can contact Dickerson by email at mdickerson1@cogeco.ca. Plans are also underway to launch a website at www.battleofthethames.ca in the very near future, and a Battle of the Thames page is already set up on Facebook. A Twitter account is available @BattleofThames.
• Meanwhile, the Friends of the Tecumseh Monument committee is poised to unveil its plans for a more permanent bicentennial project.
On January 26, the committee will launch its $5 million public fundraising campaign, a campaign committee chair Lisa Gilbert said will be national in scope, given Tecumseh’s significant role in Canadian history.
The committee has already commissioned an ambitious master plan, which calls for a major redevelopment of the current site where the Battle of the Thames took place and where Tecumseh died.
In addition to a new monument to Tecumseh, the redevelopment will also incorporate the existing monument, and include a boat-shaped river overview, orientation area, expanded parking lot, program areas and an open-air museum.
While the estimated cost of the project is $4.2 million, Gilbert said the committee has set its sights on raising $5 million to cover future site maintenance costs.
Gilbert said, “we’re hopeful we’re going to get some federal money, but we’re not ready to apply.”
She said that the committee is in a Catch-22 situation where it needs money to get detailed schematic drawings to apply for grants, “but we don’t have the money to do that. We need money of any sort.
“Our plan has always been to go national,” with the fundraising effort, she said. “Hopefully we can get some interest from corporations and maybe some foundations.”
“The story of Tecumseh is a national and international story,” she said. “People in Chatham-Kent don’t realize the importance of Tecumseh because there isn’t a lot at the site where he died.
“That’s our goal, to put something there that’s commensurate with his worth as an international and national hero.”
The monument sits on municipally-owned land and Gilbert said council has already committed $40,000 in seed money. However, she said the necessary drawings could cost up to $75,000.
Gilbert admits the redevelopment plan is “a very ambitious thing,” but said the group has already been working on the project for three years.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to build something, perhaps not the vision we have now, but we’ll certainly build something, and right now I’m pretty confident,” she said.
• Charlene Houle of Chatham-Kent’s tourism department was at the Tecumseh Monument last week with the Canadian bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal.
Chip Cummings is working on an article about how the War of 1812 Bicentennial is being marked in both the U.S. and Canada and visited some of the local sites relevant to the war.
Houle said she’s pleased with the way things are moving along in Chatham-Kent, especially, “in terms of where we started.”
Houle said there is a lot of interest in Chatham-Kent, and she said, “Tecumseh is huge in the States.”
His death is depicted on a frieze at the Rotunda of the United States Capitol building.
And, she said, the play Tecumseh! has been running every summer in Chillicothe, Ohio for 40 years. Since the outdoor show was first performed in 1973, over 2.5 million people have seen it.
According to its website those attending the show can, “witness the epic life story of the legendary Shawnee leader as he struggles to defend his sacred homelands in the Ohio country during the late 1700s. Tecumseh has been labeled as one of the most mesmerizing dramas in the nation.”
Houle said Chatham-Kent is very fortunate in that it has authenticity on its side.
“We have authentic space,” she said.
She said the Battle of the Thames was “the biggest battle in this region and the death of Tecumseh was a real turning point.”
The War of 1812 witnessed, “the founding of a nation,” and was the beginning of modern-day Canada.
• Another project, the Tecumseh Parkway is already underway.
The project is being developed by Dave Benson, and will become part of the provincial Route 1812.
The driving route will run along the Thames River, connecting many sites of cultural, historic and natural interest.
Benson has said the Battle of the Thames and the subsequent loss of Tecumseh’s Indian confederacy paved the way for American expansion into what had been traditional native lands.
“We shouldn’t underestimate how important the events that happened here were and how well-known south of the border,” he said.
He believes the parkway has the potential to become a key tourist draw for Americans, and said it will ultimately incorporate the area’s black history, as well as its agricultural, francophone and First Nations history.
As well as the Tecumseh Monument, stops along the parkway will include Tecumseh Park in Chatham, the Thomas McCrae House and the Fairfield Museum.
The pull-offs at the various stops are being done and signage is being looked into.
“A lot of the stops will have peace gardens,” Houle said.
• The regional website for the War of 1812 Bicentennial can be found at www.1812ontario.ca
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