Collect Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion And The 1866 Battle That Made Canada Compiled By Peter Vronsky In PDF

reading this book. Good background information and afterword info, Will have to check out the battlefield site as I live in the Niagara peninsula, Vronskys history of the June,invasion of Canada brings alive a forgotten piece of Canadian history, It is well written and the references are meticulously noted, Using primary sources Vronsky tells a gripping tale of the day in June when the Irish Republican Army or Fenians, as they were known in the day, made up of seasoned Civil war vets invaded Canada in hopes of holding the country ransom in the fight for a free Ireland.
This is a fascinating history of how Irish American insurgents, the Fenians, mostly former veterans of the just ended Civil War, invaded Canada in.
As everybody is commemorating the War ofcurrently, many forget that the “last invasion” of Canada from U.
S. territory took place shortly after the Civil War in Juneas thousands of insurgents crossed over from Vermont and New York.


While this book focuses more on the Canadian aspect of the invasion and the impact it had on the birth of modern Canada and its military, it provides also much detail on the Fenian and U.
S. sides as well. There is virtually no new literature out there on the Fenian Raids into Canada and this book fills in the gap brilliantly.


Vronsky is a historian and the author of two histories of serial homicide and although this book is a dramatic departure from the themes of his previous two books, it is a compelling well written history on insurgent warfare on the U.
S. Canadian border in thes, It is based on his recent Ph, d. dissertation on the subject of espionage in international relations, but it reads like a popular history: a pageturner!
Wonderful account of the Fenian Raids ofand the events that lead and followed it.
Some of the discussion on bullets and guns gets a little long, but this account almost plays the event by the minutes and brings light to an evening of Canadian history that has long been forgotten.
It also acts as a rallying cry to have the men and women who fought and were involved in the event to be recognized by our Remembrance Day ironically I learned was previously based on the dates of theraid untilwhen it was changed to

Novemberand all previous veterans were erased from the honouring.
  In this groundbreaking narrative , historian, investigative journalist and filmmaker Peter Vronsky uncovers the hidden history of the Battle of Ridgeway and explores its significance to Canadas nationbuilding myths and traditions.




On June,, more than,Fenian insurgents invaded Canada across the Niagara River from Buffalo, N.
Y. The Fenians were mostly battlehardened Civil War veterans the Canadian troops sent to fight them came from a generation that had not seen combat at home for more thanyears.
Led by inexperienced upperclass officers, the volunteer soldiers were mostly young, some as young asyears old.
They were farm boys, shopkeepers, apprentices, schoolteachers, store clerks and two rifle companies of University of Toronto students hastily called out from their final exams.
Many had not fired live rounds from their rifles even once,



When they fought the Fenians near the village of Ridgeway the next day, a single rifle company ofstudents took the brunt of a counterattack byinsurgents and suffered the most killed and wounded.
The events of June,, were covered up by the Macdonald government, The story was falsified so thoroughly that most Canadians today have not heard of the first modern battle in which Canadians died.
PETER VRONSKY is an author, filmmaker, and forensic investigative historian, He holds a Ph. D. from the University of Toronto in the history of espionage in international relations and criminal justice history.
Peter Vronsky is the author of a series of books on the history serial homicide: Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of MonstersFemale Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become MonstersSons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers From the Stone Age to the Presenta New York Times Editors Choice and most recently, American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years.
He is also the author of Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and theBattle that Made Canada, the definitive history of Canadas PETER VRONSKY is an author, filmmaker, and forensic investigative historian.
He holds a Ph. D. from the University of Toronto in the history of espionage in international relations and criminal justice history.
Peter Vronsky is the author of a series of books on the history serial homicide: Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of MonstersFemale Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become MonstersSons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers From the Stone Age to the Presenta New York Times Editors' Choice and most recently, American Serial Killers: The Epidemic Years.
He is also the author of Ridgeway: The American Fenian Invasion and theBattle that Made Canada, the definitive history of Canada's first modern battle and the subject of hisdoctoral dissertation at U of T.
He lives in Toronto and Venice, Italy, sitelink.