The Caroline

• Author: Craig Forcese
• Pages: 31-36

31

Chapter 5

The Caroline

From yonder murky shore

What demon vessel glides,

Stemming the unemm’d tides? —

Where madd’ning breakers roar

In hoile surges round her path,

Or hiss recoiling from her prow,

That reeling aggers to their wrath,

While diant shores return the glow

That brightens from her burning frame,

And all above — around — below —

Is wrapt in ruddy f‌lame!

—   18381

O  , the Canadian militia forces at Chippawa

would commence a cannonade of Navy Island, with virtu-

ally no ef‌fect.2 But even before that, the situation appears to

have arrived at a stalemate by 29 December.

This impasse probably favoured the Canadians. An outright

assault on the invaders entrenched on the island could prove costly

and was logistically challenging because of the current in the river.3

As noted, the insurgents themselves faced the same serious tac-

tical challenges. And even if they came ashore successfully on the

Canadian side, they would be left to mount an invasion in mid-

winter, during an era when winters in southern Ontario were truly

cold. Moreover, the insurgents were an unruly, impatient lot, and

their commander, Van Rensselaer, a notorious drunkard.4 Waiting

out the invaders — and prevailing on the American authorities to

enforce US neutrality law — was probably the best option.5