Guns Across the River: The Battle of the Windmill, 1838

DONALD GRAVES. Toronto: Robin Brass Studio 2001. Pp. 264, illus. $24.95

Guns Across the River provides a compelling and detailed account of the fierce battle that occurred in November 1838 at Windmill Point, outside the Upper Canadian town of Prescott, between a combined force of British regular troops and local militia members and a primarily American assortment of approximately three hundred self-styled liberators. Donald Graves, the accomplished historian of the War of 1812, attempts to dispel two enduring myths that have developed concerning the Upper Canadian Rebellion of 1837-8. First, he challenges the common perception that the rebellion's primary and decisive military engagements occurred in December 1837 by documenting the numerous cross-border skirmishes that flared up during 1838 and culminated in the decisive battle at Windmill Point. Second, Graves seeks to discredit the popular view that assigns democratic ideals and aspirations to the rebels and affords to them much of the acclaim for the eventual achievement of responsible government in British North America. Instead, Graves portrays the Upper Canadian insurgents as irresponsible and...