The War of 1812 Website

Wishing you joy!

Handing Sir Sidney Smith a mug of Christmas cheer for his work defeating Napoleon at Acre. Napoleon would say of Sir Sidney: "That man made me miss my destiny...." This portrait was painted by big-brush Robert "Bob" Porter in 1802 after Sir Sidney's return from Egypt. The portrait launched a number of prints of Sir Sidney including the one attached. After posing for this portrait, Sir Sidney went off and had an affair with the Princess of Wales. Interestingly enough he stormed the same Egyptian beach as Sir Gordon Drummond, who is noted in a post below.

This is a better upload of Sir Gordon Drummond decked out for Christmas. See write up in below post. (photo R Henderson)

It is 1813. After his capture of Fort Niagara on December 19th, Canadian-born, Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Drummond would like to wish his troops fighting in the Niagara peninsula a very Merry Christmas. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Sir Drummond would also like to express his sorrow at the burning of the homes of the people of Niagara-on-the-Lake by the American Army. It will be a tough winter for the homeless families of Niagara. Buffalo and Washington wou...ld be burned as retribution. Drummond would donate all of his prize money from the war to the assistance of the widows and orphans of the troops who served under him. Drummond himself would become Governor General, and the Legislature in Quebec would welcome him as a son of the province. Sir Gordon’s response to the Legislature captures his attachment to his birth place: Although you estimate too highly the services I have been fortunate enough to render in the DEFENSE OF THIS MY NATIVE COUNTRY, I receive with pride and satisfaction, the flattering expression of your favorable opinion of them; and I assure you that the same local attachment by which I have hitherto been animated, will increase, if possible, the readiness which, from a sense of duty alone, I should feel, to co-operate in every measure tending to the advantage of the Province. For the Native allies in the Great lakes, he argued unsuccessfully for their continued support. He was overruled by London and supply of the native allies reverted back to the civilian control of the Lt Governor in Upper Canada, who abandoned the natives in the mid-Western United States. Suffering from the wound he received at the Battle of Lundy's Lane, Drummond was replaced and returned to London. Upon his arrival he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath; the first Canadian to achieve such an honour. It made him a peer to the Duke of Wellington. The below portrait was painted in Rome about 1819 when Drummond was convalescing. He wears his coat from the war, but a Prussian collar has been added to keep up with military fashion. http://www.militaryheritage.com/imag/drummond-christmas.jpg