From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge: Canada and the Civil War

Filled with engaging stories and astonishing facts, From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge examines the role of Canadians in the American Civil War

Despite all we know about the Civil War, its causes, battles, characters, issues, impacts, and legacy, few books have explored Canada's role in the bloody conflict that claimed more than 600,000 lives.

A surprising 20,000 Canadians went south to take up arms on both sides of the conflict, while thousands of enslaved people, draft dodgers, deserters, recruiters, plotters, and spies fled northward to take shelter in the attic that is Canada. Though many escaped slavery and found safety through the Underground Railroad, they were later joined by KKK members wanted for murder. Confederate President Jefferson Davis along with several of his emissaries and generals found refuge on Canadian soil, and many plantation owners moved north of the border.

Award-winning journalist Brian Martin will open eyes in both Canada and the United States to how the two countries and their citizens interacted during the Civil War and the troubled times that surrounded it.

ISBN-13: 9781770416383

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: ECW Press

Publication Date: 10-25-2022

Pages: 352

Product Dimensions: 5.75(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.87(d)

Brian Martin was an award-winning journalist for more than 40 years, telling the stories of Southwestern Ontario, where most of From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge takes place. He has written two true crime books, several biographies and baseball histories, and is a member of two historical societies. He lives in London, ON.

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From Underground Railroad to Rebel Refuge tells the story of the flight and history of fugitives from south of the border and how Canadians dealt with them over the course of many decades. Before the conflict, an estimated 40,000 runaway slaves and free Blacks settled in what became Ontario. When the war broke out, some American whites, motivated by money, crossed the border to enlist young Canadians to take up arms in Union blue. In all, about 20,000 men from British North America joined the Union and Confederate armies, some as a result of trickery, but others for their own reasons. Buying agents from both the North and South came north to buy supplies to feed their armies and a large number of horses to move them. There were also American spies and operatives who worked from bases in Toronto and Montreal. Some were funded by large amounts of Confederate money to distract the North with daring missions launched from its back door. They too were tolerated by Canadians, if not welcomed. The border proved porous and many who chose to cross it died in each other’s country. From their vantage point above the fray that played out below them, Canadians developed sympathies and prejudices in response to events in which they became entangled. An intriguing four-way relationship existed for a time between Canada, the United States, Britain, and the Confederacy, in which Canada (and Britain) developed sympathy for the South and Southerners coupled with distrust, dislike, and fear of the Union. The Civil War helped push Britain’s North American colonies toward Confederation for fear that victorious Union guns might be directed north to finish a conquest the aggressive young republic failed to accomplish in the War of 1812.

Here, then, is the story of the northward flight of Blacks, draft dodgers, the Confederate president and his prominent officials and generals, some leaders of the Ku Klux terror organization, and of wealthy citizens unable or unwilling to accept changes in the lives they had known. All found refuge in a friendly and much calmer place mere steps away from a republic in turmoil. For them, the attic beckoned. And while some refugees remained in Canada only briefly, others adapted to their new surroundings well and chose to live out their days in a land which extended them the welcome mat.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9

Introduction 13

Part 1 The Attic

Chapter 1 An Incident along the Niagara 21

Chapter 2 Slavery and Freedom in a British Colony 34

Chapter 3 Life in a Safe Harbour 52

Chapter 4 Above the Troubled Fray 69

Part 2 A House Torn Asunder

Chapter 5 "A Trifling Difference of Opinion" 89

Chapter 6 Canadians in Union Blue and Rebel Grey 107

Chapter 7 Skedaddling, Crimping, and Deserting 128

Chapter 8 Buyers, Plotters, and Spies 144

Chapter 9 Raiders, Brigands, and Assassins 162

Part 3 Reconstructing

Chapter 10 The Lure of Niagara 181

Chapter 11 The Ku Klux Connection 200

Chapter 12 Southerners Choose London 222

Chapter 13 An International Incident 241

Chapter 14 Trafficking in Hate 263

Epilogue 281

Notes 289

Selected Bibliography 323

Index 329