Author: Mark R. Anderson

Mark R. Anderson is an independent historian and retired U.S. Air Force officer. He earned his B.A. in history from Purdue University and his M.A. in military studies from American Military University. He is the author of The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony: America’s War of Liberation in Canada, 1774-1776; The Invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775-1776: As Told through Jean-Baptiste Badeaux’s Three Rivers Journal and New York Captain William Goforth's Letters; and contributed an essay to The 10 Key Campaigns of the American Revolution.

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Critical Thinking Posted on

Ten Causes of the Miscarriages in Canada: Why the 1775–1776 Invasion Failed

The once-promising Continental invasion of Canada was clearly headed for disaster by May 1776. With British forces chasing the American Army out of the Province of Quebec, Continental leaders started grappling with the fact that their ten-month strategic offensive in the north had failed. Canada would not be joining the Continental Congress as a fourteenth […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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Autobiography and Biography Posted on

Remember Baker: A Green Mountain Boy’s Controversial Death and Its Consequences

Despite the imperative nature of his unusual name, Remember Baker has garnered significantly less historical attention than fellow Green Mountain Boys Ethan Allen and Seth Warner. Baker seemed destined for an important role in the Revolutionary War, but his life was cut short in an August 22, 1775 incident across the Quebec border. As a result of […]

by Mark R. Anderson
Primary Sources Posted on

Tragic Accident at Fort Anne: A Story Revealed in Two Primary Source Documents

In 1901, the American Monthly Magazine published Rev. David Avery’s journal of the 1776 “Northern Campaign.” Avery had served as chaplain for John Patterson’s Massachusetts Regiment (15th Continental) and his chronicle provided an interesting primary source account of the failed campaign in Canada that spring. The printed journal described a minor, but tragic, accident that occurred […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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War at Sea and Waterways (1775–1783) Posted on

By Stratagem and Hard Fighting: The Improbable Capture of Eleven British Ships

On the third day of November 1775, Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery and his Continental army triumphantly concluded a taxing two-month siege with the surrender of British Fort St. Johns and its 600-man garrison. Their invasion of Canada had finally gained momentum. A week later, the Continentals assembled on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, ready […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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Diplomacy Posted on

Wampum Belts to Canada: Stockbridge Indian Ambassadors’ Dangerous 1775 Peace Mission

In early May 1775, with the Revolutionary War not even one month old, western Massachusetts Patriot leaders and their Stockbridge Indian neighbors developed a plan to use diplomacy to neutralize a looming danger in the north. Stockbridge ambassadors would take a peace message from their community to the New England colonists’ traditional Native enemies in Canada. […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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Critical Thinking Posted on

David Wooster Kept the Men at Quebec: Giving Credit to a Much-Maligned General

Most modern historical treatments of the American invasion of Canada disparage Brig. Gen. David Wooster for his leadership in Canada. A detailed examination of his command from January to May 1776, however, lends credence to an early biographer’s conclusion that “Gen. Wooster was censured by those who did not know the obstacles he had to […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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People Posted on

Incredible Insults and Hardships: The Hostage Experience of Ebenezer Sullivan

When twenty-three-year-old Capt. Ebenezer Sullivan nobly volunteered himself as a prisoner-exchange hostage in the last weeks of the Canadian invasion, he had no way to foresee the devastating trials and tribulations that he would face as a result of his courageous decision. At the time, he was one of almost five hundred Continentals captured by […]

by Mark R. Anderson
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Critical Thinking Posted on

Ethan Allen’s “Motley Parcel of Soldiery” at Montreal

When Ethan Allen described his defeat and capture outside Montreal at Longue Pointe on September 25, 1775, he observed that “it was a motley parcel of soldiery which composed both parties.” The enemy included Canadian Loyalists, British regulars, Indian Department officers, and a few Native warriors. In the autobiographical A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen’s […]

by Mark R. Anderson