Canadian history is a bloody mess of conquests, racial tensions, thrilling battles, crushing defeats, and centuries-long grudges. How anyone can call our history boring is beyond me. It is such a shame that many Canadians know about, say, the battle of the Alamo or Custer’s Last Stand but know nothing about the raid on Deerfield or why the political situation in Quebec is as it is.
Canadians need to go to places like Fort Chambly and read the placards or to sites like Fort Lennox where history is brought to life. Our country was born here, along the Saint-Lawrence, Ottawa, and Richelieu Rivers. You can’t understand what it is to be Canadian today without understanding how it is that we got here. I believe that if more Canadians knew and appreciated their history, we would be able to get over our linguistic and cultural grudges and form a strong, united, country. But as long as we keep this nearly four-century year old resentment alive without understanding its basis, there can be no resolution.
Fort Chambly sits at the heart of Canadian history, rooted in the French-Indian Wars of the 17th century, the English conquest of New France of the 18th century, and the 1812 war against the United States.
Located on the banks of the Richelieu River, an important north-south link with New York state, Fort Chambly is now a park where families come to picnic and I used to spend long hours up a tree writing, reading, and day dreaming. I spent my late childhood and adolescence just a few blocks away and the grounds of the fort were like my second home
I’d been meaning to return to the fort all summer. Since I was due for a date with my grand-mother, I proposed that we go to Fort Chambly today. I felt a little trepidation at coming back for the first time in 15 years, but I was glad to see that it was the same place. The trees have grown a little, but that’s it.
I’ll put all the information in the photo captions, but will say that after we toured the fort, we enjoyed a picnic under the trees. Then, we drove to Saint-Lambert to drop off something for my aunt and I got spirited away on a short jaunt to downtown Montreal to see my cousin’s loft; hence the bonus Montreal pictures.
Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!

the Bassin de Chambly (a large spot in the Richelieu River), with the marina (the water is FILTHY, so while there is boating, there’s no swimming)

names of some of the major military leaders who commanded the fort in the 17th and 18th centuries (names added at the end of the 19th century)

most of the exhibits are about the fort in the late 17th century at the time of New France before the British conquest

Albany and Montreal were rivals in the fur trade but Canada never attacked the city. In the 18th century, it took eight to make the journey by canoe. I made this route in just a few hours northward this spring.

reasons for Fort Chambly: in short, to prevent invasion and to provide a staging ground for invasion

The population of New France was 4,415, of which the split was 30% soldiers, 30% women, and 40% civilian men. In other words, women were a commodity in short supply!

New England prisoners from the raid were forced marched back to Fort Chambly with the woman forced into arranged marriages and the children given to French Canadian families

we’re now on the second story and I am showing how the wooden turrets seen from outside are decorative (save one)

in the 17th century, the daily ration was about 2,000 calories while today the military rations are about 2,500 calories

Fort Chambly was surrendered to the English in September of 1760, just before the capitulation of New France

In1763, the King of France conceded defeat and handed New France to the British. Two hundred years later, the French would take back their country during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Two centuries of English oppression cannot be forgiven and now the English in Quebec are paying for the sins of their ancestors. How many generations will it take for this rift to be healed?

a typical French Canadian homestead (seigneurie) was 10 times as long as it was wide and was set against the river

entering the Albany room (named for the singer Albani), which holds temporary exhibits (currently about the War of 1812)

“For Canadians, the War of 1812 was about the successful defense of a small colony against attack by a much larger neighbor.”

Tony Blair apologizes for the British/Canada burning down the Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

Tony Blair apologizes for the British/Canada burning down the Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

While US and British relations normalized after the War of 1812, Native Americans were left vulnerable.

Grand-maman packed lunch. It doesn’t look like much, but it got me to dinner, which is no small feat! We had crackers, cheese, almonds, a fig, half a banana, and a couple of bite-sized oatmeal chocolate chip cookies each, plus water. We ate on the grass in the shade of a big tree.

In 1775-1776, during their War of Independence, the Americans invaded Canada. In 1812, we finally had enough and burned down their White House. 🙂

The big hole was smaller back then, but the seat-like branch where I’d make myself comfy is still there

my grand-mother thought it was hilarious that my best memory of this park and community centre was of the time I stepped in dog doo there!

intersection of Bourgogne and Langevin, the street where I grew up. I took my bus here one year and resented it badly since I lived on the opposite end of the street (quite a distance) and the bus passed just a block from my house.

I lived here from 1987 to 1998 (age 8 to 19). It’s not a mansion! There are three apartments; we lived in two and rented the third. The joke was that the guy who built it was missing only two tools: a level and a square. The house was a bunch of rooms added to each other and we actually discovered a secret room off the garage (cold cellar) and there was a secret passage going from my room to the downstairs apartment!