There have been rumours of a possible war between Upper and Lower Canada and the United States, but it comes as a shock to fifteen-year-old James Shaw when war is declared and the Malachi Jackson, the father of his friends Jarrod and Leah, labels him an enemy. For James, who has visited with the Jarrod and Leah back and forth across the St. Lawrence River between his parents’ farm near Prescott and the Jackson’s farm near Ogdensburg, New York, is seems impossible that an argument between their two countries could end their friendship.
While James and Leah agree to meet every Friday morning on the riverbank, and worry that the war will bring their two families into a direct confrontation on the battlefield, fourteen-year-old Jarrod is swept up by his father’s talk of war and enlists as a drummer boy at the Ogdensburg garrison. Malachi Jackson claims that this is a war of liberation and that, when it is over, Upper and Lower Canada will be part of the United States. When Leah explains this to James, he reminds her that his parents, Thomas and Rachel Shaw, are Loyalists who lost everything when they moved north from Virginia at the time of the American revolution.
James and Thomas Shaw are asked to join the local militia to defend Upper Canada, and are soon spending one day a week at the newly-erected fort at Prescott learning to load and fire a musket. When the wind is right, James can hear the sound of Jarrod’s drum from the other side of the river. Talk of skirmishes across the river to destroy the American guns has him worried about what will become of his friends.
On the American side of the river, Jarrod discovers that his father has informed the commander of the Ogdensburg garrison that his son has excellent local knowledge of the Canadian side of the river, and could lead a landing party of soldiers to a clearing near Prescott from which they could mount an assault on the fort. Jarrod listens with growing horror as Malachi suggests the Shaws’ farm, and Colonel Van Rensselaer remarks that James and his family will have to be silenced so they cannot warn the British soldiers or the local militia of the attack.
James Shaw and his friends Jarrod and Leah Jackson will have to navigate a difficult path between loyalty to their family, their community and their country, and the bonds of friendship. They will witness senseless acts of violence as well as instances of charity. And they will discover that sometimes sacrifice and love can transform enmity back into neighbourly affection.
Written by Robert Sutherland, A River Apart tells the story of three friends who find themselves on opposite sides of the War of 1812. Sutherland has done a fine job of exploring the conflicting emotions of these friends against the backdrop of the events that occurred on either side of the St. Lawrence River between July 1812 and the battle at Crysler’s Farm in November 1813. A wonderful book to read now at the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.
FernFolio Editor
↧
A River Apart by Robert Sutherland
↧