CANADA AND THE CIVIL WAR PLOTS AGAINST LINCOLN:
TEACHING RESOURCES

 
 

For teachers and students, here are text, audio and video resources for understanding Canada’s involvement in the American Civil War, based on my book, The North Star. (Read more about the book here.)

You can also contact me to arrange for in-person or Zoom presentations for your school, classroom or teachers’ conference.

For an overview of the many themes and revelations on this historic event, start by downloading a PDF version of the my slideshow on the left, Teaching the Hidden History of Canada and the American Civil War.

Then choose any of the topics and resources below. More books are listed at the end of the page.

For the best and quickest summary of these issues, teachers and students can also read these two newspaper features:

SLAVERY IN CANADA:

THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY

Long before Canada became a haven for escaped enslaved people from the U.S., it had its own sorry history of bondage. Slavery was only abolished in Canada in 1834.

MARIE-JOSÈPHE-ANGÉLIQUE

An enslaved woman who tried to escape and was tortured and executed for the burning of Montreal in 1734

Books and Videos:

City of Montreal websites:

SLAVE ADS IN THE newspapers

THE FIGHT TO KEEP JOHN ANDERSON FREE

Fleeing from slavery to Canada from the U.S.,John Anderson killed a slave master in self-defence. Threatened with extradition, he was saved by a protest movement in Canada on the eve of the Civil War.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

An estimated 30,000 enslaved people made their way from the slave South to freedom in Canada.

THE CONFEDERATE SECRET SERVICES in canada:

As the tide turned again st the slave South in early 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis set up a Secret Service in Canada to challenge President Abraham Lincoln from a new northern front.

Original documents:

Articles:

Books:

THE TERROR RAIDS FROM CANADA:

Financed by the Confederacy and operating legally in “neutral” Canada, the Confederates in 1864 and 1865 carried out a wide variety of terror attacks in the northern U.S. border states - from arson to bank robberies to attempts at bio-terrorism.

MORGAN’S RAIDERS

Books:

THE NEW YORK ARSON ATTACK

Newspaper articles from the time:

Books:

THE YELLOW FEVER PLOT

Books:

(Credit: St. Albans Historical Museum)

THE ST. ALBANS RAID

Newspaper archives:

BOOKS

THE ST. ALBANS TRIAL

The trial of the St. Albans raiders turned into a fiasco and infuriated the Americans when the Canadian justice system treated the Confederate conspirators extremely lightly.

The trial:

Newspaper accounts:

The key players:

Books:

MONTREAL POLICE CHIEF GUILLAUME LAMOTHE

The Montreal police chief was exposed for his secret dealings with the Confederates and was forced to resign.

Original documents:

Books:

THE ELITES IN CANADA: POLITICIANS, NEWSPAPERS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The bankers, newspaper editors, leading politicians and church leaders expressed sympathy for the South and often openly criticized Lincoln.

THE CANADIAN HEROES IN THE UNION ARMY:

Tens of thousands of ordinary Canadians enlisted in Lincoln’s army and several of them played a key role in the history of the war.

EDWARD P. DOHERTY

Doherty was a Quebec man who enlisted in the Union Army at the very start of the war and by 1864 was picked to head the army regiment that hunted down Lincoln’s assassin.

His own words:

Articles:

Books:

THE BLACK DOCTORS: ANDERSON ABBOTT and ALEXANDER AUGUSTA

When Lincoln opened up the ranks of his army to Blacks, two doctors educated in Canada - Alexander Augusta, an American, and Canadian-born Anderson Abbott, signed up. These pioneers faced racism and fought for civil rights.

In their own words:

Newspapers from the time:

Websites and articles:

Books:

EMMA EDMONDS

Emma Edmonds was a New Brunswick farm girl who enlisted in the Union Army disguised as a man and for two years was a nurse and mail carrier. Her book about her exploits became a national bestseller.

In her own words:

Websites and articles:

Books:

THE ASSASSIN: JOHN WILKES BOOTH IN MONTREAL:

Lincoln’s killer spent two weeks in Montreal just months before the assasination, making clear his aims to target Lincoln.

THE ACCOMPLICE: JOHN SURRATT IN QUEBEC:

John Surratt was a close friend and accomplice of Booth, helping him in an early plot to kidnap Lincoln. After the assassination, he fled to Quebec where for several months he was hidden with the help of the Catholic Church

In his own words:

Books:

THE EX-PRESIDENT: JEFFERSON DAVIS IN CANADA:

After being released from. jail two years after the end of the Civil War, the defeated Confederate president Jefferson Davis came to Montreal for several months where he was treated as a hero.

Newspaper articles from the time:

Articles and websites:

Books:

THE PLAQUE IN MONTREAL HONOURING DAVIS:

A plaque honouring Jefferson Davis, the president of the slave Confedarcy, was erected on the walls of the Bay department stroe in Montreal in 1957 where it stayed for 60 years until a controversy erupted in 2017.

News stories:

Other debates on statues and memorials:

Books:

THE LOST CAUSE:

The history of most wars is written by the victors but in the case of the Civil War, the supporters of the slave South have succeeded in creating the myth of a heroic South that fought a “lost cause” for rights and freedoms. The battles continue to this day with attempts to wipe out teaching about racism and slavery in American schools.

THE BEST BOOKS ON CANADA AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR:

Canada’s Role in the U.S. Civil War:

The Confederate Secret Service in Canada:

Abraham Lincoln:

Canadian Heroes in the Union Army: