“As Long as that Fire Burned”: Indigenous Warriors and Political Order in Upper Canada, 1837–42

Abstract

In response to the crises of rebellion and invasion during the years 1837–42, Indigenous warriors in Upper Canada took up arms on an extensive scale. This mobilization was not the result of reactionary loyalism. Rather, like other actors of the period, First Nations communities participated in the upheavals of the Rebellion in order to further their own vision of what constituted a desirable political order within the province. By 1837, First Nations communities in Upper Canada were beset with settler violence, theft, and squatting, and successive imperial administrators had shown themselves to be unwilling or unable to fulfill their obligations to protect Indigenous property or maintain crucial diplomatic practices. First Nations themselves, however, had a clear vision of the proper Indigenous-Imperial relationship, developed over generations of diplomacy and preserved in numerous treaties, belts, speeches, petitions, and councils. It was in support of this established framework that the warriors took up arms. With their military clout suddenly amplified by the insurrectionary crisis, Indigenous leaders across the province made clear that their assistance against the Patriot threat was contingent upon the maintenance of their recognized rights and privileges in the political order of post-Rebellion Canada. While these efforts initially produced significant results, the growth of the settler state in the period following the Rebellion soon led to the decisive dismantling of this long-standing Indigenous-Imperial framework.