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CUTTING OUT ON THE NIAGARA OCTOBER 1812

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CUTTING OUT ON THE NIAGARA RIVER OCTOBER 1812     The enemy is making every exertion to gain a naval Superiority on both Lakes which if they accomplish I do not see how we can retain the Country.  – Major General Isaac Brock, October 11, 1812 THE NIARARA REGION Ever since Europeans began exploring the interior of the American continent, the straits between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario were a crucial choke point to communications, navigation, and commerce.  The significant interruption to movement posed by the cataracts at Niagara Falls forced establishment of portage points, routes over-land, the creation of boat building yards above the falls [1] , and attendant trading outposts. Alternative routes were few, as roads from the east to west, in either Canada or the U.S., were scarce, largely undeveloped, and vulnerable to the muddy seasons at either end of brutally cold winters. Boat traffic up the St. Lawrence, across Lake Ontario, and on the Niagara, gave the British the best means of c
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Review: The Globe and Anchor Men - U.S. Marines and American Manhood in the Great War Era by Mark False

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Review:   The Globe and Anchor Men – U.S. Marines and American Manhood in the Great War Era  Mark Ryland Folse. Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2024. Kindle Edition. Notes. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index.   Reviewed by John S. Naylor   In this work, Mark Folse has assembled a truly insightful interpretation of Marine Corps cultural history. As he describes it, “A gendered analysis of the Marine Corps…” has not been a traditional path taken in exploring the Corps’ history. However, this work provides answers for questions rarely posed. Much of Marines’ history is grounded in popular iconography and dogma. Historians examine the individual Marines, the battles, the weapons, the training and militaria associated with the service; however, examination of WHY Marines were they the way they were is not a well-trodden path.     Mr. Folse examines this ground through three movements, “Elements of the U.S. Marine Corps”, “The Great War”, and “Consequences of War and Counterin
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Review: John Fass Morton - SEA POWER AND THE AMERICAN INTEREST

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Review:   Sea Power and the American Interest – From the Civil War to the Great War  John Fass Morton. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 2024. 312 pp. Notes. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index.   Reviewed by John S. Naylor   This, is a book about context.    In  Sea Power and the American Interest , Mr. Morton exhaustively provides context, describing the enduring influences that industry, politics, finance and monetary policy, technology, and extractive resources had on U.S. foreign policy through the Gilded Age and into the Great War.    Anyone studying U.S. intervention overseas during the era will encounter a phrase akin to “to protect American interests”. Morton’s work fleshes out what these interests were and how these interests contributed to the nation’s growth—in providing an in-depth explanation how they developed, he affords a greater understanding of the intersection of industry, economics, politics, and military action in the late 19 th  century.   Morton makes his argumen
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The Amphibious Assault on Fort George – May 27, 1813

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The Amphibious Assault on Fort George – May 27, 1813 (Niagara Historical Society and Museum) An amphibious assault requires the rapid buildup of combat power ashore, from an initial zero capability to full coordinated striking power as the attack progresses toward AF objectives. In the amphibious assault, combat power is progressively phased ashore. The assault is the most difficult type of amphibious operation and one of the most difficult of all military operations due to its complexity. - JOINT PUBLICATION 3-02, AMPHIBIOUS OPERATIONS, 18 JULY 2014   Because the Niagara River was an essential conduit for logistics and communications for both Britain and the fledgling United States, military actions on the Niagara Frontier dominated events of the War of 1812. Control of the Niagara River allowed for both the growth of the fledgling United States, and the continued presence of Great Britain in North America. The Niagara was the gateway from Lake Ontario and Lower Canada to Lake Erie, U
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