The horrific events of September 11 are the first time that the mainland USA has been attacked by a foreign power since the War of 1812.

Because there is a Buffalo connection to everything, including that long-distant war, this column is about the nearly-forgotten Burning of Buffalo on December 30, 1813. Then a fledgling frontier village, Buffalo lost about 30 people and every building but two: a primitive jail, and the long-gone cabin of feisty widow Margaret St. John, who convinced the British to spare her home. Now you know why no one can claim that their Buffalo house is older than 1813.

http://www.preservationcoalition.org/hist/essays/burning/burning.html
The Burning of Buffalo by R. Arthur Bowler
This is a reprint of an article originally written during the Bicentennial year for the Courier-Express. If the Burning of Buffalo is completely new to you, start here for a good basic narrative of the events of that bleak winter.

http://www.buffalonian.com/hnews/burningofbuffalo.html
BUFFALO RAZED! British Troops Burn Buffalo to the Ground
http://www.buffalonian.com/history/index.html
Burning of Buffalo
Website operator Steve Powell has launched an ambitious new historical site, Buffalonian.com, which contains a wealth of vintage, full-text articles on a variety of events, major and minor, in the history of Buffalo. The two articles cited here include first-hand accounts of the attack on Buffalo. Explore Buffalonian.com a little and you'll find period images; diary excerpts; a discussion forum; and "Peoples' Pages," a place for readers to contribute historical articles and pictures of their own.

http://www.iaw.on.ca/~jsek/1812help.htm
The War of 1812: Ye Old Bulletin Board
http://genforum.genealogy.com/warof1812/
War of 1812 Forum
Those of you researching a War of 1812 ancestor or battle will find others with the same interests at these two bulletin boards.

http://www.buffalocvb.org/driving_tours_15.html
War of 1812 Driving Tour
Looks like the Buffalo Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has noticed the growing interest in this war. Here is a War of 1812 driving tour listing destinations along both sides of the Niagara River. But it mentions nothing in Buffalo, thereby directing tourists in our fair city to leave the country. Good going, CVB! Do not be misled by this embarrassing web page.

In Buffalo, there is a historical marker at the northwest corner of Main & Humboldt, an area once called Flint Hill, where many War of 1812 soldiers encamped and died of disease. There is a boulder with plaque in the meadow in Delaware Park marking these soldiers' graves. There is a marker in LaSalle Park at the foot of Porter Avenue. And there are the unmarked sites: the spot where the British came ashore to do the dirty deed (roughly Niagara St. corner of Amherst); the long-gone boatyard on Scajaquada Creek in Black Rock where naval vessels were built; the site of Margaret St. John's cabin (now the Main Place Mall); and Forest Lawn Cemetery, where St. John is buried. For starters.

Maybe the CVB just needs a little encouragement to promote Buffalo's War of 1812 history. Send your comments to Richard Geiger, President/CEO, at geiger@buffalocvb.org.