SOURCE: "A Young Volunteer of 1812: A Sketch of Major John Richardson, One of the Earliest Canadian Novelists," Canadian Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 3, July, 1912, pp. 218-25.

In the following essay, Burwash discusses how Richardson used his military experiences as a youth volunteer to compose his history War of 1812.

As a century turns with the turning of the year, it recalls a memorable date to Canadians. It recalls at the same time an interesting figure in the person of Major John Richardson, one of the earliest Canadian novelists, and one of the first historians of the war of 1812, whose border strife he shared. To the present generation Richardson's memory is shadowy. His books are little known to-day and difficult of access. Yet a hundred years ago he stood at the centre of a life replete with interest and action. Though in 1812 he was only sixteen, he was known in the small...