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Shady Maples's avatar

The American psyche is in some part shaped by the myth of the frontier, but Canada has the bush. The US Army fought frontier wars, but the Wolsely expedition is a different beast altogether. It's the epitome of bush warfare. The sheer audaciousness of projecting a self-sufficient force that far, that fast, by manpower alone to demonstrate the resolve of a fledgling federal government.

To gain a better appreciation for what moving through this sort of terrain at that time would have been like, here's a video of modern folks attempting to portage a yorkboat 1600m (metres!) through the northern bush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlWn3VVjIGc

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Jim Thompson's avatar

Ok, I just ordered it, my first Disraeli.

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