Naval General Service Medal reverse.
Boat Service Bar for the Naval General Service Medal.
• 29 APRIL BOAT SERVICE 1813: HMS Orpheus burned the Whampoa, an American merchant vessel, in Narragansett Bay off Rhode Island. Two clasps were issued.
• PELICAN: HMS Pelican captured the USS Argus off the coast of Ireland on August 14, 1813. The Argus had been raiding British shipping in the Bristol Channel area. One hundred and eleven clasps were issued.
• SHANNON WH. CHESAPEAKE: Capture of the USS Chesapeake by the HMS Shannon off the coast of New England on June 1, 1813. Forty-eight clasps were issued.
• PHOEBE: HMS Phoebe engaged USS Essex and captured it along with the sloop Essex Junior off the coast of Chile on March 28, 1814. Thirty clasps were issued.
• CHERUB: HMS Cherub engaged USS Essex and captured it along with the sloop Essex Junior off the coast of Chile on March 28, 1814. Nine clasps were issued.
• 8 APRIL BOAT SERVICE 1814: HMS Hogue, HMS Edymion, HMS Maidstone, and HMS Boxer destroyed American vessels in the Connecticut River. Twenty-four clasps were issued.
• THE POTOMAC 17 AUGUST 1814: HMS Aetna, HMS Devastation, HMS Euryalus, HMS Leviathan, HMS Meteor, HMS Sea Horse, HMS Erebus, HMS Fairy, HMS Anna Maria, HMS Alceste, and HMS Regulus for the destruction of American vessels 140 kilometres up the Potomac River and the bombardment and capture of Fort Washington and Alexandria, Virginia, from August 17 to September 6, 1814. One hundred and eleven clasps were issued.
• 3 & 6 SEPT. BOAT SERVICE 1814: HMS Nancy aided by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment destroyed the American schooners USS Tigress and USS Scorpion on Lake Huron. One bar was issued to Lieutenant Andrew Bulger, who also earned the Military General Service Medal with clasps for Fort Detroit and Crysler’s Farm.
• 6TH MAY BOAT SERVICE 1814: Aided by the army, a contingent of two hundred men landed via boats and attacked Fort Orivego on the shore of Lake Ontario. One clasp was issued to James Wills.
• 14TH DEC. BOAT SERVICE 1814: Awarded for the Battle of Lake Borgne near New Orleans. This action resulted in the capture of five American gunboats and a sloop. Two hundred and fourteen clasps were issued.
• ENDYMION WH. PRESIDENT: Toward the end of the War of 1812 the USS President had been blockaded in New York but escaped to be chased by the HMS Endymion, and the two ships engaged off Sandy Hook. However, the President managed to escape only to encounter the HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos, to which the President surrendered after a short engagement on January 15, 1815. Sixty-three clasps were issued.
Naming: Impressed Roman capitals with given name and surname for men, while officers’ medals included their abbreviated ranks.
Other: In total 24,000 medals were issued, 20,933 with a single clasp.
Number: Unknown for those related to Canada.
The Canada General Service Medal, 1866–70
Canada General Service Medal obverse.
Canada General Service Medal reverse.
Origins: This medal was created to recognize members of the Canadian Militia and British forces who saw service in Canada during the Fenian Raids of 1866 and 1870 as well as those who participated in the suppression of the Red River Rebellion. The Fenian Raids were precipitated by a group of Irish-American nationalists who sought to invade Canada and hold it for ransom, hoping that would force the British government to grant Ireland independence. Canadian authorities were aware of the Fenians’ intentions and mobilized the militia on March 7, 1866, with nearly ten thousand men called out. The militia was placed at public buildings, bridges, and border crossings in preparation for the attack. However, the extensive nature of the border made it impractical to defend it entirely.
The first incursion came at Waterloo, Quebec, on the evening of March 17, followed by an attack on April 14 on the Campobello and Indian Islands near Maine. These engagements were small in nature, with the largest attack coming on May 31 when John O’Neill and a force of 850 Fenians — in part demobilized soldiers who had fought in the U.S. Civil War — crossed the Niagara Frontier to invade Canada. On June 2 the Fenians were met by a force of 840 Canadian Militia troops, and the Battle of Ridgeway ensued for two hours, though the Canadians retired when it was falsely reported that the Fenians were going to attack with cavalry. The Fenians, learning that a larger force was en route, returned to the security of the U.S. side of the border.
A final engagement took place on June 22 when a small party of Fenians crossed the Vermont border into Quebec and fired at a group of seventy-five soldiers present at Pigeon Hill. The Fenians again fled across the border. Matters subsided and the U.S. government condemned the Fenian incursions. O’Neill and the Fenians returned four years later on May 25, 1870, with two raids taking place, the first at Eccles Hill and a second on the Trout River on May 27.
The Red River Expedition took place between May 14 and August 24, 1870, when Colonel Garnet Wolseley’s force arrived at Fort Garry (Red River). The origins of the conflict can be found in the expansion of Canadian authority over western Canada and the maltreatment of the Métis and First Nations populations. The government had obtained sovereignty over Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869 and embarked on an ambitious plan to survey the mass of territory and to assert political authority, something that became a paramount point of contention.
The Métis were unhappy with plans to do land surveys, particularly since they did not possess clear title to the land and had settled it according to the seigneurial system rather than the township system. As a result, fears grew that their property would be expropriated. The Métis disrupted the surveying work and eventually prevented the new lieutenant governor from entering the territory. Subsequently, they captured Fort Garry on November 2, 1869.
Louis Riel, with the support of many Métis, attempted to negotiate terms with Canada and demanded fourteen specific rights be granted. Following unrest among some of the anglophone population, who were by this point imprisoned for their resistance, the Métis National Committee proclaimed a provisional government. The government sent Donald Smith (later to become Lord Strathcona) to negotiate an agreement, dealing with matters such as bilingualism and representation in the legislative body to be.
Around the same time a number of the anglophones who had been imprisoned had escaped, while others were paroled. Some of this group began agitating to overthrow the provisional government and gathered recruits. A party of nearly fifty was captured by Riel, and a trial was held in which one of the leaders of the anglophone group, Thomas Scott, was convicted of defying the authority of the provisional government and sentenced to death. A botched execution took place on March 4, and even after being shot in the face, Scott managed to survive for an additional ten hours.
The execution of Scott, an avowed Orangeman, galvanized opinion in English and Protestant Canada and played a role in the government’s decision to send the military to Red River. The arrival of Wolseley signalled the end of the rebellion. Riel fled and remained in exile until 1884. The rebellion played a central part in the creation