COREY LAROCQUE, "CHERISH LUNDY'S LANE BATTLE SITE," NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW  (AUGUST 22, 2003).

Copyright Niagara Falls Review 2003

NIAGARA FALLS - Canadians should cherish their military battlefields like the Lundy's Lane skirmish during the War of 1812 the same way Americans embrace Gettysburg, the site of the pivotal Civil War battle, says Tom Axworthy, director of Historica, a charitable foundation that promotes Canadian history.

"The Lundy's Lane site could be to Canada what Gettysburg is to the state of Pennsylvania and the United States," Axworthy said during a visit to Niagara Falls.

Axworthy, who was once an advisor to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, now heads Historica, the charitable foundation that produces the Heritage Minutes vignettes, which air on TV and in movie theatres. There's already one about 1812 heroine Laura Secord, but Axworthy said they want to develop a series around the War of 1812.

Lundy's Lane and Queenston Heights hero Isaac Brock are expected to get their own Minutes, he said.

It costs about $250,000 to produce each of the Heritage Minutes. Historica is starting a $1-million fundraising campaign in the fall to cover the cost of the War of 1812 series.

Axworthy became more familiar with the Battle of Lundy's Lane when his 12-year-old son David picked it for his heritage fair project last year. David built a model of the battlefield, showing the sloping topography of the area between Lundy's Lane and what's now Culp Street. It has lead soldiers painted in the redcoats of the British army or blue of the U.S. troops, small cannons that depict where the forces were at dusk on July 25, 1814.

David donated his model to the Lundy's Lane Historical Museum yesterday.

The Battle of Lundy's Lane, which had the largest number of casualties in a single engagement, was an important turning point in Canadian history. Gen. Winfield Scott's Americans had penetrated in Upper Canada from Buffalo in July 1814. But they were turned back by Gen. Gordon Drummond's British-Canadian force after an exhausting night battle.

"They probably would have taken over most of Ontario," David Axworthy said.

"The Americans say it was a tie because they retreated. And the Canadians say they won because they retrieved (the American army's abandoned) cannons," David Axworthy said.

Mayor Wayne Thomson welcomed Historica's interest in promoting this area's part of Canadian history. He complained senior governments encourage Canadians to learn their history, but don't provide the kind of money needed to promote it locally.

"We've been basically abandoned by the federal and provincial governments with respect to heritage," Thomson said.

The city has a $5-million master plan to convert the Lundy's Lane battlefield into an historic park. They pumped $600,000 into it so far, Thomson said.

Tom Axworthy suggested a prominent tribute to Lundy's Lane could also include a museum to Canadian-American relations.

Even though the United States' Niagara campaign in the summer of 1814 failed, it was the first test of the American army. That makes it a site worthy of international attention.

"Families from the U.S., in particular, would be drawn to see where the modern American army began," Tom Axworthy said.