February
22 was a very proud day for Robert J. West Middle School. One of its very own,
Rachel Albany, gave a wonderful presentation on the War of 1812.
Besides
being a valuable member of the academic teaching assistance staff, Miss
Albany's love of history has also sent her in the direction of an additional
career as a park ranger for the National Parks.
In
Miss Albany's presentation to our eight-grade history students, she discussed
the War of 1812 as it related to our Great Lakes region. She explained the
River Raisin battle. Also she told the students about the battles fought in
what are now the cities of Wyandotte and Brownstown.
Fort
Mackinaw, located in Mackinaw City, Michigan, and Fort Dearborn, located in
what is now Chicago Illinois, were two other important battle sites in the War
of 1812.
Miss
Albany compared the casualties to our school population of about 900. With that
in mind, only 33 out of 900 people survived the war, almost 400 were killed and
a little more than 500 people were captured. Miss Albany impressed upon our
students that the War of 1812 was the biggest American defeat by the British
and Native Americans. Conversely, it was the Native Americans' greatest
victory to date.
Many
thanks to Miss Albany for her informative presentation. The students have a
greater appreciation of the War of 1812 as it was fought in towns that they
probably have often visited. With Miss Albany's expertise in areas of
history, this is just the beginning of other presentations to come.
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