In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812 (review)

This is a lively account of the history of women during the time of the War of 1812 on both sides of the 49th parallel. As such, it will have a broad appeal for the general reader. The author’s work is based on extensive research which, for the most part, is well documented and assiduously footnoted. A hefty read at almost 500 pages, it includes not only thirteen chapters and an epilogue, but appendices on food, recipes, gardening and proper conduct for ladies.

Much of the book is not on women in the War of 1812 itself, but rather on women in the era of the war. The first eight chapters, comprising over 250 pages, examine women’s roles within marriage and the family, private and public labour, social life and the more particular situation of women married to military personnel of both higher and lower ranks in the first part of the Nineteenth Century. The author relates what must be hundreds of stories about women ranging from Quebec, British North America, the northern and southern regions of the United States and even England. The amount of detail and, at times, the lack of differentiation amongst these women, can be a bit overwhelming. The author’s pace quickens, however, as she reaches the core of her story – the accounts of women during the war itself. The strongest chapter in the book is the ninth one, which deals with the horrible fates of many women and children on both sides of the border in the Northern Theatre. These harrowing and dramatic tales remind us that we only hear one side of the story of war when we focus on the strictly military perspective.

As interesting as these stories are, this is not a book that pushes forward the boundaries of women’s and gender history. Dianne Graves avoids engaging with the existing scholarly work in the field, which would have provided her with an interpretive framework. She hastens to assure the reader that she has “not written from a feminist perspective,” which to her means, “imposing a modern context on the past” (p. xi). Yet it is she who falls into that trap, seeing, for example, women’s forced responsibilities during the war in their husbands’ absence as, “yet another milestone along the long road that would lead eventually to emancipation” (p. 57).

Occasionally, the author relies on local anecdotal sources that can lead to factual errors. One example is the romantic story of Mary Powell grieving over her betrothed John Macdonell who died at the Battle of Queenston Heights (p. 357). My own published work shows that, in fact, Mary rejected John’s advances. On a couple of occasions the author’s partiality to certain characters gets the better of her, as when she euphemistically describes Dolley Madison’s slaves as “loyal African-Americans” (p. 310).

These caveats, although of concern to the academic historian, will not and should not take away from the enjoyment that the general reader will find in these fascinating stories about women in the era of the War of 1812.