In Victorian days, ships from Canada's Maritime provinces traded Caribbean sugar and molasses for timber, salt cod and potatoes.

ECONOMIST: The Caribbean: The Canadian connection | The

Maine got help from 1, 200 such crews from Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

ECONOMIST: The past is a dark, cold place

Britain, too, understood that as long as it held onto Quebec City and the maritime provinces, its hold on Canada was secure.

WSJ: 1812 | Canadian War Museum | Four Ways to Look at a War | By Mark Yost