During the 19th century, the United States' struggled to supply its soldiers in the west. Soldiers drank water tainted with beeswax and engine rust. They ate salted pork so foul that post doctors proclaimed it not fit for human consumption. Persistent struggles to supply soldiers with the basic necessities for life led to disease, desertion, unhappiness, and the abandonment of posts. Although often hidden from view, the logistical networks that soldier's relied on made the dispossession of Indigenous land possible. Without them, the entire venture failed. This talk explores the challenges of fielding soldiers across vast territories and the ways failures in the process impacted the shape of settler-colonialism in Canada and the United States.
Dr. Benjamin Hoy is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the author of A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-US Border Across Indigenous Lands. His other work explores the history of extradition, incarceration, military infrastructure, and game-based learning.
