Robert Dickson (c.1765 – 20 June 1823) was a fur trader, and later an officer in the

British Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations in Canada, First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Cana ...

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

, who played a prominent part in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

Early life

He was born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

where his father was a merchant. When his father's business failed, Robert and his brothers,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, traveled to Canada to work for their cousin Robert Hamilton. While Robert's brothers made careers for themselves in Newark and the Niagara peninsula, Robert found routine office work tedious, and was sent to

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( , ; ; ; ) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin, meaning "Great Turtle". It is located in ...

in 1786 to trade on his own. He spent many years trading among the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

, Winnebago, and

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

in modern northern

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

. In 1797, he married Ista Towin or Totowin (Helen Elizabeth), the daughter of chief Wakinyanduta (Red Thunder) of the Cuthead band of the Yanktonai

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota ...

War of 1812

During the years preceding the War of 1812, Dickson and other British and Canadian traders were angered by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

encroachments into the area where they traded, in which they had previously enjoyed a monopoly. As war appeared imminent, Dickson began recruiting warriors from among the tribes with which he traded, and gathered them at the British military outpost at Fort St. Joseph. When news of the outbreak of war arrived, Dickson and his followers joined the garrison of Fort St. Joseph, led by Captain Charles Roberts, in an attack on the American fort at Mackinac Island. They successfully captured the island from its unwary American garrison. He subsequently led his followers south to join the British army at

Amherstburg Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town ...

, where they took part in the

Siege of Detroit A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

, which caused the surrender of an American army. In the autumn following these victories, Dickson travelled to Montreal, where he was appointed to the Indian Department as Agent and Superintendent for the Western Indian tribes. During 1813, he led contingents of Indians at the unsuccessful

Siege of Fort Meigs The siege of Fort Meigs took place in late April to early May 1813 during the War of 1812 in northwestern Ohio, in present-day Perrysburg. A small British Army unit with support from Indians attempted to capture the recently constructed fort to ...

and Battle of Fort Stephenson. In 1814, he recruited fresh contingents of the Western Indians and led them at the successful defense of Mackinac Island and the Engagement on Lake Huron. He ended the war at the captured post of

Prairie du Chien Prairie du Chien may refer to: Places *Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin Prairie du Chien ( ) is a city in Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Often called Wisconsin's second- ...

, where he quarreled with Andrew Bulger, the post's commandant. After the war, he retired from the Indian Department although, while on a visit to Scotland in 1816, he applied unsuccessfully to be the Indian Department agent at Amherstburg. The war had ruined Dickson's fur trading business. He nevertheless resumed trading, but died unexpectedly at

Drummond Island Drummond may refer to: Places Antarctica * Drummond Peak, King Edward VII Land * Drummond Glacier, Graham Land Canada * Drummond (federal electoral district), a Quebec federal riding * Drummond (provincial electoral district), Quebec ...

in 1823.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Robert British Indian Department Canadian people of the War of 1812 Canadian fur traders 1760s births 1823 deaths People from Dumfries