Major (John) Richardson

Born on October 4, 1796, near Fort Erie in Upper Canada, he grew up in a military family and later served in the British Army during the War of 1812. That experience stayed with him for life and became a major source for his writing.

He wrote poetry, journalism, memoir, and fiction, but he is especially remembered for Wacousta (1832), a dramatic frontier novel often treated as one of the earliest and most influential works of Canadian fiction. His writing drew heavily on colonial life, military history, and the tensions between settlers, soldiers, and Indigenous peoples.

After years spent in Britain and elsewhere, he returned to Canada later in life and continued writing despite financial troubles and uneven recognition. He died in New York City on May 12, 1852, leaving behind a body of work that helped define the early literary history of Canada.