The 1st Battalion moved to Canada in 1808 as the Napoleonic Wars extended to the Americas. Within a year, in January 1809, the battalion had embarked at Barbados with an expeditionary force comprising two divisions assembled to invade Martinique. Although a number of engagements with the French garrison preceded the island's seizure, disease represented the principal threat to Britain's five-year occupation. By October 1809, some 1,700 of more than 2,000 casualties had succumbed to disease. The 8th Foot returned to Nova Scotia in April, having had its commanding officer, Major Bryce Maxwell, and four others killed in a skirmish with French soldiers on the Surirey Heights during the advance on Fort Desaix in February. When sustained tension between the United States and Britain culminated in the War of 1812, the 1st and 2nd battalions were based in Quebec and Nova Scotia respectively.