 Calling themselves Hunter Patriots, they combined a neo-Masonic organizational structure with militant republicanism.Their propaganda machine convinced many Americans in the northern states that the citizens of Upper and Lower Canada were being oppressed by undemocratic British government, and were simply waiting for the intervention of liberty-loving American sympathizers.Early in 1838, these hunters conducted insurgent operations in the Niagara Region, the area around Windsor and Amherstburg, Ontario and on Pelee Island.