A writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the Napoleonic wars http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/napoleon.html ( { as a result of their loyalty to the Catholic faith and their supporting of the Catholic Confederation, and later their support of the Jacobile King James II } [ On 3 September 1658, Oliver Cromwell died. A few months previously, Cromwell had announced that he wanted his son, Richard Cromwell, to replace him as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. The English army was unhappy with this decision. While they respected Oliver as a skillful military commander, Richard was just a country farmer. In May 1659, the generals forced Richard to retire from government.http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/STUjames2.htm] Napoleon left in his will 10,000 francs to Lt. Cantillon,) of the early 19th century, remarking that fields that were barren before battle exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended.
After John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm was published in 1915 the poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle. Three years later an American, Moina Michael, was working in a New York City YMCA canteen when she started wearing a poppy in memory of the millions who died on the battlefield.
During a 1920 visit to the United States a French woman, Madame Guerin, http://www.poppies.ws/poppies/the-red-poppy.html learned of the custom. On her return to France she decided to use handmade poppies to raise money for the destitute children in war-torn areas of the country. In November, 1921, the first poppies were distributed in Canada.
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