Monday, November 30, 2015

For What They Gave



An excerpt from the For What They Gave website:  West Point Graduates Killed in Action – War of 1812:

Class of 1806

Eleazer Derby Wood – Bvt Ltc, Brilliant in Skill & Valor killed in sortie from Fort Erie Upper Canada, while gallantly leading and directing a column on the British batteries and siege works, 17 September 1814.



Source




Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Bounty On Knaggs' Head


James Knaggs' testimony from the Congressional serial set:

I hereby certify that the foregoing testimony of James Knaggs... . ...of good reputation in the community. ...intimately conversant with the manners circumstances etc. of the old French population.


Source - Canadian Side Of Detroit River

He was engaged in the various conflicts near the Detroit River already described, and in 1813, was in the battle of the Thames under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. While with Hull at Sandwich attached to Colonel McArthur's regiment, he performed important scout service.

On one occasion, accompanied by four men, he penetrated the country as far as the site of the present village of Chatham on the Thames and there captured a Colonel McGregor a burly British officer and a [man] named Jacobs and carried them to Hull's camp. He tied McGregor to a horse and thus took him to the headquarters of his chief. After the surrender, McGregor offered five hundred dollars for the capture of Knaggs dead or alive.



Saturday, November 21, 2015

Lieutenant Otis Fisher


Source
"Lieutenant Otis Fisher...served in the war of 1812 and lost an arm in the battle of Bridgewater. Later he was stationed at Detroit as quartermaster of the Fifth Infantry. He was about to retire when engaging in a duel..(killed at Sandwich May 3, 1820). He owned a farm on the River Rouge.

Source


Letter from Otis Fisher, Quartermaster, Nov. 21, 1818 [Fold3]:





Wednesday, November 18, 2015

An Eyewitness At Old Fort Miami


Source [War of 1812 Participant, Not Necessarily At Fort Miami]


"In all this however there must be made an exception against the honor of the infamous Proctor*, the commander of the allied forces of the enemy. When the prisoners who had been taken from Colonel Dudley's command were taken to the British camp, below the fort, they were put into old Fort Miami, near by, and, in the language of an eyewitness, "the Indians were permitted to garnish the surrounding rampart, and to amuse themselves by loading and firing at the crowd, or at any particular individual. Those who preferred to inflict a still more cruel and savage death, selected their victims, led them to the gateway, and there, under the eye of General Proctor, and in the presence of the whole British army, tomahawked and scalped them."  [Source]

*Update:  It was noted in the comments section of the blog that the name is Procter, not Proctor. The source of the text spelled the name as Proctor, so I will leave it as is (with the added quotation marks that I should have originally included).


Monday, November 16, 2015

Commodore Decatur At The Close Of 1813



Source

"Decatur remained with his squadron in the harbor of New London in the same state of hopeless inactivity until the close of 1813."


Friday, November 13, 2015

In A Gale Of Wind


Report from Isaac Chauncey to the Hon. Paul Hamilton, Secretary of the Navy, Washington:


Source

Sackett's Harbor, November 13th, 1812
"I arrived here last evening in a gale of wind....".

The cover page and Jackson to Cocke from the same source.




Thursday, November 12, 2015

Gone To The Lakes


Below are excerpts (and a photograph) from Genung, Ganong, Ganung Genealogy: A History of the Descendants of Jean ... By Leon Nelson Nichols:

Source
Jonathan Sisson (1784-1857) served in the War of 1812.

Jonas Genung (photo) also served:





Reuben Ganong...sold land...after he had gone to the lakes. Served in the war of 1812.



Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Me-Shin-Go-Me-Sia



Source

Me-Shin-Go-Me-Sia was born near the mouth of Josina Creek, in Wabash County, not very far from where the battle [Mississinewa] was fought.  The year of his birth is given as about 1782.  

Many facts about the battle were obtained from Me-Shin-Go-Me-Sia; however there was a difference of opinion as to his actual participation in the battle.


Saturday, November 7, 2015

History Of The Fourth Regiment


Harrison At Tippecanoe

A history of the organization and movements of the 4th regiment of Infantry, U.S.A., 1796-1870.

"...the Regiment is reported to have been raised in and about the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, and is supposed to have been employed during the years 1808-'09-'10 in protecting the frontiersmen in the territories north of the Ohio river and south of the Great Lakes, as the first official notice taken of the Regiment is during the campaign of General Harrison against the Indians in the northwest.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Lieutenant David Eberly


Source

"He was first lieutenant in Captain Hendle's company, from Carlisle, in the war of 1812.  In 1814 he walked on foot with the company by way of Pittsburg and Erie.  He was in the battle of Fort Erie and Lundy's Lane, Bridgwater and Chippewa."


David Eberly's Service Record (viewed at Fold3):




Sunday, November 1, 2015

Daniel Randall


From The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland...:

Daniel Randall...was in active service during the War of 1812, as a volunteer, and thereafter was commissioned as Paymaster in the Regular Army.


Fold3: Military Records
Fold3 - Daniel Randall Paymaster Paperwork


He served as such during the Indian Wars and the Mexican War under General Scott and was at the time of his death in 1851, Assistant Paymaster General and in charge of the Pay-Department of the Army.

He was highly esteemed and Fort Randall, then on the frontier, was named after him, as evidence of his universal popularity.