Thomas Lawson

"Thomas Lawson was born in Virginia...and upon the completion of his medical studies in 1809 sought an appointment as surgeon's mate in the navy...".

"Two years at sea however caused him to turn his eyes to land service, and he resigned from the navy January 12th, 1811, and on the 8th of the following month was appointed garrison surgeon's mate in the Army and was promoted to be surgeon of the 6th infantry May 21, 1813, in which position he rendered most distinguished service during the War of 1812...".

Source

The Rolls Were Lost

Source [Battle Of Plattsburgh, 1814]

From A List Of Pensioners Of The War Of 1812:

Everest, Harry

Aged 60, Milton private in Capt. William Picket's Company, Vermont Volunteer Militia. ...defense of Plattsburgh...

The discharge of his company was verbal and the rolls were lost. 

The blog post, Vermonter Huldah Bates, Levi's Widow, Granted Land, was derived from the same publication.

Disapproval Of The Common People

Furthermore, it is a safe conjecture that the common people of Great Britain did not approve of the use of Indians in the British armies, and there is no small evidence to support this. The use of the Indians was denounced as well as defended in both parliament and the reviews. But the very character of the common people of Great Britain is conclusive that they abhorred the use...".

From "The battle of Plattsburg; a study in and of the war of 1812. To remind our troops of the actions of their brave countrymen.--General Macomb, in his report of the battle of Plattsburg"

Delord House's Roll Of Carpet

Source

The Kent Delord House  was the British Headquarters during Murray's Raid.


Contents of the letter (referenced above):

Accounts Of The Battle Of Plattsburgh

From A list of pensioners of the war of 1812:

"The enemy under Sir George Prevost amounting to 14,000 regulars and embodied militia, in four brigades commanded by Major Generals De Rottenburgh, Powers, Brisbane, and Robinson, appeared before our works at Plattsburgh...".

Orderly Sergeant Parish

Source

"[Jacob K. Parish] who was orderly sergeant of the said company...on the University grounds at Burlington, [came] upon a box of guns and while on their way to Plattsburg."

A Signal Victory

Source

Wool On The Beekmantown Road

Source

In the evening of the fifth instant [September 1814], Major Wool was ordered forward with his corps, to support the militia on the Beekmantown road. It was designed to reinforce him with two pieces of artillery, before daylight; but the officer having charge of the guns did not join him in season. At early dawn on the sixth, the enemy were in motion. The column on the Beekmantown road, consisting of the divisions of Generals Power and Robinson pushed forward with great rapidity. Major Wool and his men withstood them for some time with matchless hardihood and bravery, killing Lieutenant Colonel Wellington, of the Buffs, the leader of the advanced parties; but the militia were seized with an unhappy panic, occasioned, in part, by the red coats of the New York cavalry, stationed as look-outs on the hills; whom they mistook for the British soldiers. The firmness and intrepidity of Major Wool and his command failed to encourage them, and their premature flight soon compelled him to retire. [Source] 

Wool's actions from another source.

One Of The Great Rules Of Strategy

General Jackson Statue In New Orleans

"The battle of Plattsburg; a study in and of the war of 1812...General Macomb.... :

The same idea [as the British had before the Battle of New Orleans, to separate the country at the Mississippi River], combined with one of the great rules of strategy, was back of the battle of Plattsburg. The British believed — and had indeed good grounds for so believing — that if they won at Plattsburg, defeating both the fleet on Lake Champlain and the land forces, they could divide as regards military operations.

Battle Statistics

Source

Inferior To None

Statue Of General Jackson In New Orleans

In fact, it might be contended that the battles of Plattsburg and New Orleans, in both of which our
soldiers proved far more than a match, man for man, for Wellington's seasoned and best soldiers, showed the most skillful and resourceful fighting done on this continent; and inferior to none anywhere in the history of war in bravery or brilliancy of achievement. [Source]

Battle Plan Diagram In Cooper's Book

The United States navy, by James Fenimore Cooper, included the diagram below of the Battle Of Plattsburg Bay.

Source

General Orders At Plattsburgh

Extracts From General Orders Issued By GEN. ALEX. MACOMB

At Plattsburgh, September 14, 1814 

"The Governor General of the Canadas and Commander in Chief of the British forces in North America, having invaded the Territories of the United States, with the avowed purpose of conquering the country as far as Crown Point and Ticonderoga, there to winter his forces with a view to further conquest, brought with him a powerful army and flotilla,--an army amounting to fourteen thousand men, completely equipped and accompanied by a numerous train of artillery and all the engines of war,--men who had conquered in France, Spain, Portugal, the Indies, and in various parts of the Globe, and led by the most distinguished Generals of the British army.  A flotilla also, superior to ours in vessels, men, and guns, had determined at once to crush us both by land and by water."

"The Governor General * * * appeared before the village of Plattsburgh, with his whole army, and on the eleventh, the day fixed for the general attack, the flotilla arrived."

From A List Of Pensioners...

Battle Of Plattsburgh

Source

John Ellis Wool

Source

From the National Park Service:

His [John Ellis Wool's] military career spanned more than 50 years, beginning when he organized a volunteer brigade in 1812 and became the Captain of the Thirteenth United States Infantry


There are John Ellis Wool Papers at the New York State Library.  A bio was also provided:

"When the War of 1812 broke out, he raised and headed a company of volunteers in Troy, and on 14 April 1812, he was commissioned a captain in the 13th Infantry. His troops were engaged in action at the battles of Queenstown and Plattsburgh. In between the battles he was promoted to a major in the 29th Infantry on 13 April 1813, and, afterwards, was brevetted a lieutenant colonel on 11 September 1814. He was made colonel and inspector general of the Army on 29 April 1816 and maintained this grade for more than a quarter of a century."

Major General Wool was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.  He died 10 November 1869.

Victory On September 11th

Source (Battle Of Plattsburgh Illustration, Page 60)

From Historic Lakes, The Battle of Plattsburgh, in four parts, culminating in victory on September 11, 1814.

See The Battle of Lake Champlain on Facebook, too.

On September 11, 2012, there was an article in the Press Republican [Plattsburgh, New York] entitled, "In My Opinion: Battle of Plattsburgh was pivotal."

The Naval History blog has a post entitled Unsung Heroes of the Battle of Lake Champlain.

Champlain 1812's history of the battle included an overview and a timeline.

John L. Fink Orderly Books

From the Manuscripts Division of the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, a finding aid for John L. Fink Orderly Books, 1812-1815:

"These two orderly books were kept by John L. Fink, captain and later lieutenant of the 13th Infantry, United States Army, headquartered at Sackets Harbor, New York, during the War of 1812."
"On October 13, 1812, at the Battle of Queenstown, Fink was taken prisoner by the British and sent to Quebec."  "He participated in the Battle of Plattsburg in September 1814."

His last census (he died in 1850):

United States Census, 1850

event place:  Bushwick, Kings, New York

Household Gender Age Birthplace

John L Fink M 66 New York

Deborah Frink F 39 New York

Elizabeth B Frink F 13 New York

John S Frink M 9 New York

Charles B Frink M 7 New York

Catharin Hyen F 62 Holland

Source

A Summary Of The War In 1814

Excerpts from a sign at the Cumberland Island NPS Museum:

CRISIS, CLIMAX, AND PEACE - 1814

As Britain and her allies ended their war against Napoleon, thousands of battle-hardened British regulars boarded ships for America.  In July, they captured 100 miles of coastline in Maine.  In late July they turned back the last American attempt to invade Canada.  In August, British forces marched on Washington, the American capital.

In mid-September, on Lake Champlain, at Plattsburgh Bay, New York, Lieutenant Thomas McDonough's under gunned American squadron defeated a superior British fleet.  The tide of war changed and peace talks began in Ghent, Belgium.

Not knowing the war had ended, the Battle of New Orleans saw troops under General Andrew Jackson first slow then defeat a British advance on January 8th, 1815.

Note: The Battle of the Ice Mound, Battle at Point Peter and the Battle of Bowyer occurred after the Battle of New Orleans.

General Alexander Macomb

Source

Alexander Macomb was born in Detroit on April 3, 1782, though he moved to New York and was schooled in New Jersey.

When however the war of 1812 broke out, he asked to be transferred to the artillery because there would be little opportunity of distinguishing himself in his old corps [of Engineers]. He was appointed a Colonel and given the command of the third regiment. ...in November 1812, Macomb was able to join the army on the northern frontier with his new command. Here he distinguished himself at Niagara and Fort George. In January, 1814, he was raised to the rank of Brigadier. The charge of the country bordering on Lake Champlain was now entrusted to him and it was here that he won the battle of Plattsburgh, one of the most gallant victories of the war. [Source]

He died on June 25, 1841.

British Account Of The Battle Of Plattsburgh

From A List Of Pensioners...