Degredation Inflicted By Armstrong

Source

The Life of Major-General William H. Harrison... ...:

General Armstrong's plan of the campaign submitted to the President on the 30th of April, 1814, left no doubt that General Harrison would not be assigned a command in the active operations of the year.

But the Secretary of War [Armstrong] was not content with the degredation he had inflicted upon the brave Harrison in withdrawing him from his command and withholding him from active service during the approaching campaign. 

He still persisted in interfering with his prerogatives as the commander of the district. His next unworthy act was to dispatch to Major Holmes, a subordinate officer at Detroit, an order to take two hundred men from that port and proceed on board of Commodore Sinclair's fleet destined for Mackinac. This proceeding on the part of the Secretary of War was a gross invasion of military propriety as well as a direct insult to General Harrison, whatever may have been the design.

U.S.S. General Pike

Source of U.S.S. General Pike Drawing

Commodore Arthur Sinclair commanded the U.S.S. General Pike.

From the (Canadian) War of 1812 website:

 "...Commander William Mulcaster used HMS Royal George to cover his commodore, preventing Chauncey’s General Pike from making its killing strike and allowing Yeo time to recover and begin his mad dash toward the head of the lake."

Sinclair Papers

Papers about Commodore Arthur Sinclair are imbedded in the papers of his descendant, the author, Upton Sinclair, housed at the Indiana University Archives.

Sinclair mss., 1814-1968, bulk 1878-1968
Papers, 1814-1968 , of Upton Beall Sinclair at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

"Also present are copies and transcripts of correspondence, 1814-1879, relating to Commodore Arthur Sinclair and to the Southworth family."

The Story Of A Sailor And His Commodore Ancestor

Source of Arthur Sinclair's Portrait

A news article entitled Sailor finds War of 1812 ancestor's grave was published in the Army Times and described a sailor's search for Commodore Arthur Sinclair's grave.

"Sinclair, who served in the Great Lakes campaign against the British in the War of 1812, joined the Navy when he was about 12 years old."

Another version of the story can be found in the U.S. Naval Institute blog.

A biography of Arthur Sinclair, the grandson of Commodore Arthur Sinclair, mentioned that the Commodore commanded the United States sloop-of-war General Pike on Lake Ontario.

The Commodore was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia.