On Retreat From Fort George

British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - INDEX ONLY
Microform: c-11837 [Image 5327]

McDonald, David.  Private.  Provincial Dragoons.

Re Horse taken by the enemy on retreat from Fort George, 14 - 6 - 1813.

C. 704. pp. 148, 147, and 131-159.

General George Trotter

Source

Smith's Knoll On Their Left Hand

Source [Portrait of Wm. Merritt Mentioned Below]

Journal and Transactions of the Wentworth Historical Society...:

The British, commanded by Col. Harvey, and consisting of 704 men, composed of parts of the 49th and 8th King's, with a few militia--the late Hon. William Hamilton Merritt, a militia dragoon officer, being one --having left Burlington Heights, where Gen. Vincent, with a force of about 1700 covered both sides of the present road or 1800 men were entrenched, they proceeded along the road leading to the Red Hill and to Niagara. These men left Burlington Heights about 11 p.m. on June 5th. On proceeding eastward they would have, on making the attack, the James Gage farm and cemetery on their right hand; the Williamson property (then owned by Wm. Gage) and Smith's Knoll on their left hand.

Archaeology activity near Smith's Knoll

Isaac Frazer's Affidavit

A search of Upper Canada Land Petitions can be found at the Library and Archives of Canada website; occasionally affadavits about War of 1812 service can be found among some of the petition papers.

"C," Bundle 5 

C-1737

Petition 170

22 April 1850

Peter Ruttan affidavit vouching for the late Captain James Cotter

Isaac Frazer, late lieutenant, Militia Dragoons, On Duty in 1812

THE UPPER CANADIAN MILITIA.

MIDLAND DISTRICT (Continued.)

 Lieutenant Henry Davey.

 Ensign John C. Clark.

TROOP OF DRAGOONS.

Captain Christopher Fralick.

Lieutenant John Fraser.

 Isaac Fraser. 

Killed By His Horse

From the Manuscripts Division of the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan:


  Undated . David Riddle ALS to John Lewis Thomson (2 pages)
Regarding the military service of Thomas and Samuel Riddle, both veterans of the war. Samuel served on the Northern frontier and Thomas served under General Hull. Riddle's younger brother, Abram, "was about to march for the frontier when he was killed by his horse falling on him he was a sergeant of a volunteer troop of Dragoons, in the state of Ohio...".


Also see John L. Fink Orderly Books, 1812-1815 post from the same source.

Rendezvous At Georgetown

William B. Northcutt Journal

"Both [William Northcutt and probably Robert Harrison, his teacher] volunteered in the army and the school broke up, he volunteered in Maurice Langhorn's company of Rifle Men for six months and I volunteered in Capt. Garrard's troop of twelve months Light Dragoons, and was attached to Jas V. Ball's Squadron of United States Light Dragoons, on the 20th of August 1812 we rendezvoused at Georgetown Scot County Ky and took up our line of March for Malden Upper Canada.  There were three Ridgements [regiments] of.....".

Some Northcutt Family information was contained in William's Journal (ancestors here).

Canceled Pension

Source

By the Journal of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada:

Of Artemas Cushman, of the Township of Camden, in the Midland District, setting forth that he volunteered in His Majesty's service during the late war and served as a private in Captain Christopher Fralick's company of Addington Dragoons during which service he had his thigh broken and was otherwise injured by a fall from his horse in the night when conveying a despatch from Kingston to Colonel Johnston's in the fall of 1812, in consequence of which he has been ever since unable to earn his livelihood;--he is often put to much expense for medical attendance; that he was examined before the medical board after the war, and received a certificate and obtained a pension 'till about 1822; that he underwent another examination before Doctors Powell and Macaulay when he had every reason to expect his pension would be continued, but was subsequently informed that there was no money in the treasury, and has lately been given to understand that his name is struck off the pension list, as the commissioners had reported unfavorably on his case and praying relief in the premises.

Diary Of Lt. Lang Of The 19th Light Dragoons

Source (The Nineteenth...)

The War of 1812 Website (Canadian) featured The War from the Saddle: The Diary of Lieutenant John Lang, 19th Light Dragoons, 1813-14, an artifact that is held at the William R. Perkins Library of Duke University.  [I couldn't find a reference to the diary on the library's website]

" Lieutenant John Lang, whose service diary is the subject of this article, joined the Dragoons aboard the HMS Majestic on 5 April 1813."

Trooper Of The 19Th Light Dragoons

Source

19th Light Dragoons

Source

The war in which the regiment was about to engage was one in which cavalry could play only a subordinate part. The country in which they were to operate was a vast expanse of forest and swamp, with a few sparsely inhabited clearings. The chief mode of communication was by boat. The war was one to be fought out by small bodies of men, far from their supports wielding the axe and the oar as much as the rifle; forage was hard to get, and there was little place for mounted men. Under these conditions, the 19th Light Dragoons were only engaged in small detachments, never more than a squadron, seldom more than a troop. Their duties were of a most harassing kind, on outpost and reconnaissance duty.  [Source]

Prelude To Tippecanoe

Order of March:

Source

27th September [1811]— The army was embodied, consisting of between ten and twelve hundred men ; and under the immediate command of Gov. Harrison, we took up our line of march from Vincennes....

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in November, 1811.