Letter From Niagara

  

Image 300

May 1813

letter from Niagara

...enemy has...himself of the capital of the province...

Cross-posted at Detour Through History

Lydia Bacon's Travel

Biography of Mrs. Lydia B. Bacon:

"...an account of her travels, and of the scenes through which she passed during the well-remembered war of 1812. This account, as she states, was made up from letters written at the time to her friends, and extracts from her journal, and commences with the date of her embarkation with the troops for Philadelphia en route for Pittsburgh, whither her husband, as Commissary, had preceded his regiment to prepare for its arrival."

From The Writings Of James Madison

Source

Letter - Probable Detroit Spoils Of War

Source (Page 61)

Attack On Fort Michilimackinac

Distant View Of Mackinac Island

Source

"Capt. Charles Roberts to Colonel Baynes: Fort Michilimackinac, 17th July, 1812. Sir,—On the 15th instant I received letters by Express from Major General Brock, with orders to adopt the most prudent measures either of offence or defence which circumstances might point out, and haying received intelligence from the best information that large reinforcements were daily expected to be thrown into this garrison, and finding that the Indians who had been collected would soon have abandoned me if I had not made the attempt, with the thorough conviction that my situation at St. Joseph's was totally indefensible, I determined to lose no time in making the meditated attack on this Fort."

Less Than 100 Men

1796 Map Of Detroit (Source)

From an undated letter (probably confiscated in August, 1812, during Hull's surrender):

Source - Page 61

James Madison Letter Of August 23rd

Source

Letter From Auction House Brochure

Ryan's Court Martial

From the Archives online at Indiana University:
1812 Aug. 10 Hall, Amos, fl. 1813
Autographed letter signed. 3 p. 25 cm.
Head Quarters, Niagara Frontier. To William Wadsworth. Deals with the court martial trial of John Ryan a British spy.

Specification #1 At Ryan's Court Martial:

Letter Of The 27th

Cannon At Campbell's Island, Illinois

"The battle of Campbell's Island", July 19, 1814

Black Hawk's memory is at fault, he does not state exactly what these Indian messengers told him. Colonel McKay, whose army of British and Indians had attacked Prairie du Chien, in a letter to his superior officer, under date of July 27, 1814, says that on the seventeenth of July about three o'clock in the afternoon, after the gun boat "Governor Clark" had been driven from its position by the British cannon and had started down the river, that he immediately sent off a canoe with three men, an Iowan, who had come from Mackinac with him, and two of the six Sauks, who had joined him on the Fox river, that he gave them four kegs of gun powder and ordered them to pass the "Governor Clark" and get as soon as possible to the Rapids at the Rock river, where he believed the gun boat would run aground; that they should collect all the Sauks and annoy the "Governor Clark" and prevent their landing to get fire wood, etc.

Black Hawk collected his warriors and determined to attack the boats which had now started up the river, as Black Hawk says : "I collected my warriors and determined to pursue the boats, I immediately started with my party by land, in pursuit, thinking that some of their boats might get aground, or that the GREAT SPIRIT would put them in our power, if he wished them taken."

Gilmer Letter Regarding The British In Hampton

Source - Library Of Virginia Online

Excerpts from the Educator Resource for Francis Walker Gilmer Letter (same link as above):

"Letter, Francis Walker Gilmer, Montevideo, Buckingham County, to William Wirt, Richmond, 8 July 1813. Personal Papers Collection, Accession 18763. Library of Virginia."

"Gilmer’s outrage at the conduct of the British forces at Hampton under British Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn is one of the most controversial episodes of the war. After defeating elements of Virginia militia, British forces entered the city on June 25, 1813. During the withdrawal the next day, troops destroyed and looted property, murdered citizens, and raped several women. Cockburn and other officers blamed Canadian Chasseurs (French deserters recruited by the English) for the mayhem. Whatever the truth, the incident provoked deep outrage throughout America. “Remember Hampton” became a rallying cry for American troops, including those under Jackson at New Orleans."

She And Her Husband Deserted To The British Squadron

From the Digital collections online at Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia:

"...he was well acquainted with Betty a female slave the property of Polly Hudnall, that according to his firm belief and the common belief and report of the neighborhood she deserted to the British squadron then lying in the Potomac in the month of November last, in company with her husband Charles...".  June 12, 1815

Categorized under " Citizens Claims of Property Lost to British Army"

Senator Butler's Letter Regarding A Spy

Source

Pierce Butler Deposition (online at the Louisiana Digital Library):

Pierce Butler

Butler's Farm near Philad'a

Septbr 26 - 1812

Talbot Chambers Ordered To Detroit

Enclosed a copy of an order to repair to Detroit dated July 11, 1815....

Fold3 Source

See another blog post concerning Talbot Chambers here.

Letter To Wilkinson

Archives Online At Indiana University, specifically War of 1812....with an example:

Excerpt Of Letter Described Below

1798 Apr. 6
McHenry, James, 1753-1816
Autographed letter draft 1 p. 26 cm.
View item(s)
War Department. To James Wilkinson. Deals with recruiting in Kentucky.
Purchased. Source unknown. 1944-1945
McHenry, James, 1753-1816, United States Secretary of War
Recruiting and enlistment
Wilkinson, James, 1757-1825, General

Falls Of Ohio

Falls of Ohio Mural

Letter written by Colonel Jonas Simonds of the 6th Infantry (23rd March 1811?) from his post at Fort Fayette:

Fold3

"...for better security of the transports under my command in descending the river--but I find no authorized pilot in that place or any authority for the employ of one.... ."  "...fully secure without employing a citizen pilot--except for the Falls of the Ohio."

Source

Fort Stoddert Mentioned

Letter postmarked from Sunbury, Pa., on September 13, 1811, that mentioned Fort Stoddert near Mobile Bay in Alabama (formerly Mississippi Territory):

Fold3 - Source

Plant In Southern Alabama

Stephen Foster's Father

Biography, songs and musical compositions of Stephen C. Foster, Authors: Foster, Stephen Collins, 1826-1864, Foster, Morrison, 1823-1904:

From Historic Pittsburgh

"My father [William Barclay Foster] was a man of great public spirit and unbounded patriotism.  During the War of 1812 he was appointed Quartermaster and Commissary of the U.S. Army."

University of Pittsburgh Archives and Manuscript Collections:

Subseries 10. William B. Foster Papers, 1814-1955
Scope and Content Notes:
This subseries includes the business papers of Stephen Foster's father, William B. Foster, Sr. It consists of correspondence, papers related to court cases, the War of 1812, the establishment of Lawrenceville, and materials general by Morrison Foster related to his attempts to settle his father's estate.

Section: 1. War of 1812 Correspondence and Transactions
Scope and Content Notes:
This section contains the correspondence of William B. Foster during his years as a commissary agent for the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. Most of these papers deal with supply and military sustenance issues; occasionally a letter emerges that tells of William’s amicable relationship with several of these military officers.

Arrest Of Captain Thomas Spencer

From the "Letters Received..." file of George W. Sevier (Tenn.), a letter postmarked from Fort Hampton, dated 2 April 1811:

Source

Letter To The Illinois Governor

Map Of Native American Tribes

Extract of a letter from Colonel Anthony Butler, commanding Michigan territory and its dependencies and the western district of upper Canada, dated 12th Feb., 1814 to [Illinois] Governor Edwards. [Source]

"They [Native Americans] have committed several murders lately--A letter from the Illinois territory, says, 'Much do I fear that we shall find that the armistice has had the effect of pampering the...[Native Americans] in the winter, for war in the summer.'"

 Anthony Butler's bio from ArchiveGrid:

Colonel Butler was commandant at Detroit in 1815. A resident of Russellville, Kentucky, who in March 1813 was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 28th U.S. Infantry; in 1814 colonel 2nd Rifle Regiment, serving on Northwestern frontier. In December 1813, in command of Detroit; January 1815, ordered to Detroit to assume military command of all forces in Michigan Territory, and civil and military control of western Ontario. Took over Mackinac from British, summer of 1815; honorably discharged, June 15. Returned to Russellville; cotton planter in Monticello, Mississippi, 1824. While visiting Russellville in 1846, he was killed in a steamboat disaster on the Ohio River.

Gilbert C. Russell

Source - Fold3

Baton Rouge

April 4, 1811

Cols Cushing and Sparks "in arrest" and their treaty

commence on the 15th

An unkind description of Major H. Mullen's wife

Whose reputation was known in St. Louis circa 1805

And Washington Cantonment circa 1809 or 1810

Russell Offered Himself To Be A

Chickasaw Agent 

Laying Within The Limits Of

Tennesse And Kentucky