Left Hampton Roads

Source

James Wellborn Of North Carolina

Source: US Army Historical Register - Volume 1

We were camped near this marker that profiled James Wellborn:

"Served 27 years as state senator; colonel in War of 1812; delegate to the Constitutional Convention 1835."

Value Of The Dismal Swamp Canal

Dismal Swamp On The Map (Google)

Source

The canal proved to be of great value in the war of 1812 as a means of transporting war supplies, free from the danger of capture by the enemy's cruisers.

Joel Leftwich's Life

Source

Papers of Joel Leftwich, 1786-1890 at the University of Virginia (and also papers at the University of North Carolina):

"Born in Bedford County, Virginia, Leftwich was the great grandson of Ralph Leftwich, who emigrated from England to New Kent County, Virginia  (in what is now Caroline County)...".

"On January 19, 1809, he was elected Brigadier General of the Twelfth Brigade of Virginia Militia upon the death of General Joseph Martin and led this force to Fort Meigs in Ohio during the War of 1812.

"General Leftwich died on April 20, 1846, in Bedford County."

Also see this blog post about General Joel Leftwich.

Major Tatum's Journal

Major Howell Tatum's Journal: While Acting Topographical Engineer (1814) ...:

A bit of biographical information about Tatum:

After resigning from the army in 1782, Captain Tatum turned to the law. At some time he must have studied surveying, an accomplishment of many of the bright young men of the colonies. His topographical notes of the voyage down the Alabama River in 1814 show how well he was versed in that art. As a lawyer, he was in Nashville as early as 1790, for when Tennessee was organized as a territory under federal authority after it had been ceded by North Carolina, Tatum was one of the lawyers whom the new governor licensed to practise law at that place on December 15 of that year. It is of interest to see who were the others. In the records of the local court the names stand as follows: "Josiah Love, John Overton, Andrew Jackson, David Allison, Howell Tatum, James Cole Mountflorence and James White.

A reference to William Weatherford's plantation in an excerpt from Major Tatum's Journal:

A Tribute To Captain Otway Burns

From Captain Otway Burns, patriot, privateer and legislator ...

Below is an excerpt of a tribute to Captain Otway Burns, privateer, in a ceremony that took place in Raleigh, NC, on October 30, 1901:

Source

Melee At Fort Macon

Mess Hall At Fort Macon

During the war of 1812 there were some 300 soldiers, mostly militia, at Fort Macon just opposite Beaufort.  On one occasion, when [Captain Otway] Burns was in port, some of them, having gotten into a row with citizens of the town while drunk, were being roughly handled. They called out the rest of their comrades to whom some of the officers very foolishly issued 12 rounds of ammunition per man. Captain Burns interposed and his exertions alone saved bloodshed. One of the soldiers, however, struck him, and Burns promptly knocked the man down. When this news reached the ears of the crew of the Snap Dragon, they came en masse to avenge the insult. It required all Burns eloquence to quiet his men, who very probably would have taken the fort and all the militia.  Source:  Captain Otway Burns, patriot, privateer and legislator ...

Captain Otway Burns In The Old Burying Ground

Otway Burns, a Privateer from Swansboro, North Carolina:

Captain Otway Burns Is Buried At The Old Burying Ground, Beaufort, North Carolina

Fort Macon Replaced Fort Hampton

Fort Hampton guarded North Carolina's Beaufort Inlet during the War of 1812.  After Fort Hampton's destruction, Fort Macon replaced it.

Interior Shot Of Fort Macon

From the North Carolina State Park site:

...a small masonry fort named Fort Hampton was built to guard Beaufort Inlet during 1808-09. This fort guarded the inlet during the subsequent War of 1812, but it was abandoned shortly after the end of the war. Shore erosion, combined with a hurricane in 1825, swept this fort into Beaufort Inlet by 1826.

The War of 1812 demonstrated the weakness of existing coastal defenses of the United States and prompted the US government into beginning construction on an improved chain of coastal fortifications for national defense. The present fort, Fort Macon, was a part of this chain.


From North Carolina War of 1812 Bicentennial's website's History of Fort Hampton:

"The citizens of Beaufort felt proud and secure with their new fort when the country at last went to war with Great Britain in the War of 1812. During the war, the presence of the fort forced British warships to keep their distance. Apparently the British believed the fort was quite formidable, because they never attacked it."

Post-War Preference For Detroit

Source

West Point, May 27th, 1815

To A. Partridge
Capt. _ M. A.

Sir,

Being extremely desirous of commencing the duties of my station- I take the liberty of addressing you.  As my friends all reside in the Western Country I should prefer being stationed therein.  If you will be kind enough to use your influence to have me ordered to Detroit I shall esteem it a favour meriting the gratitude of----

Your humble Servt

Henry W. Griswold
Lieut. ____


Henry Griswold's notebooks are mentioned in an article entitled "Mathematics Education At West Point: The First Hundred Years."

Griswold Family Papers at Harvard are primarily those of Henry W. Griswold's  father, Stanley Griswold (1763-1815) [and mother Elizabeth].
Chiefly papers of Stanley Griswold (1763-1815) and his son Henry W. Griswold (d. 1834). Stanley Griswold began as a clergyman in Connecticut, became acting governor of the Michigan Territory, and ended as a judge in Illinois Territory. There are papers relating to the Connecticut Land Company, of which Stanley Griswold was one of the proprietors. Henry W. Griswold graduated from West Point in 1815. He served in the United States Army, attaining the rank of Captain, until his death in 1834. His papers include accounts, official army letters and documents, and family letters. In 1825 Griswold married Ann Heard, daughter of John Heard Jr., and the Griswold family papers came to the library with the Heard family papers.

So he didn't get his wish (also here)?


Military History. — Cadet of the Military Academy, July 28, 1813, to Mar. 2, 1815

Served: in garrison at Ft. Niagara, N. Y., 1815‑17, — Sackett's Harbor
N. Y., 1817‑18, — Ft. Washington, Md., 1818‑19, — and New York harbor, 1819‑20; on Commissary duty, 1820‑21; at the Military Academy, as Asst. Instructor of Infantry Tactics, Jan. 27, 1821, to Feb. 14,

1822; in garrison at Ft. Independence. Mas., 1822; as Adjutant, 1st

Artillery, Sept. 25, 1822, to Oct. 11, 1831, and in garrison at Ft. Monroe, Va. (Artillery School for Practice), 1831, — New berne, N. C., 1831‑32, —

Beaufort, N. C., 1832‑33, — Ft. Monroe, Va., 1833, — Ft. Mitchell, Ala., 1833‑34, — and Castle Pinckney, S. C., 1834.

Died, Oct. 23, 1834, at Castle Pinckney, S. C.

Artillery Roots

The U.S. Army's Fort Bragg page concerning the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, "...[indicated that it] was first constituted on 11 January 1812 in the Regular Army as a company in the 2nd Regiment of Artillery."

It was organized in May 1812 as Captain James N. Barker's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery. This unit was consolidated in late 1813 with Captain Spotswood Henry's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery (also organized in 1812), and the consolidated unit designated as Captain James N. Barker's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery.

The Company also participated in 2 campaigns of the War of 1812, between 1812 and 1815: Canada and Louisiana 1815.

Source

My ancestor, William Hinds, was recruited by Spotswood Henry, and was a member of the 2nd Regiment of Artillery.

William Tom, 1812 Soldier & Texas Patriot

At one point I thought that William Tom's wife, Kesiah Hinds, might have been related; that theory has been dispelled, but the Toms are interesting in their own right.

From Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas, a biography of William Tom's son, that included a mini-bio of William:

William Tom

Who served under

General Jackson

in the Creek War, 1813

Soldier in the Army of Texas, 1835

Born in Maury County, Tennessee

January 12, 1792

Died in Guadalupe County, Texas

February 15, 1871

His Wife

Kissiah Hines Tom

Born October 15, 1805

Died July 13, 1862

In 1860 the Tom family was living in Guadalupe Co., Texas. The census stated that Kissiah was born in North Carolina.

United States Census, 1850

Residence:     Guadalupe county, Guadalupe, Texas

Household    Gender    Age

    William Tom     M     58y

      Keziah Tom     F     45y

    Houston Tom     M     21y

    William Tom     M     17y

    Nancy Tom     F     15y

    George Tom     M     10y

    Dudley Tom     M     4y

    Philepa Morehead     F     22y

    Jane Morehead     F     2y

    Sarah Morehead     F     2m

Privateer Captain Otway Burns

Correction to the original post:  Below is a portrait of Captain Otway Burns.

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Update and correction:  The portrait below is a depiction of Captain Owen Burns, Otway's son, not Otway Burns as originally posted.

From Captain Otway Burns, patriot, privateer and legislator ...:

Source

It was probably required that application for letters of Marque and Reprisal should be renewed before each voyage for we have a copy of the application made by Captain Burns on July 1, 1813.  In that he specifies that the vessel is of 147 tons burthen named "Snap Dragon", number of crew 75, armament 5 carriage guns, 50 muskets and 4 blunderbusses, Captain, Otway Burns; First Lieutenant James Brown.

Otway Burns was born in the county of Onslow... .  He was born on Queen's Creek two miles from Swannsboro in the year 1775.  His father also named Otway Burns was born at the same place. The father of the latter, Francis Burns, settled in North Carolina in 1734, coming from Glasgow Scotland.