Modified War of 1812 Timeline

(Modified) Timeline - War of 1812 

Original by Martin Kelly, About.com Guide (no longer online?)

• 1803-1812 - British impress approximately 10,000 Americans forcing them to work on British ships.
• 1806 - The British blockade France; American ships are caught in the middle and the British seize approximately 1000 US ships.
• June 1807 - The American ship Chesapeake is fired on by the British ship Leopard after refusing to be boarded. This creates an international incident.
• 1811 - Battle of Tippecanoe - Tecumseh's brother (the Prophet) leads attack on William Henry Harrison's army of 1000 men.
• June 18, 1812 - America declares war against the British. 
• August 16, 1812 - U.S. loses Ft. Mackinac as the British invade American territory.
• 1812 - Three attempts are made by the U.S. to invade Canada. They all end in failure.
• 1812 - The USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") defeats the HMS Guerriere.
• January 1813 - Battle of Frenchtown. The American survivors are killed in the Raisin River Massacre.
• April 1813 - Battle of York (Toronto). 
• September 1813 - Battle of Lake Erie. 
• October 1813 - Battle of Thames (Ontario, Canada). Tecumseh is killed in a US victory.
• March 27, 1814 - Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Mississippi Territory). 
• 1814 - The British plan a 3-part invasion of US: Chesapeake Bay, Lake Champlain, and the mouth of Mississippi River. The British are eventually turned back at Baltimore harbor. 
• August 24-25, 1814 - The British burn Washington, D.C. and Madison flees the White House.
• September 1814 - Battle of Plattsburgh (Lake Champlain).
• December 24, 1814 - Treaty of Ghent. The British and American diplomats agree to return to the status quo from before the war.
• January 1815 - Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson scores a huge victory and paves the way to the White House.

Peaceful Coercison By Embargo

Source

December 1807 - Thomas Jefferson attempts "peaceful coercion" of the British with his embargo but it results in economic disaster for merchants.

Governor Hull, A New England Man

General Hull in an article regarding New England Men In Michigan History as noted in Michigan History, Volume 5:

Vice President Elbridge Gerry

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Charles And Delia

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An account of Admiral Charles Stewart's interesting marriage here.

"Charles Stewart was born in Philadelphia on the 22nd of July, 1776. His parents were natives of Ireland. His father, who was a mariner in the merchant service, came to America at an early age. Charles was the youngest of eight children, and lost his father before he was two years of age. He entered the merchant service on the ocean at the age of thirteen years as a cabin-boy, and rose gradually to the office of captain. In March, 1798, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Navy of the United States, and made his first cruise under Commodore Barney."

"...the career of Lieutenant Stewart was a most honorable one to himself and the navy of his country." [Source]

Memoir Of Alexander Macomb

Shortly after Macomb had entered the encampment beyond the Alleghany, an incident occurred which came near doing him a serious injury.

An officer visited him in his tent, and in the course of conversation, broached the politics of the day, the principal theme of which was the change of administration, Mr. Jefferson having been not long before elected to the Presidency. This officer was very abusive of the new President, in terms not merely indecorous, but punishable by the Articles of War. Disapproving of such intemperance, Macomb begged him not to continue a language, so disrespectful to the head of the Army and the Nation, and which, used any where but in his own tent, he would feel constrained to notice, as a breach of discipline. The expressions were overheard, attributed to Macomb, and reported to Head Quarters, for which he received a severe reprimand. He, however, soon succeeded in satisfying the General of his innocence of the charge, though without exposing the officer guilty of the indecorum.[Source]

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

Garrison Surgeons' Mates

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The Diplomatic Policy Of Mr. Madison Unveiled

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"The Political History of Mr. Madison will be first and briefly discussed m order to shew us what we had a right to expect of him and to prove that hatred to Great Britain and attachment to French politics were deeply root d in his own character totally independent of his connection with Mr. Jefferson."

Cared Not To Evade It

Partial Map Of Canada Circa 1805 (LOC)

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Old Point Comfort Lighthouse

Old Point Comfort Lighthouse (Chesapeake Bay In Virginia)

"[In the Revolutionary War] the transports with the land forces were sent up the James to circumvent the British and help to make possible the surrender of Yorktown. The British ships found this a rendezvous in the trying war of 1812, and here took place, just off Old Point Comfort, the famous Merrimac and Monitor engagement... ." [Source]

"A party of Royal Marines landed at Old Point Comfort... ." [Signage at Museum at Fortress Monroe]

Surgeon Sylvester Day

From the Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, a finding aid for the Sylvester Day Collection, 1813-1920, Creator: Day, Sylvester, 1778-1851:

Biography
Sylvester Day was born in 1778, the son of Elkanah Day and Lavinia Merrill. He worked as garrison surgeon's mate in the United States Army in 1807, and was at Fort Michilimackinac from 1810 to July 17, 1812, when British forces took the fort during the War of 1812. After his parole by British forces, he travelled to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked as a surgeon until General William Hull surrendered the city to the British in August 1812. He remained in Detroit in order to help care for sick and wounded soldiers who were unable to leave with the rest of the American troops. On October 16, 1812, he left Detroit with American prisoners of war on the British Brig Adams, headed for Fort Erie. However, the United States Navy captured the Adams while en route to its destination, and forced Day to disembark before burning the ship and all of his personal effects. Following this incident, Day began a legal suit against the U.S. government in an attempt to gain reparations for the property he lost in the burning, especially his extensive medical library. The U.S. Army appointed Day a surgeon of the 4th Regiment of Infantry on March 13, 1813. He transferred to the 5th Infantry on May 17, 1815, and was on duty in Detroit, Michigan, until 1818. He worked as post surgeon at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, from 1818 to 1820, and later became post surgeon for the Allegheny Arsenal. Day worked at other locations before his death at Allegheny Arsenal, Pennsylvania, in 1851.

Fort At Mackinac Island

226 Dr. Sylvester Day went to Michilimackinac as surgeon's mate at the garrison as early as 1810. He and his family resided on Astor Street at the time of the surrender of the fort. He had one son named Hannibal, who later became Gen. Hannibal Day. U. S. A. After leaving Michilimackinac they resided at Detroit. Dr. Day was a Mason and master of Zion Lodge, No. 62, in 1817. The same year he subscribed $350 toward the University Fund. {Michigan Pioneer Collections; Annals of Fort Mackinaw by Kelton, p. 46.)  [Source]

Lieutenant-Colonel Bouchette

Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bouchette, son of the Commodore, began his career in the provincial navy under his father. He made the first survey of the harbor of Toronto in May, 1793, received his appointment as second lieutenant in the following year, serving in the navy until 1796. In 1797, he commanded an armed row-galley which cruised between Montreal and Quebec. His reports seem to have led to the arrest of Colonel McLean, afterwards executed as a spy. He took a military course in 1800. In 1804, he was appointed Surveyor-General of Lower Canada, raised a regiment, Quebec Volunteers, in 1812, and in 1813 was appointed lieutenant-colonel and transferred to staff and intelligence service.

Organizing The New Army

 The Secretary of War Eustis, desiring Lieut. Col. Macomb, to assist him in organizing the new Army, called him from his duties as Chief Engineer for the Southern States, and appointed him, on the 28th April, 1812, Adjutant General at the seat of Government. In this momentous exigency, he was charged with the most important trusts. Every thing was to be remoulded and cast into a warlike frame." [Source]

The Age Of Liberty Established 1800 To 1824

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New York Hospitality Pre-War

Source - Tavern

In 1811 there were thirteen hundred and three groceries and one hundred and sixty taverns licensed to sell " strong drink" in the city of New York. Hospitality and good-fellowship were the order of the day. [Source]

Moffat's Military Band

"In the summer of 1812 there was occasionally music after supper, at about 6:30 p.m., at the Battery flagstaff, or from a band, located in a boat. Different bands volunteered for such occasions. 

Source

One of the most attractive mentioned at the time was Moffat's military band of the second regiment of artillery. Sometimes the music would be from the 'portico of the flagstaff.' The flagstaff was about one bundled feet high and stood at the southeast part of the Battery parade, and was surrounded by an octagon enclosure of boards, with seats inside and a roof to shelter from the weather. Refreshments and drinks were served from the building. A large flag, belonging to the city, was displayed from this pole at appropriate times." [Source]

Call For Additional Troops

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Bitter Beyond Expression

Sixty Years In A School-room

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