Captain Thomas Forster

 One of the notables buried in Erie [PA] Cemetery:

Thomas Forster (1762-1836)
Born near Harrisburg, he served in the Revolution and was a colonel of volunteers during Whiskey Rebellion and also served as captain in the War of 1812. Forster was a collector for the Port of Erie (1799-1836), and was the originator of the Erie and Waterford Turnpike.



Forster's papers are found in the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Rare Book Collection and described as follows:

Thomas Forster Correspondence: letters, documents, accounts, 1793-1837, of Colonel Forster (1762-1836), who led a volunteer regiment during the Whiskey Insurrection and was the first surveyor of the City of Erie, where he served as Collector of the Port from 1799 to 1836.

From the History of Erie County, Pennsylvania:

Ohio's First Battle Site - 1812

The first War of 1812 battle* on Ohio soil was fought here when about 60 exhausted citizen soldiers were ambushed by about 130 Indians on September 29.  Twenty men held the Indians at bay in a cabin while the main body escaped by boat to Cedar Point.  Two days later the defenders were rescued.  Forty Indians including several chiefs and 8 Americans were killed in the skirmish, neither a victory nor a defeat for either side.

*Battle of Marblehead Peninsula/Bull Island (see additional information here)

Wordless Wednesday - Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry

From Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie by James Cooke Mills:

Uniforms of the 22nd Infantry

A drawing of the uniforms of the 22nd Infantry can be found here.   The 22nd was recruited in Pennsylvania with Hugh Brady as its colonel.  A chronological account of the 22nd in the War of 1812 can be seen here.

Monuments To Casuaties Of The Battle Of Plattsburgh

From History of Lake Champlain:... monuments erected at Riverside Cemetery (here) in Plattsburgh, New York, in honor of both British and American casualties of the Battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812.

Resolved  That the citizens of Plattsburgh in connection with such other persons as may unite with them will on the 11th ofSeptember instantly proceed to the erection of plain marble monuments to mark the several spots where rest the mortal remains of the American and British officers who fell at the memorable battle of Plattsburgh.

Seaman's Protection Certificates

An excerpt from an article by Ruth Priest Dixon about Seaman's Protection Certificates in the National Archives Prologue Magazine:

Genealogical Fallout from the War of 1812

The impressment of American seamen by the British was one of the causes of the War of 1812. The practice also resulted in the creation of extensive records about merchant seamen that are of great value to genealogists and historians. These Seamen's Protection Certificate Applications for what might well be called a merchant seaman's passport have remained virtually untouched since they were originally filed. Now they are being organized and preserved, and those from the early years are already indexed. These records are in the Old Military and Civil Branch at the National Archives.

NARAtions also published an article about the Seamen's Protection Certificates.

Fort Barbee

From History of Mercer County, Ohio,....: 

Fort Barbee was erected by Colonel Barbee near the west bank of the St. Mary's River, on the site of what afterwards became a Lutheran cemetary [sic], in the town of St. Marys.

From The Ohio Country....

The necessity for additional roads and places for the protection of food and other military supplies being urgent, General Harrison returned to St. Marys, where he found the expected Kentucky troops. Colonel Joshua Barbee was instructed to build there an ample fortification, and storehouse within the stockades, which was named Fort Barbee.

Winchester's report of the enemy was received by Harrison at Fort Barbee September 30th, as was also a report from Governor Meigs of a strong force of the enemy opposing Winchester. The three thousand men then at Fort Barbee were at once started direct for Defiance, Harrison commanding in person.

Women's Roles In The Northern Theater

 The Champlain 1812 website has resources  for lesson plans for parents and teachers, including one entitled

Misses, Mistresses, and Misconception, Women’s Roles in the Northern Theater Of the War of 1812 (a 28 page pdf file). 

An excerpt:
   

The Plattsburgh [NY] Republican, in November 1812, published the following, an indication of how women contributed to the war effort: “The young ladies of Manchester, Bennington county, have presented the troops belonging to the Vermont detached Militia with one hundred pairs of socks and mittens, which will ensure them the esteem of the soldiers, and entitle them to the respect of the citizens.” September, the time of the Battle of Plattsburgh, was the time when women had to begin planning for winter. Crops had to be harvested, preserved, placed in a root cellar, or dried. The advancing British army threatened this process, and raised fears of a loss of the winter food supply.

Maps Of Operations of The Canadian Army

From the Richardson War of 1812 book:

 Sketch Map of the Operations of the

 Right Division of the Canadian Army

 and the

Left Division of the American Army

1812 - '13

Operations on the Detroit River  1812-13

Wordless Wednesday - Capture Of Detroit Medal

From the Major John Richardson book:

Gold medal awarded to Leiut.-Col. John Macdonnell, P.A.D.C. to commemorate the capture of Detroit, now in possession of John Alexander Macdonnell, K.C., Alexandria.

Fictional Account Of The Siege Of Detroit

At The Siege of Detroit, A Story Of Two Ohio Boys In The War of 1812  is a fictional account of the War of 1812.  See related post at "Relatively Fiction."

Josiah Snelling Papers

The Josiah Snelling papers are housed at the Minnesota Historical Society.  Included in his papers are:
 

Letters from Fort Independence to Daniel Parker of the War Department, December 6 and 20, 1812.

Contains information on military appointments, mention William Henry Harrison's role in the War of 1812, and refer to Snelling's interest in obtaining a West Point appointment for James Spencer.


Snelling's appointment as a 1st Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry on May 4, 1808.

More about Snelling and his role in the surrender of Detroit here.

Fort Barbee, Fort St. Marys And Girty's Town

Fort St Marys --


"When Wayne had Fort St. Marys built on the site in 1795, many referred to it as Fort Girty Town. Fort names were sometimes a generation behind in St. Marys, because when Fort Barbee was built during the War of 1812, many referred to that post as Fort St. Marys."

Francis Scott Key Wrote A Song About It

Star-Spangled Banner from this website.

An interactive version found here!  It's fascinating.

Masonic Lodge

ARMY LODGE NO. 24

FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS

1813 - 1820

Settlers and soldiers moving west brought with them familiar institutions such as the Masonic Lodge.  Here at Camp Meigs, military officers were authorized by Ohio Militia Captain Henry Brush, Ohio Masonic Grand Master, to establish the first lodge in Northwest Ohio on September 13, 1813.  Colonel William Anderson was Master , Lt. Col. William McMillan, Senior Warden, and Captain Charles Gratiot, Junior Warden.  Built under the command of Gen. William Henry Harrison, the fort was named for Ohio Governor, Return Jonathan Meigs.

Garrisoned by less than 2,400 regulars and militia, Fort Meigs withstood two sieges by combined British and Indian forces, and played an important role in the northwestern campaigns of the War of 1812.  Lt. Almon Gibbs commanded the final 40-man detachment which lowered the flag and retired the colors in 1815.  He later served as the first Master of Northern Light Lodge No. 40 Free and Accepted Masons, founded March 5, 1817 in Waynesfield (now Maumee) and as the village's first postmaster and Justice of the Peace.

War of 1812 Index Of Awards Of Claims Of Soldiers

From Index of Awards of Claims of Soldiers - War of 1812, 1860, Adjutant...,  [NY State]:

# Name of Applicant    Residence    Amt     Allowed

4,971 Richmond, David Kingston, MI 21.00

8,003 Richmond, Ebenezer Independence, Allegany, NY 60.50

5,306 Richmond, Geo by Exec. Wilson, Niagara Co., NY 43.

10,408* " " "  *Duplicate

329 Richmond, James, Syracuse, NY 59.00

8523 Backus, Cornelius Evans, NY

12960 Backus, Frederick**, Essex Co., Upper Canada 55.00

14226 Backus, John, by widow Tompkins Co., NY 55. [My John Backus?]

14551 Backus, Simeon, Livingston Co., MI 38.00

11997 Backus, William Stark, Herkimer Co., NY 39.50

14313 Baccus, Christian by widow Will Co., IL 73.00

1,077 Acker, Bartholemew Cato, Cayuga Co., NY 103.00

5,991 Acker, George, by widow, Tully, NY 103.00

6,309 Acker, Silas, Livonia, NY 73.00***

4,949 Adams, James, Genesee Co., MI, 38.00

7,833 Allen, Joseph, Northville, MI

2,617 Allen, John, Bruce, Macomb, MI

2,616 Allen, William, Bruce, Macomb, MI

7,300 Allen, William, Grand Blanc, MI

9,176 Carpenter, Clark C., Elba, MI

14,603 Carr, Caleb, Lapeer Co., MI

** Canada Census, 1871
 Name:     Frederick Bachus
Age:     81
Calculated Birth Year:     1790
Country or Province of Birth:     U S
Ethnic Origin:     Ductch
Religion:     Presbeterian
Census Place:     01, West Tilbury n, Essex 01, Ontario
    Frederick Bachus     M     81
    Ellen Bachus     F     51

Didn't realize that the book is online [1880 version] when I extracted these at the Allen Co., Library, in Fort Wayne, but since I only extracted a few, it's nice to have the online version for a reference.

The State of New York Archives holdings for the publication referenced above is listed here and related materials here.

***Silas Acker was the father of Newman Acker. Newman was the son-in-law of my ancestor, Elijah Richmond.

Commemorating The Battle Of Plattsburgh

From the Battle of Plattsburgh Organization website:

The totally unexpected American victory thwarted the British plans to control Lake Champlain and led to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 on Christmas Eve, 1814.

A breakdown of the battle can be found here.  A chronological report here.

Celebrating the Battle of Plattsburgh with a parade (2010) on YouTube.

Not My Elijah Richmond

Excerpt from the Joshua Bailey Richmond "Richmond Family" book.

"He marched to the scene of conflict at Plattsburgh in the War of 1812, leaving his family hurriedly in the night."

Married Ruth Crain in 1803, in Bethel, Vermont.

This is my Elijah Richmond.  This one is not.

Captain Snelling

From the Mackinac Michigan GenWeb site (Captain Snelling's activities before General Hull surrendered Detroit):

Miller sent a spy into Brownstown and understood from Captain Maxwell that the enemy had disappears. He then returned to the battle field to collect his dead and wounded and encamped there for the night. Next day Miller got the wounded into boats, and thinking that the communication with Brush on the Raisin had been opened, and failing to get sufficient supplies of provisions for his men, although he had sent Captain Snelling to Hull for that purpose, he took up his line of march on the 11th for Detroit, reaching there next day.

On the morning of the 15th Brock opened his battery, which was followed by a flag of truce, received by Captains Charles Fuller and Josiah Snelling, 4th U. S. Infantry, with the demand for surrender, coupled with the threat that if not complied with he could not control the Indians then under his command.

In the evening of the 15th movements of the enemy indicated a crossing at Springwells by the collecting of boats and bringing up of British vessels. Captain Snelling, with a few men and a field piece, had been sent down to the sand hill, nearly opposite Sandwich, to reconnoitre and to watch the crossing, with orders to return and report before daylight.

Gen. Hull sent Captain Snelling with a note to Gen. Brock, which he delivered; the purport of which was that he agreed to surrender the fort. Col. McDonald and Captain Glegg were sent by Gen. Brock to agree upon the terms of the surrender. [Source]

Wordless Wednesday - War Of 1812 Veterans Marker

Fort McArthur In Fiction

From the fictional account, At The Siege Of Detroit.....

Two Ohio boys joined Hull's Army as scouts in "At The Siege Of Detroit," and were traveling from Ohio to Michigan as part of their duties.  Fort McArthur (mentioned above) was about 3 miles west of Kenton, Hardin Co., Ohio.

Charles Cameron Of VA In Maryland Company

Cross-posted at Cameron Collections:

From The British Invasion of Maryland, 1812-...., found in the Appendix:

CAMERON, Charles C.  Sergeant in Capt. John Miller's co 2d D.I.; b. Jefferson Co., Va.; age 24; joiner.  Listed as Camron here. [War of 1812]

There was a Charles C. Cameron who lived in Harper's Ferry ca 1823 according to this blog.

Was the Charles C. Cameron, a soldier in the War of 1812, the same individual who was living in Jefferson Co., Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1850 as an armorer and in 1860 with "no calling"?

Map Of The Niagara Frontier

Map of the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812 from The Pictorial Field-Book At....

Mr. Madison's War - A Pamphlet

From Mr. Madison's War: 

Plaque Of Graves At Chalmette Battefield

This photo was taken pre-Hurricane Katrina.  The last time we were New Orleans (site of the Chalmette Battlefield) the National Cemetery was still closed for repairs.

Four Veterans of the War of 1812 were re-interred here.  Only the Unknown veteran fought at the Battle of New Orleans.  He died on his way home to Tennessee after the war.

Unknown Veteran*   Section 23, Grave No. 12,540
J. A. Franks  Section 107, Grave No. 8,795
Major Nathaniel Wells   Section 46A, Grave No. 13,150
Captain Stephen R. Proctor  Section 135, Grave No. 11,094
 
*From History of Pike County, Mississippi:


While doing research for his book he (Luke W. Conerly) discovered that an Unknown Soldier from the War of 1812 had been buried in Pike County.  In 1908 he corresponded with the War Department about the Unknown Soldier from Tennessee with General Carroll's Division that was buried about 11 miles east of Magnolia near the banks of Love's Creek [Mississippi] on the Brumfield family property.  The family there had maintained the grave about 93 years marking it with a slab of yellow pine. The US government funded the remains to be exhumed and relocated to the Chalmette Cemetery.  Luke and Superintendent O'Shea of the Chalmette Cemetery were led to the grave by Henry S. Brumfield a grandson of the original owner of the Brumfield plantation.  The pine slab marking the soldiers grave had rotted and the inscription of the name could not be identified.  Two brass buttons were found with the remains and fragments of a blue uniform.  The remains were taken by train to the Chalmette Cemetery and buried with military honors.  Upon his tomb is engraved "Unknown Soldier U.S.A. War of 1812."