Artillery Leather Cockade

  A tip was left at my blog post "Whose Uniform?" pointing me toward American Military Insignia 1800-1851, by J. Duncan Campbell, where the Artillery leather cockade was found.  Thanks to the tipster!

[Source]

I selected the artillery motif because my William Hinds was in the artillery.

Soldiers At Buffalo Fort

Building on the Raid of Buffalo Fort post, from A History Of Northeast Missouri...:

One of the soldiers, Peter Brandon, and Mary McConnell were married in the fort, and this is probably the first marriage in the county. There was no minister nor officer to legalize the marriage and it was performed by the good old Samuel Watson.

A few of the braver ones remained in the fort at Buffalo and others came to them from nearby settlements.  In July, 1814, a company of sixty-four volunteers, known as rangers, came up from Cap au Gris. They started to go to Fort Mason near Saverton and stopped at Buffalo Fort.  From there, for some unknown reason, part of them returned to Cap au Gris. The others, under command of Captain Ramsey, continued toward Fort Mason.

Pre-War Muster-Roll In Yarmouth, Maine

A Pre-War of 1812 Muster-Roll of Captain Peter Merrill's Company in a North Yarmouth, Maine, article about old times:

Private Duff Green's Experience Near Vincennes

Our regiment under the command Colonel Wilcox marched to Vincennes*... . ....[news] reached us that the Indians under Tecumseh had attacked Fort Harrison having defeated the Rangers.  [From Duff Green's auto-biographical information].

*An artist's rendering of Fort Knox located near Vincennes, Indiana:

Ft. Knox 1803 - 1813

In 1803 the federal government gave approval for the construction of a new fort near Vincennes.  Ft. Knox, named for Secretary of War Henry Knox, was eventually built on a bluff overlooking the Wabash river, three miles north of the village.  The outpost remained somewhat inactive until the increased tensions of 1811 brought about a heightened interest in improving the fortification.  Archaeological findings in the 1960's indicated that the fort's design may have resembled this artist's rendering.

Graves At Fort Amanda In Ohio

Graves near Fort Amanda:





The British burning of the War Records Office in Washington D.C. on August 24th, 1814 makes it impossible to establish the identity of these men (according to the marker).

Another marker page at Fort Amanda.

Spotswood Henry And The 2ND Artillery

From U.S. Army register  By United States. Dept. of the Army, United States. Adjutant-General's Office:

On the above list:

2nd Regiment of Artillery

Colonel Winfield Scott

Captain Spotswood Henry

Captain [Alexander] Spotswood Henry, son of the famed Patrick Henry, was significant in (my ancestor) William Hinds' military service; Captain Henry recruited him.

Also on the list of officers in the 2nd Regiment of Artillery was Nathan Towson.

James Miller's Portrait

From The military heroes of the war of 1812: with a narrative of the war, a portrait of General James Miller:

Leading Miller To Lundy's Lane

From The military heroes of the war of 1812: with a narrative of the war: 

Scouts Piloting [James] Miller To Lundy's Lane

Will The DNA Match?

The Weekly Genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society linked an article entitled, "WAR OF 1812: Blood ties";  "DNA testing aims to link blood on 200-year-old jacket to modern-day descendant." 


Titus Geer Simons' jacket was bloodied when he was shot at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.  His blood will be extracted from his uniform jacket which is on permanent display in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  Several known descendants will have their DNA tested in hopes of a match.

Pretty exciting stuff!

POWS In Jackson, Michigan

We frequently travel through Jackson, Michigan, from our home base that borders the St. Joseph River.  Were the Pottawatomie Indians there before we were? There is a reference to "the Pattawatimas of the River St. Joseph" who signed the Treaty of Greenville. The Pottawatomies in the Jackson/St. Joseph area may have held two POWs* -- something I will think about while traveling through the area.

Fountain in modern day Jackson, Michigan

From Michigan history:

Jackson...is situated in what at an early period was a swamp and one of the most unfavorable favorable spots for a city.  It has overcome these natural disadvantages and is now a beautiful place. A French trader, Baptiste Boreaux, claims to have established a trading post there in 1815.

*Two soldiers of Harrison's Army, McDonagh and Limp, were captured and brought to this place the meeting of the trails during the War of 1812 and were probably tortured by the Pottawatomies.

Military Land Grants In Canada

Canadian land grants to regulars and militiamen and the List of lands granted by the crown in the province of Quebec, from 1763 to 31st December 1890 (here in plain text):

...free grants were give to militiamen who had served in the war of 1775... . 232,281 acres were so granted to militiamen.  Those who served in the war of 1812 were also rewarded in the same manner and received 217,840 acres for their services.

All these grants were subject to the ordinary conditions of settlement and to the stipulation that the lands granted would revert to the Crown if the conditions were not fulfilled.  But the colonial administration took no trouble to have these conditions observed and to cancel the grants nearly all of which passed into the hands of influential speculators.  As soon as the militiamen received their letters patent they sold their lands for a trifle, in many instances for a bottle of rum.

General Peter Buell Porter (1773-1844)

Portrait from The military heroes of the war of 1812: with a narrative of the war , by Charles Jacobs Peterson:

 General Peter Buell Porter

 "If any small group of people is to be blamed for bringing about the 1812 conflict, Peter Buell Porter is certainly among them" [Source] 

 
When Black Rock fell into the hands of the British in November 1812, General Porter's house became the headquarters of the enemy and he rallied a force and expelled them. He was engaged in General Alexander Smyth's attempt to invade Canada a few days later and his remarks on the affair led to a duel with Smyth. [Source]

A link to the Buell Family history.  It was also noted that Peter B. Porter and Jesse Root Grant [General Ulysses S. Grant's father] were both great-grandsons of Martha Buell [from The ancestry of General Grant, and their contemporaries...]

Perry's Victory And International Peace Memorial Sign

Perry's Memorial is located at Put-In-Bay, Ohio:

Maine In The War of 1812

Found on the Maine In The War of 1812 site is an 1815 document signed by Perez Loring and J. B. Walbach (among lot of other good items).

More documents involving Perez Loring were found on the (pay to view) Fold3 site.

Skirmish At Fort Cassin & Otter Creek

On this date (May 14th) in 1814:

In the spring of 1814..., a flotilla of small war vessels was constructed at Vergennes under Lieutenant, afterward Commodore, Macdonough earthworks, since known as Fort Cassin, after Lieutenant Cassin of the US navy, were thrown up at the mouth of Otter Creek; and May 14 the earthworks and the completed vessels repelled an attack by a British fleet which was attempting to enter the creek in order to destroy the latter. [Source]

Hiram Cronk - The Last Survivor

Funeral of Hiram Cronk (April 29, 1800 – May 13, 1905) in New York City on YouTube.  He had the distinction of being the last surviving veteran of the War of 1812 at the time of his death.

Funeral Of Hiram Cronk (YouTube)

A Canadian Toast To President Madison

The Celtic magazine, Volume 6,  By Alexander Mackenzie, Alexander Macgregor, Alexander Macbain:

Mention is also made of a famous Scotch dinner at Halifax, in 1814, where no less than fifty-two toasts were drank.  The twenty-sixth may be repeated:--"May James Madison and all his faction be soon compelled to resign the reins of government in America, and seek a peace establishment with their friend Bonaparte at Elba."  Airs--"The Rogue's March," and "Go to the devil and shake yourself."

Prime Minister Perceval (1762-1812)

Prior to the declaration of war for the War of 1812 (which occurred on June 18, 1812):

On May 11, 1812, an assassin killed British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, which resulted in Lord Liverpool coming to power. Liverpool wanted a more practical relationship with the United States. He issued a repeal of the Orders in Council, but the U.S. was unaware of this, as it took three weeks for the news to cross the Atlantic.  [Wikipedia]

Could faster communication prevented this war?

Major Amos Stoddard - War of 1812 - Fort Meigs

Major Amos Stoddard died on May 11, 1813, at Fort Meigs.

A description of the Amos Stoddard papers:

Amos Stoddard was born October 26, 1762, in Woodbury, Connecticut. He saw service in the American Revolution. After the war he studied law and in 1791 was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. On June 4, 1798, he was appointed captain of artillery in the United States Army, and on June 30, 1807, he was given the rank of major. Stoddard was wounded during the siege of Fort Meigs, Ohio, and died of tetanus a few days later on May 11, 1813.

Amos Stoddard in the Papers of the War Department.

Military Bounty Lands In Arkansas

Arkansas Land Documents, including Military Bounty Lands (1812) [cross-posted at my "In Deeds" blog].

View images of Military Bounty Lands here.  They're organized by county; the Township and Range are labeled at the top of each page. 

Mining For Saltpeter In Tennessee

Was saltpeter being mined in a Tennessee cave during the War of 1812?  Wikipedia suggested that it was so.

A modern day view of the area (Crossville, Cumberland County, Tennessee)

It is also possible that this cave may have been mined much earlier, during the War of 1812. (Thomas C. Barr, Jr., "Caves of Tennessee", Bulletin 64 of the Tennessee Division of Geology, 1961, 568 pages.)

Grassy Cove is a very large, closed depression located 10 miles south-southeast of Crossville. It is 3 miles wide, 5 miles long, and over 1,000 feet deep. ...at Head of Sequatchie to form the Sequatchie River.  Read more...

 During the War of 1812 and the Civil War, many caves in the area were mined for saltpeter, a key ingredient in gunpowder... .

Fort Cap au Gris

Fort Cap au  Gris was also called Fort Independence and Capo Gray...

From Campbell's gazetteer of Missouri: from articles contributed by prominent ...

Capo Gray should be Cap au Grés. This is another French term that lent itself to conversion by Americans into an English phrase of similar sound but different meaning. Even the French fell into the habit of rendering the name Cap au Gris mistaking grés, a noun meaning sandstone, for the adjective gris meaning gray.  Fort Independence was one of the many temporary stockades erected in St Charles County during the war of 1812. It is probably the same defence that is mentioned by Shaw under the name Fort Cap au Gré. [Source]

The Battle of the Sink Hole occurred after the official end of the War of 1812, near Cap au Grés.

Raid Of Buffalo Fort

Historic Timeline of the War of 1812 

1813 March 30, Raid of Buffalo Fort (Missouri, US)

A fort was settled on and immediately commenced on the Alex Allison farm two miles south of Louisiana [Missouri]. An underground passage was made to a spring not far away. In the year 1812 no harm came to them and they were thrown off their guard.  But in the following March Capt. Robert Jordan and his son James were shot and scalped by the Indians while working on their farms. Today a memorial stone at their graves in the old Buffalo cemetery keeps the visitors continually reminded of those dangerous days. [Source]

Site of 

Buffalo Fort

Built In December 1811

To Protect The 

Twenty-Five Families

From Hostile Indians

Erected By Pike County Chapter

Daughters of the American Revolution

July 1917

Another blogger at Buffalo Fort.

First Seige At Fort Meigs

Commemorate the 200th anniversary of the First Siege at Fort Meigs on May 5, 2013, with the Fort Meigs organization.

May 5, 1813, marked the bloodiest day of fighting during the First Siege of Fort Meigs.

Fort Meigs on YouTube.

The Lay Of The Scottish Fiddle

The Lay Of The Scottish Fiddle, A Tale Of Havre de Grace, is a parody of Sir Walter Scott's works.  It was described in the Cyclopedia of American Literature:

The hero is Admiral Cockburn, and the principal incident the burning and sacking of the little town of Havre de Grace on the coast of Maryland.

From The Lay Of The Scottish Fiddle:  

Archaeological View Of Fort Stephenson

From the Ohio archaeological and historical quarterly, Volume 16:

Describing Fort Stephenson, James Kirk said "Mark off a square plat of ground containing half an acre with a block house on the northeast corner and one in the northwest corner, this was the original fort."
In June 1813 when we came here the fort was found to be too small. He said mark off another square on the west side of the old square and this you will see will place the northwest blockhouse in the center of the north line of the enlarged fort.
There was a scaled log house in the new part filled with biscuit for Perry's fleet.

General Ripley Buried In Locust Grove

Gravestone of General Eleazer W. Ripley

Died March 29, 1839, aged 54 years

There was another famous person buried in Locust Grove Cemetery in West Feliciana Parish, Lousiana.  In fact, it was the grave of Sarah Knox (Taylor) Davis, daughter of President Zachary Taylor and first wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, that led us there.

General Ripley's second wife, Aurelia Smith, was the widow of Dr. Benjamin Davis (Jefferson Davis's brother).

General Henry Dearborn

 Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), who was born in New Hampshire, also fought in the Revolutionary War*.  

*Dearborn volunteered for service in Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec. In the battle, in which Montgomery was killed and Arnold seriously wounded, Dearborn was taken prisoner and confined for a time at Quebec. [Source]  It was thought that General Dearborn was past his prime in the War of 1812.

Portrait Source  

A guide to Henry Dearborn's papers found here, including:

Dearborn Historical Commission
Dearborn, MI
Papers and Microfilm: 1761-1826, 2 feet and 92 microfilm reels.
The collection covers Henry Dearborn’s career as officer in the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as secretary of war (1801-1809), collector of the Port of Boston (1809-1812), and minister to Portugal (1822-1824).