Casualties Of Cambell's Island

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

The casualties were: killed on Campbell's boat, ten regulars, one woman and one child; on Rector's boat, one ranger; and on Riggs' boat, three rangers; a total of sixteen.

Wounded on Campbell's boat, ten regulars and one woman; on Rector's boat, four rangers; and on Rigg's boat four rangers, also Major Campbell and Dr. Stewart, the garrison surgeon, who was shot in the breast; a total of twenty-one, making the total casualties thirty-seven. All fought with the courage of heroes. Rector and his men risked their lives to save their comrades, and the battle at Campbell's Island has no equal for daring and heroism during the war of 1812 in the West.

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

Jacob Graves

At the time of the correspondence noted below, soldier was living in Tippah County, Mississippi

Source - Fold3 War of 1812 Pensions

States in the year 1813 or 1814 that he was drafted in Franklin County Tennessee...

...war...Creek tribe

Jacob Graves married 2nd Elizabeth Bromly in 1842; he was previously married to Peggy Johnson, who died about 1825

Jacob died in Tippah County, Mississippi on March 9, 1876; they had previously lived in Tishomingo County, Mississippi

Note:  I have ancestors who lived in Franklin County, Tennessee who moved to southern Illinois. Nancy (Graves) Johnson, also moved from Tennessee to southern Illinois (she is my ancestor as well).  I don't believe Nancy was from Franklin County or is related to this Jacob Graves, but since I do not know who her parents were, I can't rule them out yet.

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.

Campaigns Of The War Of 1812 (Southwest)

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Battle Of Fayal

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Source

"...Captain Reid...had indeed done wonders, for so great was the damage he inflicted that the fleet was forced to stay a week at Fayal burying the dead and caring for the wounded. That week's delay was most important, for the Rota, the Plantagenet, and the Carnation, on their way to Jamaica to join the expedition against New Orleans, were prevented by the fight at Fayal from arriving on time and so delayed the fleet of Pakenham that Jackson had time to defend New Orleans.

Captain Reid, by his splendid defence of the General Armstrong, may therefore justly be said to have contributed not a little to Jackson's great victory on the banks of the Mississippi. [Source]

Aftermath Of The Fort Mims Massacre

Claiborne, knowing how imminent was the danger to the frontier settlements from the Indians, was determined to protect not only Mobile, but the entire Southern section. To all his appeals for immediate action against the destroyers of the garrison at Fort Mims, with his troops writhing under inaction and nursing with an implacable spirit their grievance against the Indians for the brutal massacre at Fort Mims, with the war already established and a certainty of Great Britain's and Spain's assistance thereto, he had received...[a]...reply from the commander at Mobile: [Source]

Root Of All Present Distress

Creeks Had Been Armed By British At Pensacola

"I do not wish you to engage in any rash enterprise. You must act on the defensive." Compare such a diffident spirit with the martial one that called forth such fervid utterances as "Seize Pensacola and you disarm the Indians. It is the real heart of the Creek Confederacy;" "At all hazards, I wish you would enter the Creek Nation;"


"I would advise a stroke at the root of all present distress — Pensacola." Such confidence of speech not only reveals the military ardor of the Mississippi soldier, but conclusively proves that he had a clear understanding of the situation. [Source]

Jacob Graves

Source

WAR OF 1812

State of Mississippi

County of Tippah

22 April 1878

Elizabeth Graves, Age 73

Widow Of Jacob Graves

Private - Captain Hollman's Company

Jacob Graves was drafted at Franklin Co., Tennessee

Elizabeth And Jacob Were Married In Tishomingo County, Mississippi

She was Elizabeth Bromley before her marriage to Jacob Graves

Jacob Graves' 1st wife was Peggy Johnson who died about 1825

Jacob Graves died 9 March 1876

Her P.O. Address is Ripley, Mississippi

Pre-War Deaths At Fort Adams

Source

From the American state papers: ...(investigation as to why so many soldiers were dying at Fort Adams):

Previous to the embarkation, 3 companies, of the 6th infantry, under the command of Major Pike, were ordered to the garrison of Orleans, and between the 1st and 12th of September, the army embarked, and, making some delay nearly opposite the city, owing, I think, very probably, to a defect in one of the artillery boats, proceeded, on the 23d, up the river, under the command of Major Backus, of the light dragoons.  I had been taken sick...followed the army...the General being ill in Orleans.

...two hospitals were established, one at Point Coupee, and one at Fort Adams, where the weakest of the men were left.... .

A description of Fort Adams and the Natchez, Mississippi, area, from Cuming's Tour To The Western Country (1807-1809):

Source

1815 Letter Written Near Cat Island

Ship Island (Adjacent To Cat Island)

LETTER OF A BRITISH OFFICER 

[C. J. Forbes]

On Board H. M. S. Alceste
Off Cat Island, 28th Jan., 1815

Source [ Excerpted Letter]

A summary of Charles Forbes and his letter (Trent University Library):

While in the British Army, Charles Forbes was present for the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Our donation contains a letter written 29 Jan. 1815 on board H.M.S. Alceste, off Cat Island (near New Orleans), and sent to James Cobb, Secretary, East India Company (a cousin). In the letter Charles says that the information given to the Admiral was “fallacious” and that unlike what they had been led to believe, no “settlers of Louisiana and the Floridas” flocked to join the British cause and hence they had insufficient troops for the encounter with the Americans. It’s interesting to note that even by the end of January, Charles did not know that a treaty to end the War had been signed.

The Enemy's Fleet Off Ship Island

Ship Island

The War of 1812:  A History.... included a letter from Lieutenant [Thomas Ap Catesby] Jones to Commodore Patterson, dated New Orleans, 12 March 1815 (excerpt below)...:

"On the 12th of December, 1814, the enemy's fleet off Ship Island increased.....".

Fort McKay

Source

This article [Wikipedia] is about the fort in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin (links added):

Fort Shelby was a United States military installation in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, built in 1814. The fort was captured by the British during the Siege of Prairie du Chien in July 1814. The British renamed the fort Fort McKay after Major William McKay, the commander of the forces that won the battle. Fort McKay remained under British control until 1815, when the British destroyed it before leaving the area. Fort Crawford was built on the same site in 1816.

Source

Battle Of Burnt Corn

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"The first definite act of armed warfare between the inhabitants of the Mississippi Territory and the Creek Nation was the battle of Burnt Corn on July 27, 1813.  The Creeks, numbering about 300 picked warriors, had gathered in camp at the Holy Ground according to information given out by General James Wilkinson, who was soon to leave for his new post in Canada."

The Battle of Burnt Corn has its own Facebook site and is on YouTube.

Seat Of War Among The Creeks

Source

The Creek War...

General Flournoy And His Papers

Papers in the Clements Library include those of Thomas Flournoy:

Title: Thomas Flournoy papers

Inclusive dates: 1799-1827

Extent: 0.25 linear feet (105 items)

Abstract: The Thomas Flournoy papers consist of letters and documents of Flournoy, who was a lawyer, a general during the War of 1812, and a United States commissioner to the Creek Indians.

Map Of Creeks Nation

From The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812: Or, Illustrations:

"...General Flournoy, who succeeded General Wilkinson in command of the Seventh Military District, persuaded by Colonel Hawkins, Indian agent, of the civilization and friendly disposition of the Creeks, would not their prayer."

This source reflected on the efficiency (or lack thereof) of General Flournoy:

"Georgia and Tennessee very actively seconded the efforts of Mississippi and had General Flournoy been a more efficient commander, much effusion of blood and waste of property would have been spared." 

The General's Wife:

Resolved To Aid The British

Jim's Photo Of The Creek, Menawa, From Horseshoe Bend NP

From The removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, Volume 1  by Wilson Lumpkin:

We spent one day at the great Indian Council held at Tuckabatchee in the Creek Nation, when not only all the tribes of the different nations of the Indians of the Southern States were represented, but a delegation of the Northern tribes headed by the distinguished Chief Tecumseh were in attendance. We now know that at that very council it was resolved by the Creek Indians to unite with Tecumseh and his Northern hordes in aiding the British in their anticipated war with the United States.

Thomas Hinds

Source

"Thomas Hinds [1780 - 1840] became first lieutenant of the Jefferson Troop of Horse."  "His marriage [to Malinda or Leminda Green] strengthened the already warm attachment between himself and General Jackson, with whom he was in after years to come in close contact in some of the most thrilling episodes of...history...". Source

From Thomas Hinds' biography at Jefferson County, Mississippi, GenWeb:

"After the Battle of New Orleans, General Andrew Jackson said of Jefferson Troop of cavalry and its commanding officer Thomas Hinds, 'the cavalry excited the imagination of one army and the astonishment of the other.'”

Fort St. Philip

Source

Fort St. Philip on YouTube (actually a Travel Channel video) and a blurb from the NPS.  We could see Fort St. Philip on our visit to Fort Jackson on the opposite side of the river.

Ship Island And The British

Fort At Ship Island

"Intelligence that the British Government had fitted out an expedition which was intended for the capture of New Orleans and Mobile reached the authorities at Washington December 9, 1814, and the President directed the Governors of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia to dispatch their militia to New Orleans."

"The British Army was in command of General Pakenham.  It was composed of 7,000 picked soldiers including veterans who had served under Wellington, and a portion of the British Chesapeake force under Admiral Cochrane. They were transported in fifty large vessels and anchored off the entrance to Lake Borgne in the latter part of December. A meager flotilla of American gunboats opposed their landing, but it was speedily and effectually dispersed. The enemy took full possession of Lake Borgne and effecting a landing on Ship Island crossed to the Northwestern end of Lake Borgne and on Dec 25 struck the Mississippi about nine miles below New Orleans." [Source]