Memorial To Honor Sailors Lost In War Of 1812

Oak Hill Cemetery, Prattville, Alabama (Either Section I or J)

Excerpt from the Prattville [Alabama] Progress, published April 11, 1989:

They lay on the bottom of Lake Ontario.  Two American warships sunk in a ravaging storm during the War of 1812 on the Canadian side.

But Prattville military historial Warren McEachern is convinced the ships and the 220 men that went down with them won't be forgotten -- at least not in Prattville.

McEachern has received city approval to erect a bronze plaque to the U.S.S. Scourge and Hamilton in Prattsville in an effort to pay tribute to the sailors.

Without the 28-by-14 inch plaque, McEachen said there are few American ties to the two ships.  Even the ships themselves, although American, were turned over to the Canadian government because they were lying in Canadian waters.

The warships sunk on August 8, 1813

Field's Estate

The War of 1812 at Library and Archives of Canada included the War of 1812: Board of Claims for Losses, 1813-1848...:

Source [Image 953]

Claims by Gilbert Field's Estate and Rosanna Field. Gilbert was an ancestor of the actress Sally Field.

"...claimant's farm directly on the road between Queenstown and Fort George...".

Hull's Ill-Judged Actions

The War of 1812 was written by Secretary of War John Armstrong and published in 1836.  Here's Armstrong's critique of General Hull's actions in the Detroit area:

Nothing can be more ill-judged and ruinous, than to send out small parties on services which necessarily expose them to the attacks of large ones; and hence the maxim, that "the strength of a detachment should be proportioned, 1st, to the importance of the object to be obtained in sending it; and 2d, to the disposable means possessed by the enemy of embarrassing or defeating the attainment of that object."

In none of the detachments made by General Hull, were these conditions fulfilled; and in that of Major Van Horne, both were directly and grossly violated. What object could have been more important to the American army situated as it then was than the re-establishment of its communications with the State of Ohio; from which alone were to be expected reinforcements of men and supplies of provision?  And again, what fact was better ascertained than the facility with which the whole British force concentrated at Malden, and amounting to seven hundred combatants, could be brought to act upon any American detachment marching by the route of Maguago and Brownstown? Yet was Van Horne sent to fulfil that object and by this route with only two hundred militia riflemen.

Remember The Raisin

Here's an article from the Smithsonian Magazine.

Raisin Massacre Of 1813 Plaque

Kentucky and Ohio recruits under General James Winchester were the victims of a surprise attack by the British and their Indian allies Jan. 22, 1813,... .

Tippecanoe And Tecumseh, Too

Battle Of Tippecanoe, November 7, 1811

In 1811 Stricken Down...

...In The Performance Of Duty

In tribute to

Major Joseph Hamilton Daviess,

Grand Master of Masons in Kentucky,

who fell in battle here, and

to the many Freemasons

of General Harrison's command

whose valor is held

in grateful remembrance.

Joseph Daviess died November 6/7, 1811 ...(he) lived nine hours after the action... 

Post-War - Perrysburg, Ohio

Following the War of 1812, settlers reestablished the river town nicknamed "Orleans of the North" thinking that it would become a commercial rival to New Orleans in the Louisiana Territory.  Built on the Maumee River, the town never reached its potential and was wiped out twice by spring ice flows.  In 1816 the federal government platted a new town higher on the bluff, and Major Amos Spafford named it Perrysburg, spelling it Perrysburgh.  In honor of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's decisive naval victory over the British fleet in Lake Erie during the War of 1812.  The main street was named Louisiana Avenue.  Wood county was formed in 1820 and included the town of Maumee, which separated in 1835 when Lucas county was formed.  Perrysburg was the county seat in 1823 until it was officially moved to Bowling Green in 1875.  Major Spafford died in 1818 and was buried on his land west of Fort Meigs.

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."