Plot New Mischief

Baltimore, Maryland, Map, Circa 1781 (LOC)

Source

The Tenth Military District

Source

Source

D.C. Area (General Ross's Route)

Source

Nathaniel Champe And His Snare Drum

Source

Archive Grid listed the Nathaniel Champe papers, 1792-1870, as part of the Detroit Public Library's collection.

Biographical sketch of Champe, a soldier of the northwestern frontier during war of 1812, including information concerning revolutionary career of his father, John Champe... .

[Nathaniel Champe was]...born in Romney, Virginia in 1792; came to Detroit in June 1812, and served in the war of 1812. Was present at the surrender of Detroit by Hull served under McArthur and Harrison, and was honorably discharged in Chillicohe, Ohio, in the summer of 1815. On August 6, 1814, he married Almenia Thomas, who died in 1867. They lived in Detroit until 1853, when they removed to Onondaga, Michigan, where he died, February 13, 1870. They had 6 children.

Nathaniel Champe's mother's memorial at FindAGrave. Was Phebe Susan Barnard Champe related to Light Horse Harry Lee (a sister) as was stated in the article about instruments in American History? A perfunctory search did not reveal a familial relationship.

Quin Heironymous

United States Registers o... the U.S. Army, 1798-1914  029-030, 1815 May-1821 Jun, D-H:

Source

Quin's sister, Julia, wrote about his service:

If There Had Been With Me 2,000 Kentuckians

View Of Frankfort, Kentucky

"Commodore Barney's opinion of the Maryland militia was not a high one."

"At a dinner in his honor, at Frankfort, Kentucky, he said: 'I had the good fortune to be in seventeen battles during the revolution, in all of which the star-spangled banner triumphed over the bloody cross, and in the late war I had the honor of being engaged in nine battles with the same glorious result, except in the last, in which I was unfortunate, though not in fault. If there had been with me 2,000 Kentuckians, instead of 7,000 Marylanders, Washington City would not have been sacked, nor or country disgraced.'" [Source]

Greenleaf's Point Explosion

LOC Source

"...the British were bent on destroying before they left the district [about 24 August 1814]

"A squad of soldiers was on the line of march toward the foundry while the public buildings were burning. They had reached the bridge thrown over the little creek which separates Washington from Georgetown, when they were called to a sudden halt by a tremendous explosion. Soon after a courier came dashing up at full speed, warning them not to cross the bridge; that the explosion just heard was from Greenleaf's Point, a fort on the opposite side of the Potomac from Washington, recently vacated by the Americans. One hundred and fifty British soldiers had been blown up, their mangled remains flying in every direction.

"The fact was, several barrels of powder had been thrown into a dry well by the garrison before leaving, to keep it from falling into the hands of the enemy. The detachment sent over to destroy the fort were dying of thirst and one of the men threw a torch into the well to ascertain if it contained any water, hence the catastrophe. [Source]

Map Of Bladensburg

Source

Stephen Foster's Father

Biography, songs and musical compositions of Stephen C. Foster, Authors: Foster, Stephen Collins, 1826-1864, Foster, Morrison, 1823-1904:

From Historic Pittsburgh

"My father [William Barclay Foster] was a man of great public spirit and unbounded patriotism.  During the War of 1812 he was appointed Quartermaster and Commissary of the U.S. Army."

University of Pittsburgh Archives and Manuscript Collections:

Subseries 10. William B. Foster Papers, 1814-1955
Scope and Content Notes:
This subseries includes the business papers of Stephen Foster's father, William B. Foster, Sr. It consists of correspondence, papers related to court cases, the War of 1812, the establishment of Lawrenceville, and materials general by Morrison Foster related to his attempts to settle his father's estate.

Section: 1. War of 1812 Correspondence and Transactions
Scope and Content Notes:
This section contains the correspondence of William B. Foster during his years as a commissary agent for the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. Most of these papers deal with supply and military sustenance issues; occasionally a letter emerges that tells of William’s amicable relationship with several of these military officers.

Campaign Of The War Of 1812 (Washington Vicinity)

Source

Reply By Kosciusko Armstrong

Reply to Kosciusko Armstrong's Assault Upon Col. McKenney's Narrative of the ..., by Thomas Loraine McKenney:

...Narative of the Causes which, in 1814, led to General Armstrong's resignation of the War Office.

Kosciuszko Armstrong Defends His Father

Some background on the controversy regarding John Armstrong found here.


"...[Armstrong's] attention has lately been called to a work published by Thomas L. McKenney...contains dove-tailed among its chapters one of political reminiscence evidently intended as an attack on the late General Armstrong." 

"He [Colonel McKenney] was the leading member of the famous, or infamous, Georgetown mob Committee who waited on the President in 1814 to demand General Armstrong's removal from office."

Map Of Georgetown (Library Of Congress)

"He stands therefore before the public in a doubtful position denying the existence of a plot of which he was himself one of the most active and unscrupulous agents... ."

From Review of T. L. McKenney's narrative of the causes which, in 1814, led to General Armstrong's resignation of the war office  By Kosciuszko Armstrong [son of General Armstrong].

Records To Research In Virginia

Excerpts from the Library of Virginia, Research Notes #19:

"Records housed at the Library of Virginia may help document War of 1812 military and public service."

Would this help in my Hinds research project?  Maybe not, since the records currently found for William Hinds were housed in Washington, D. C.

Firewood From Arlington

Source

The winter of eighteen hundred, following the invasion of Washington by the British, was so severe that loaded wagons could pass backward and forward across the ice of the frozen Potomac with perfect safety. To mitigate the sad want of fuel in those days, Mr. Custis permitted families needing wood for home use to cut and remove what they needed from Arlington forest free of charge. [Source]

Burning Washington

Psychological Warfare?

Source - View of White House Circa 1799

At 6 o'clock, after a rest of two hours, the British resumed their march and about dark, encamped a short distance east of the Capitol. Up to this time the raid had been conducted as an eminently proper military movement, but suddenly the British began to execute literally the orders given by Cochrane. The two wings of the Capitol were the only parts finished, but these were set afire and in the conflagration the Library of Congress and many valuable public documents were destroyed. Ross and Cockburn with about 200 men marched quietly along Pennsylvania Avenue to the President's house and set it afire...". [Source]

Ships In Ports

Source Page 466

"...[Captain David] Porter was forced (September 7) to come to port for water and stores...".

"These vessels were divided into three squadrons."

A Post-War Perspective

Maumee River, Ohio (Near Lucas's Territory)

From the Introduction to the Robert Lucas Journal:

The War of 1812, beneficial as it was in its results to the United States, does not present, when studied in detail, a consistent progress toward victory. It was begun with seemingly no thought for preparation and concluded with apparently little heed to the causes which brought it about. It was not well managed by the administration at Washington, and among the Generals in the field there was much blundering incompetence. Individual bravery and patriotism brought glory in the naval warfare; but on the land, with a few exceptions, the campaigns were distinctly unfortunate.

Captain Gordon Approaching Alexandria

The terror struck into the good people of our city, by the capture and conflagration as aforesaid, rolled on in such conglomerating floods to Alexandria, that by the time it reached that place, it had acquired a swell of mountainous horrors, that appear to have entirely prostrated the spirits of the Alexandrians.  Men, women and children in that defenceless place, saw nothing, in their frightened fancies, but the sudden and total destruction of their rising city, by the British army then at Washington and the British squadron under captain Gordon coming up the river. [Source]

Source

From the Niles' Weekly Register:

William Gray Simms

Tyler's quarterly historical and genealogical magazine, Volumes 1-2:

William Gray Simms was born in 1795 and died in 1867.  He served in Bunch's Regiment, Mounted, in the War of 1812.

More about Bunch's Regiment:

"Colonel Samuel Bunch commanded two separate regiments at different times during the war. This regiment of three-month enlistees, in the brigade of General James White, participated in the action against the tribe of Creeks known as the Hillabees."

Claims From Washington Burning

Digested Summary and Alphabetical List of Private Claims which ..., Volume 2

List of Private Claims Presented to the House Of Representatives....

Categories (most):

Name of claimant, Nature or Object of the Claim, How Brought to Representatives, No. or Date of the Report, How Disposed

The first example:

Hodge, George - Indemnity For Loss By The Burning Of Washington