Billet-Head

The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812: ..., by Benson John Lossing, included the following illustration:

The billet-head of the Cyane

Ball's Battle

Source

On July 30, 1813, when General Harrison sent Colonel Wells to relieve Major Croghan from command at Fort Stephenson, he was escorted from Fort Seneca by Colonel Ball's squadron, consisting of about 100 horse.

On the way down they fell in with a body of Indians and fought what has since been called Ball's Battle.

General Wade Hampton

Source: Wikipedia

Wade Hampton III in the Civil War - Grandson Of War of 1812 General
South Carolina Confederate Military Museum

Wade Hampton was a type of the large slaveholders of the South. Nearly sixty years of age, self-important, fiery and over indulgent in drink, of large, imposing figure, of some reputed service in the Revolution, and with a record as Congressman and Presidential elector, he was one whose chief virtues were not patience and humility. In 1809 he had been made a brigadier-general and stationed at New Orleans; but in consequence of continual disagreements with his subordinates, was superseded in 1812 by Wilkinson, whom he consequently hated. In the spring of 1813 he received his Major-General's commission. Source

Brock's Glorious Words

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'"We are engaged in an awful and eventful contest. By unanimity and despatch in our councils and by vigour in our iterations, we will teach the enemy this lesson; that a country defended by free men, enthusiastically devoted to the cause of their King and constitution, can never be conquered."'

"It was with these glorious and inspiring words that Major-General Brock, then Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of  Upper Canada, concluded the speech with which on the 27th July, 1812, he opened the extra session of the Legislature of the Province, which he had summoned immediately following the declaration of war by the United States on the 18th of June."

Major-General Sir Isaac Brock was born 6th October, 1769; died 13th October, 1812, by J. A. Macdonell, K.C., Glengarry. 

Battle Of Burnt Corn

Source

"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.

Lundy's Lane Sunset Battle Plan

Battle of Lundy's Lane:

Source

Battle Of Lundy's Lane

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

25 July 1814, per Wikipedia

Lundy's Lane 10 O'Clock Plan

Source

Portrait And Papers Of General Winchester

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General Winchester [and his Headquarters at the River Raisin].

See a description of the General James Winchester papers held at the Tennessee archives here.

22 July 1815

From Letters Received By The Office Of The Adjutant General, 1805-1821, a document in the Willoughby Morgan file:

Postmarked Michilimackinac

Source

"I find myself considerably embarrassed in my command.  ...It is the time that these Islanders cut hay at some ten miles distance for the winter--but my hands are tied for the want of water transportation... .  And above all...I want money.  It is unpossible [sic]...do without a military agent."

Boats Made Bullet Proof?

From Wisconsin History (Wisconsin Historical Society)

At this time at Prairie du Chien the events of the war of 1812 in that quarter were fresh in the minds of everyone.   I learned that in the spring or summer of 1814 the U.S. government sent boats made bullet proof under a Captain [Frederick] Yeiser, who was in command of the boats, and a company of U.S. troops under Lieut. [Joseph] Perkins to take and retain possession of Prairie du Chien.


Michael Chapu...private in Captain Frederick Yeiser's company of volunteers..wounded 21 July 1814 on board the gunboat Governor Clark in an engagement with the Indians at...Rock River.....

Source

Young Zachary Taylor

Source

It was soon after the affair of the Chesapeake and Leopard...that young Taylor, only eighteen years of age, applied for a commission in the army... .  At an early age he had associated himself with one of the volunteer corps of Kentucky, and obtained a high reputation for aptitude military science, which was his favorite study.

In 1808, the last year of Mr Jefferson's second administration, and while Gen. Henry Dearborn was Secretary of War, Zachary Taylor received the appointment of Lieutenant in the 7th infantry and his military career in the regular service of the United States.

Buildings Destroyed

Source - Map Of The Niagara Area

Excerpted from NIAGARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY NO. 27:

Buildings burned and destroyed in St. Davids by General Brown's Army, 19th July, 1814:

David Secord, 3 houses, barns, mill, 2,240 £.

Widow Secord, house, 500 £.

Richard Woodruff, house, shop, 300 £.

Widow Bunting, barn, 75 £.

Widow Clement, house, barn, 600 £.

David Secord, house, etc. 375 £.

Widow Lowell, 200 £.

Samuel Boyd, house, 250 £.

Timothy Street, houses, shop, 430 £.

Estate of T. Bunting, 200 £.

Jacob Lutz, house, 125 £.

John Collard, house, 436 £.

Total: 5,731 £.

To The Petite Cote

Source (Page 266)

Taken from The War On The Detroit The Chronicles Of Thomas Vercheres de Boucherville....:

"During the month of July we had several skirmishes with the enemy [Americans], the most important one being at the bridge over the Canard River, between Sandwich and Amherstburg and about three miles from the latter village."  "Here we had a picket composed of a company of infantry and some artillery men in charge of the fieldpieces stationed there, besides some [Indians] for patrol duty."  "The Americans attacked this picket but were forced to retire in great haste."

"One day in July a band of Indians composed of Shawnees with Tecumseh at their head, besides some Ottawas and Potawatomi came to my store...and asked me if I would go with them to Petite Cote, three miles beyond our picket at River Canard, to deliver a blow to the enemy."

From the American perspective:

Source

Isaac Shelby

Source

Skirmish At The River Canard

Taken from the War on the Detroit - the chronicles of Thomas Verchères de Boucherville and The capitulation, by an Ohio volunteer, edited by Milo Milton Quaife:

The war began with the Detroit campaign of General Hull, and its first blood was shed in one of the tiny skirmishes at the River Canard, where the highway from Windsor to Amherstburg crosses this unimpressive stream.

According to Wikimapia:

"River Canard was the site of an engagement between British and American forces on July 16, 1812, during the War of 1812. An American force of 280 men under Colonels Cass and Miller skirmished with British troops near the bridge. Two British soldiers, James Hancock and John Dean were captured. Hancock would die of his wounds later in the day, becoming the first British casualty of the war. Dean was taken prisoner to Detroit where his left arm was amputated due to wounds. He would be liberated with the capture of Fort Detroit by the British one month later."

Shrieks At Hampton

"THE WAR OF 1812: Writings from America's Second War of Independence" 

From Campaigns of the war of 1812-15:

"A Select Committee of Congress...say in their report: 'The shrieks of the innocent victims of infernal lust at Hampton [Virginia] were heard by the American prisoners, but were too weak to reach the ears or disturb the repose of British officers, whose duty as men required them to protect every female whom the fortune of war had thrown into their power."'

Taylor Takes Command

TAYLOR

TAKES COMMAND

Captain Zachary Taylor has been placed in command of the garrison near this ("this" is Fort Knox, Vincennes, Indiana).  

Through the winter of 1811-12, the army, of course, suspended its operations, but in the following spring the Indians were joined by the British and the war was resumed with additional fury. The command of Fort Harrison on the Wabash was entrusted to Captain Taylor with a garrison of about fifty men. [Source]

Privateer Grand Turk

From The diary of Benjamin F. Palmer......

The American Privateer, Grand Turk

....by Benjamin Franklin Palmer

War-Weary New London

Source

The Day newspaper published an online edition article entitled "War-weary New London suffered through blockade and standoff."

"The last thing New London needed in 1812 was another war."

"Three decades after the city was burned by Benedict Arnold during the Revolution, it was a primitive backwater...rebuilding from its destruction...hopeful the new industry of whaling would bring better days."

"But the war did not reach New London for nearly a year. When it did, it was brought not by the enemy, but by an American hero [Commodore Stephen Decatur]."

"...Decatur set out from New York with his three-ship squadron. Near the eastern end of Long Island Sound, they encountered British warships and retreated into the nearest harbor, New London.  The British had managed to trap what amounted to a sizable chunk of the tiny U.S. Navy and quickly established a blockade."

A synopsis of Decatur's actions at New London, Connecticut:

"Commodore Decatur, in 1814, command of a squadron, with the Macedonian equipped as an American frigate, and was blockaded at New London by a far superior British naval force. He challenged the British commander to meet him with any two of his ships, with two American frigates, but the British admiral declined. In January, 1815, he fell in with a British squadron of four ships and was captured, as his vessel had been injured in passing a bar, and retarded in her sailing--before he surrendered however, he silenced one of the British ships, with which had a running fight of two hours."

Raid At Black Rock

Source

On the 11th of July, a force of two hundred of the enemy crossed the Niagara, and attacked Black Rock; the militia stationed there at first fled, but soon returning, with a reinforcement of regulars and Indians, compelled them to fly to their boats, with the loss of nine of their men killed, and their commander, colonel [Cecil] Bishop(p), mortally wounded. [Source]

Tulane University holds the following account: 

Folder 16: James Sloan account of Colonel Bishop's attack on BlackRock, 1813
Three page typescript of an account of the British attack on Blackrock (near Niagara Falls) 1813 July 11. An exact transcript of the original manuscript including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, et cetera. [War of 1812 collection, Manuscripts Collection 541, Louisiana Research Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118.]

Prince Edward Militia And Its Training Site

The Militia of Adolphustown, Fredericksburgh, Ernesttown, and probably of Kingston were accustomed to meet on Finkle's Place below the wind mill, before the war 1812. Strange as it may now seem, the place for training of the Prince Edward Militia was for many years at Grassy Point in the Sixth Town. All the way, not only from the extreme point of Marysburgh, but from Amherst Island, and from the western part of Ameliasburgh, the sparsely settled inhabitants were wont to come, by anything but even roads, to this point for their stated training. They met at this place until the year 1800, after which they all met at Hallowell, Picton. Those from Ameliasburgh required two days to reach the training place. Some years later a second place was allowed. [Source]


(Partial) Muster Roll and Pay List of the Prince Edward Sedentary Militia (same militia organization?):

Microfilm t-10383   (Image 601)
War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, RG 9 1B7
Library and Archives Of Canada

The July 9th Formation

Hull's Army In Detroit:

Source

The advance column reached a point parallel to the lower end of the island (then called Hog Island or Isle Descochon), the columns wheeled by the right into line, by which movement the Third Regiment volunteers became the right of the army.  It was now daylight bf a delightful bright summer morning. The whole line entered bateaux, which had on the preceding evening been taken from opposite the fort, down the river, to a point opposite Sandwich, in order to mislead the enemy as to the place selected for our advance, and had been brought back to this point after 12 o'clock.

Petition For Punishment

From the History of the Town of Cheshire, Berkshire County, Mass:

[Source]

July 8, 1814 

We the subscribers inhabitants of the town of Cheshire, supposing that you have the power to control or remove the British prisoners now located in Cheshire, think proper to state that they have conducted themselves in such a manner as to render their longer stay in this place highly improper.

Richmond Brown was one of the subscribers.

Pre-War British Instigation

From History of the Late War in the Western Country:

In the meantime, the British commandant at Detroit had seized a commanding spot in the American territory
on the north side of the Miami of the lakes, below the Rapids, where he had erected a strong fort, from which the Indians were notoriously fed and supplied with ammunition, under the pretense of paying them annuities. They also were secretly counselled in relation to their management of the war. The following extracts from the letters of Colonel McKee, the superintendent of Indian affairs for the districts of Detroit and Mackinaw, which were addressed from this fort to Colonel England, the military commandant at Detroit, are worthy to be preserved as evidence of the conduct of the British government in this case.

Excerpts from the McKee letters:

Another letter involving Colonel England from War Department papers:

Date July 11, 1796
Author Name: Anthony Wayne (primary) Location: Fort Washington
Recipient Name: James McHenry (primary)
Summary Wayne announced the possession of the Detroit and Miamis posts, previously held by Great Britain. Enclosed letters from Captain DeButs and Colonel Richard England (British Officer) recounting exchange of possession.

Drawing Of General Harrison

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Whistler's Orders

Source (Artillery At An Unknown Location)

The Canada batteries were in the same place with those which had been erected on the 5th of July, just before Hull had arrived, which had been broken up by Captain Dalliba, under Major [John] Whistler's orders, before Hull's arrival from the 24-pounder battery at the lower end of the town.  Whistler was then in command. [Source]

The New York Times chronicled the service of generations of Whistlers.

Hull's Baggage

From The history of the war, between the United States ... . Russell, J. (John), 1793-1863:

"The British received the news of the war before Gen. Hull, and sent a brig in pursuit of his baggage, which succeeded in capturing her, and carried her into Malden."

Hull's Army Informed Of War

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Another Entry For General George McClure

British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - Index Only

Microform: c-11837

Source

See another entry for Brigadier General, U.S.A., George McClure here.

Thames Map

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