Battle of Longwoods-- Part 3

 Although Andrew Holmes had defeated the British, he knew he was outnumbered and decided he would be unable to capture the post at Delaware.  At 9 p.m., a short time after the British retired from the field, he abandoned his position at Twenty Mile Creek where the battle was fought and retreated to Detroit.

The British later abandoned their outpost at Delaware.

However, two American six-pounder guns which Holmes had abandoned near Pointe au Pelee were discovered by a Canadian militia unit who destroyed their carriages and concealed the guns in a black ash swamp where they remained until the end of the war.

Holmes was promoted to major, but was killed a few months later at the Battle of Mackinac Island.  The British commander, British Captain James Lewis Basden had been wounded at the Battle of Longwoods, recovered and later fought at the Battle of Lundy's Landing.

The battle site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924.

--Brock-Perry

Caldwell's Western Rangers

From Wikipedia  "Canadian Units in War of 1812."

Known as Western Rangers or Caldwell's Rangers.  Unit named after its leader, William Caldwell, noted Loyalist and Indian trader,   The unit was a relatively small one, probably not more than fifty men, normally organized into two companies.  

They worked in conjunction with the Indian Department and often fought alongside the Indians (chiefly the Ojibwe, Wyandotte and Pottowottomi).

The unit, or parts of it fought at the Battle of Moraviantown,  the Battle of Longwoods,  the Battle of Lundy's Lane and in several actions on the Niagara Peninsula.

--Brock-Perry

This Month in the War of 1812, July

From the American Battlefield Trust.

JULY 3, 1814

**  American troops under  Major General Jacob Brown cross Niagara River and capture Fort Erie.

JULY 12, 1812

**  General William Hull invades Canada from Detroit.

JULY 17, 1812

**  Fort Michilimakinac surrenders to British-Canadian forces.

JULY 22, 1814

**  Treaty of Greenville

JULY 25, 1814

**  Battle of Lundy's Lane, one of the fiercest battles of the war.

--Brock-Perry

Pivotal War of 1812 Battles

From the May 3, 2022, 24/7 Wallst. site "The most pivotal battles that made America what it is today" by Angelo Young.

BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE, Ohio, September 10, 1813.

BATTLE OF CHIPPEWA, Ontario, July 5, 1814

BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE, Ontario, July 25, 1814

BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN, New York, September 11, 1814

BATTLE OF PLATTSBURGH, New York, September 11, 1814

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, January8, 1815

Just of Interest.  --Brock-Perry

The Glengarry Light Infantry-- Part 3: Action in 1813 and 1814

A company of the Glengarry Light Infantry was at the Battle of York, but didn't play a big part.  They were misdirected by the commander of the Upper Canadian  militia.  Another company  suffered severe losses at the Battle of Fort George trying to prevent American forces landing  on the lake shore from outflanking the fort.

Yet another company was present at the Battle of Sackets Harbor where troops under Prevost and Baynes withdrew after failing to drive American troops from buildings and hastily constructed defenses.

During the latter part of 1813, the entire regiment was concentrated around Fort George and was engaged for several weeks in harassing American outposts  around the captured fort.

They were built back up to full strength during the following winter (1813-1814).  A company took part in the raid on Fort Oswego in the spring of 1814.  During the following summer, the full regiment along with  light infantry companies of four regular line regiments, formed a covering  force on the Niagara Peninsula, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel  Thomas Pearson.

Later, on 25 July, the regiment formed part of a light infantry brigade under Pearson and played a major role in the Battle of Lundy's Lane where they harassed  the left flank of the American Army but suffered casualties when mistaken for Americans by other inexperienced British troops.

--Brock-Perry

Captain Abraham Fuller Hull-- Part 5: Poor William Hull

Source continues from the previous post.

From the Memoir of Gem. William Hull.

Only a few months after the sentence of the court martial (finding William Hull guilty in his court martial and sentencing him to death), General Hull met  with a greater misfortune in the loss of his only son, Captain Abraham Fuller Hull of the Ninth Infantry, who fell in the battle at Lundy's Lane, July 1814, while leading his company in a bayonet charge on the enemy's guns.

So, here was William Hull, facing the death penalty for his surrender of Fort Detroit and he then finds out about the death of his only son.  Like I said, poor William Hull.

As his father's aide, Captain A. F. Hull signed "Hull's Proclamation" in July 1812.

(Well, it looks like I'll be looking up Hull's Proclamation to see what that is all about.)

--Brock-Perry

Captain Abraham Fuller Hull-- Part 4

From the July 25, 2012, War of 1812 Chronicles.

Captain Abraham Fuller Hull, of the Ninth Infantry, died on July 25, 1814; killed at Lundy's Lane.

In the History of the Ninth  U.S. Infantry, his burial is described:

"Only one other body of an American has been dug up on the battle-field at Lundy's Lane.  It was that of Captain Abraham Fuller Hull of the  Ninth Infantry, to which regiment  of the nine other Yankees, as their buttons showed, belonged.

"The bones of Captain Hull, unearthed several years ago, were reburied in an isolated spot at the south end of the Drummond Hill Cemetery.  The grave into which the remains remains of his nine comrades were laid yesterday is close beside it."

--Brock-Perry

Captain Abraham Fuller Hull-- Part 2

Of the American soldiers who lie here the only one whose name  and resting place are known is Captain ABRAHAM FULLER HULL, of the 9th U.S. Infantry, who lost his life in one of the desperate charges against the British battery.

He was the son of Gen. William Hull, a captain  in the 13th U.S. Infantry and aide-de-camp to his father at Detroit when that place surrendered on August16, 1812.  He was exchanged on the 18th of January 1813 and given a captaincy in the 9th U.S. Infantry with which he served until he was killed at he age of 28 years.

For years, his grave was marked by a humble white marble slab.  In 1901, the bones of nine men of the same regiment were found elsewhere and re-interred on October 19th beside their captain with full U.S. military honors.

The troops performing the honors (13 U.S. Infantry) from Fort Niagara, who on that day  laid their predecessors to rest fired three volleys over the open grave, were the first United States troops to enter Canada under arms since 1815.

--Brock-Perry

Abraham Fuller Hull (Son of Gen. William Hull)-- Part 1

While researching about William Hull's surrender of Fort Detroit to the British and their Indian allies in 1812, I came across Abraham Fuller Hull's name, the son of Gen. William Hull.  

From Find-A-Grave.

BIRTH:  8 March 1786

Newton, Massachusetts

DEATH:  25 July1814 (age 28)  Killed at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

BURIAL:  Drummond Hill  Cemetery

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

--Brock-Perry

July Happenings During the War of 1812

From the American Battlefield Trust War of 12812 Timeline.

JULY 12, 1812

General William Hull invades Canada.

JULY  17, 1812

Fort Michilimackinac surrenders to British-Canadian forces

JULY 5, 1814

Battle of Chippawa

JULY 22, 1814

Treaty of Greenville

JULY 25, 1814

Battle of Lundy's Lane, one of the fiercest battles of the war.

--Brock-Perry

Patrick Gass and War of 1812-- Part 2: The Battle of Lundy's Lane

This was the first actual army on army action that Patrick Gass participated in.

He was a sergeant and qualified  in artillery, being used to firing 6 and 12 pound guns that could easily outdistance the British guns.

As the battle wore on, Sergeant Gass was one of 300 men  who charged and captured a British company after fierce hand-to-hand fighting all night.

Gass was wounded in the fighting and lost the sight in his right eye as a result.

Later that year, he rejoined the Army  and fought around Pittsburgh and Niagara to fight against any British attempt to invade from Canada.

Sergeant Gass was  discharged in the spring of 1815 in Sackets Harbor, New York.

--Brock-Perry

Patrick Gass and the War of 1812-- Part 1

From "Sergeant Patyrick Gass" by SGM Teddy L. Bridgman.

When the War of 1812 broke out, Patrick Gass was in the Army and stationed at Fort Kaskaskia in the Illinois Territory working as a commissary assistant.  From the start of the war and through 1813, he remained on the Illinois frontier to hold the Indians in check in that area.

But in the spring of 1814, Gass and his men were ordered to the Niagara Frontier to fight the British.  They didn't arrive until July and were too late to participate in the Battle of Chippewa.  However, they did not miss the next battle, which was Lundy's Lane.

Here Gass got to hear and see roar of the "Big Guns" in action.

--Brock-Perry

Some More on Patrick Gass-- Part 7: Service in the War of 1812

With Jackson's Army, Patrick Gass had the option of enlistment in the U.S. Army for five years, which he took.  Of course, he also got a bounty of $100 for doing so. and then marched north under the command of General Edmund P. Gaines.

Gass was at Fort Massac in Illinois in 1813; and the 1st of July 1814 found him at Pittsburgh, in a battalion under the command of Colonel Nichols, with the Northern Army, which was under the command of General Jacob Brown.

He took part in the assault on Fort Erie, and was conspicuous for his bravery in the Battle of Lundy's Lane, where he was attached to the  21st regiment under the command of the gallant Colonel James Miller.  Gass is said to have distinctly remembered hearing Miller's memorable  answer, when ordered by General Ripley to capture the British battery:  "I will try, sir."

Gass shows up gallantly  in a sortie made August 17 when he was entrusted with the duty of spiking the enemy's guns.  His selection for such duty, requiring cool  courage, was a high compliment to the sergeant and shows the estimation  in which he was held.

He was discharged  at Sackets Harbor in June 1815, and once again returned to Wellsburg.

His military career was now over.

--Brock-Perry

Wellsburg Has Another Patrick Gass Marker

This is located along the Ohio River in downtown Wellsburg, West Virginia.

And, I had never heard of this person before.

Inscription:

"Sergeant on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, he published the first  account of the exploration in 1807.

Veteran of the War of 1812, he fought at the battle of Lundy's Lane and at Fort Erie.

Citizen of Wellsburg  for more than a half century, he married and raised a family  on Grog Run and Pierce's Run.  He is now buried in  Brooke County Cemetery.

The bust of Patrick Gass as a young man on the Lewis & Clark Expedition was sculpted by Agnes Vincen Talbot of Boise, Idaho and presented to the people of Wellsburg by members of the Lewis & Clark Trail heritage Foundation, assisted by the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Program .

August 2, 2002."

--Brock-Perry

Big 250th Birthday Bash for Patrick Gass in Wellsburg, WV

From the  June 12, 2021, WTRF "Wellsburg throws 250th birthday for historical figure Patrick Gass" by Aliah Keller.

It was the 250th birthday of Patrick Gass as well as the dedication of his military stone.

Gass, who once lived in Wellsburg, West Virginia, for over fifty years,  was a sergeant in the Lewis & Clark Expedition and published the first account of it in the early 1800s.  He is also a veteran of the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie.

The celebration on Saturday started off with a march and then a musket salute by the Tri-State Marine Corps.  re-enactors were there as were Gass' great-great grandchildren and their children.

--Brock-Gass

Patrick Gass-- Part 4: No Problems and the War of 1812

Despite his duties as a non-commissioned officer, Gass sometimes joined  the expedition's hunting trips.  He experienced no outstanding  adventures on the journey,  and no major injuries or illnesses.  However, he did slip in a canoe and fell back across the  gunwale which invalided him off the Jefferson River and into Lewis' advance party that located the Shoshones in August 1805.

******************************

AFTERWARDS

Gass stayed in the Army after the expedition and served in the War of 1812.  

At one point during the war, he worked  under Daniel Boone in the construction of a small, temporary fort on the Mississippi River known as Fort Independence, or "Cap-au-Gris."

At the Battle of Lundy's Landing, he suffered the loss of an eye and was discharged from the Army.

--Brock-Perry

Patrick Gass, Lewis & Clark and War of 1812-- Part 2: Carpenter in Expedition and Tried to Enlist in Civil War

This is when Patrick Gass joined the Lewis & Clark Expedition to explore and map the new Louisiana Purchase territory.

His skill as a carpenter was very important to the undertaking. He led the construction of the Corps' three winter  quarters, hewed dugout canoes and built wagons to portage the canoes 18 miles around the Falls  of the Missouri.

On the return trip, Gass was given  command of the majority of the party for a short period while Clark and Lewis led smaller detachments on  separate expeditions.

After the expedition returned, he remained in the Army and served during the War of 1812 where he lost an eye at the Battle of Lundy's Lane.

With the coming of the Civil War in 1861, Gass had to be physically removed from a recruiting station at age 91 when he wanted to sign up to fight the rebels.

Quite the Man, But That's Not All.  --Brock-Perry

Fort Worth, Texas, Named for War of 1812 Hero, William Jenkins Worth-- Part 1

From the May 16, 2021, Amarillo (Texas) Globe News "Bridges:  Fort Worth  namesake was a distinguished  war hero" by Ken Bridges.

The City of Fort Worth is sometimes known as  "Cowtown" or "Where the West Begins."  However, the name behind the city has a story all its own. 

General William Jenkins Worth was a legend in his own right, a distinguished officer and war hero who fought for Texas and his nation.

He was born in Hudson, New York in 1794, to Quaker parents.  His father made a comfortable living as a merchant ship captain.  Despite being a Quaker, young William enlisted in the U.S. Army when the War of 1812 came.

Worth received a commission as 1st lieutenant  in March 1813 and was assigned as an aide to General Winfield Scott.  Scott became a mentor and close friend.  Worth fought in numerous battles against the British, Canadians and Indians.

At the Battle of Lundy's Lane in July 1814, he and Scott were both wounded in what was the bloodiest battle of the whole war.  Worth's leg wound proved almost fatal, but he survived and never regained use of the leg the rest of his life.

--Brock-Perry-Worth

William Jenkins Worth-- Part 1: The War of 1812

From the December 13, 2019, Journal Gazette & Times Courier  "Little known characters of American history.

WILLIAM JENKINS WORTH (March 1, 1794- May 7, 1849)

United States Army officer in the War of 1812, Second Seminole War and Mexican War.

He served as an aide to Winfield Scott in the War of 1812 as a first lieutenant.  The two men developed a friendship  that would last a lifetime.

During the War of 1812, Worth distinguished himself at the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane during the Niagara Campaign. In the last battle, Worth was seriously wounded  and not expected to survive, but after a year's  confinement, he recovered.

He rose to the rank of major, but that wound would leave him lame for the rest of his life.

--Brock-Perry

Alexander J. Williams-- Part 3: On Niagara Frontier and Killed At Fort Erie

Served at West Point, 1811-1812.

In the War of 11812, served 1812 to 1814.   1st Lt. Corps of Engineers, July 1, 1812., Captain , 2nd Artillery, March 17, 1813.

In command at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 1812-1814.

Campaign of 1814 in the Niagara Frontier (Command of three 18-pounder guns at Lundy's Lane.)

Engaged in defense of Fort Erie, Upper Canada.  Where, in hand-to-hand encounter, while repulsing the enemy's fourth desperate assault upon the bastion of the work, he was killed , August 15,  1814, aged 24.

He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York.

--Brock-Perry