Major Andrew Hunter Holmes-- Part 3: War of 1812 Service

During March 1814, the commander of American forces at Detroit, Colonel Butler, ordered Captain Andrew Holmes of the 24th Tennessee Regiment on a raid into the British Western District in Upper Canada.  His objective was to capture a British military post.  

He won a skirmish/battle near Longwood, a heavily forested tract of land that lay between Delaware and the present town of Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.

Exactly five months later the American forces tried to attack the heavily fortified Fort Mackinac in August 1914.  Major Holmes was killed while leading a force of troops in the attack.

The British ambushed them in a bloody skirmish which left 13 Americans dead including Holmes.

On the 30th of the same month, Andrew Jackson wrote Governor David Holmes a note of condolence saying:  "I sympathize with you most cordially in the afflicting loss of your brother, Major Holmes."

(David Holmes was the governor of the Mississippi Territory.)

--Brock-Perry

William Caldwell, Member of Butler's Rangers, Had Own Ranger Group in War of 1812

The Wikipedia article on Butler's Rangers had a list of officers who served with John Butler.  One of them was William Caldwell who not only was in the American Revolution, but also served with his own company of rangers in the War of 1812.

WILLIAM CALDWELL

(1750 - 20 February 1822)

Irish-born,  military officer and colonial official who fought against the Americans in the Revolution as a member of Butler's Rangers and helped found the town of Amherstburg near the mouth of the Detroit River (near Detroit).

During the American Revolution he demonstrated a ruthlessness that Americans would not forget.  After the war, he settled in the Detroit region on land he was granted for his war experience.

--Brock-Perry

Okay, So Who Was This Butler Who Had the Barracks

The last several posts I have been writing about Butler's Barracks, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  I mentioned that Butler's Barracks were named after a Loyalist officer by the name of John Butler (1728-1796).

Well, who was he?

Essentially, an enemy of the new country the Patriots were trying to establish.

He was an American-born military officer, merchant, landowner and colonial official in the British Indian Deparment.  During the American Revolution he was a prominent Loyalist who led the provincial regiment Butler's Rangers on the frontiers of New York and Pennsylvania.

Born in Connecticut, he moved to New York.  To say he was a thorn in the side of Americans would be an understatement.  In thanks for his services, Britain was given a land grant in the Niagara region.  This eventually became Butler's Barracks.

I'll write about him in my Cooter's History Thing blog later.

--Brock-Perry

Butler's Barracks-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Was the home of Loyalist military officer John Butler (1728-1795), in what was then Newark, Upper Canada which is present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  Butler is most famous for leading an irregular military unit known as Butler's Rangers on thye northern frontier during the American revolution.  He fought against the Americans.

The original barracks were constructed in 1778 on the banks of the Niagara River, but were torn down during the construction of Fort George.  

The building currently called Butler's Barracks was constructed in 1818 and the site at one time was quite extensive, being first used by the Indian Department and later by thye British military.

--Brock-Perry