War of 1812 October Events: Thames, Tecumseh, Jackson, Brock, Queenston Heights, Chateauguay

1813

OCTOBER 5

**  Battle of the Thames.  Tecumseh killed.

1813

OCTOBER 7

**  Andrew Jackson established camp ay Fayetteville, Tennessee (Camp Blount) to recruit Americans to fight the Creek Indians in Alabama.

1811

OCTOBER 9

**  Major General Isaac Brock appointed Administrator of Upper Canada.  He is the Brock in my signoff, Brock-Perry.

1812

OCTOBER 13

**  British and Canadians win the Battle of Queenston Heights, Canada.  Isaac Brock killed.

1813

OCTOBER 26

**  Engagement at Chateauguay.

--Brock-Perry

Camp Blount Volunteer Days Gets Underway in Tennessee This Weekend-- Part 1: Played a Major Role in the War of 1812

From the September 28, 2021, Elk Valley Times (Tennessee) "Camp Blount Volunteer  Days gets underway Friday and Saturday" by Lora Scripps.

Members of the Camp Blount Historic Site  Association are getting ready for the first Camp Blount Volunteer Day set for this Friday and Saturday, October 1 and 2.  It will be held on the site of the historic Camp Blount in Tennessee.

The camp was located on the banks of the Elk River, just a little over a half mile south of downtown Fayetteville and is the site where Gen. Andrew Jackson mustered troops for the Creek  Indian War in October of 1813 during the War of 1812.

The muster of volunteers back then was the beginning of a campaign that culminated  in the Creeks defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Nine months later, Tennesseans again mustered at Camp Blount under Jackson and marched to New Orleans where they took part in the Battle of New Orleans, the final defeat of the British in the war.

--Brock-Perry

Southwest Georgia Played Key Role in War of 1812-- Part 3: Forts, Fort Mims, Battle of Horseshoe Bend and Negro Fort

Not only was a trail hewed from the Wilderness, but Gen. David Blackshear also built a series of forts along that trail:  Fort Telfair, Fort Twiggs, Fort Jackson, Fort Pike, Fort Mitchell, Fort Green Fort Lawrence, Fort Adams, Fort Clark and Fort McIntosh.

Other forts in the region included  Fort Gaines, Fort Mitchel, Fort Morgan and Fort Scott.

Military action in the region began on August 30, 1813, when a war party of Creek Indians under Spanish and English influence, attacked  Fort Mims in what is now in Alabama and 500  mostly white settlers were killed.  In retaliation, Gen. Andrew Jackson would lead his Tennessee volunteers with the aid of Cherokee warriors, killing around  800 Creeks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Another battle of note which highlighted the alliances formed during the War of 1812 would take place on the Apalachicola River at a fortification called British Fort, but more commonly known as Negro Fort.  There, the British enlisted runaway slaves and Indians to harass the white settlers of the region.

--Brock-Perry

Southwest Georgia Played a Key Role in the War-- Part 2: The Blackshear Trail and Andrew Jackson

Much of the defense of Georgia's south border fell to General David Blackshear, who was instructed to construct a series of  fortifications for that purpose.  Blackshear, like many who fought in the War of 1812, had gained military experience during the American Revolution.  He had been at an early engagement of that war at Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina.

After the war, he became a surveyor, moving to Springfield in Laurens County, Georgia, settling on a land grant he received for his Revolution service. 

After war was declared in June 18, 1812, he returned to military service and was authorized to construct 11 forts along Georgia's southern and western borders.

The first clue to this effort he made can be found on a Georgia historical marker on Highway 300 in  Crisp County.  It reads:  "Blackshear Trail. made by General David Blackshear during the War of 1812, was used by General Andrew Jackson when he led  his troops from Fort Hawkins, near Macon,  through Hartford, now Hawkinsville, to Fort Early in 1818.

"The section was roadless except for this and a few Indian trails.  General Jackson used it in his campaign against the Seminole and Creek Indians.  The Battle of Skin Cypress Pond was fought on the Blackshear Trail.  During the battle, three  U.S. soldiers and a number if Indians were killed.

"They were buried at the site in unmarked graves."

--Brock-Perry

Some More on Patrick Gass-- Part 6: The Journal and Back to Soldiering and the War of 1812

Patrick Gass received his pay for the Lewis & Clark Expedition in gold, with the promise of future consideration, and went home to his friends in Wellsburg.

Here, he arranged with  the Irish schoolmaster, David M'Keehan, for the publication of his journal of the expedition, which appeared early in 1807, thus seven years before that of Lewis and Clark's own narrative was published.

Gass never exchanged the pen, though, for his sword.  In the spring of 1807, he was a soldier again.  He served for the next four years at the then frontier post of Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Then came the Second War of Independence, the War of 1812.  Formal declaration of war was made June 18, 1812,  under the administration of James Madison.  Shortly before this happened, Gass was at Nashville, Tennessee, where he was drafted into the regiment raised by Andrew Jackson  to fight the Creek Indians.  Some disturbances had broken out along the frontier.

--Brock-Perry

What Tecumseh Fought For-- Part 2: An Indian Confederation

Tecumseh's 1811 diplomatic mission among the various Indian tribes rallied the Upper Creeks, but  most of the southern tribes rejected it. As a result, most of his efforts  remained centered in the Old Northwest, where he drew together the Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Saulk, Meskwaki, Ottawa and Ojibwe.

To Tecumseh, the Americans were set on domination of the continent and the Indians were in the wat and must be removed.

William Henry Harrison's victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe might have ended the Indian conflict, but it didn't.  He was sure of it, but was very wrong about it.  Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, regrouped their people around a powerful ally, Britain, America's opponent in the approaching  maritime war.

Again, Tecumseh's aspirations were frustrated by circumstance.  Still hoping for an Indian confederacy, Tecumseh found his hand forced by the War of 1812.

For the next three years, the incomplete Indian alliance challenged American armies across the Native homelands.  They pummeled the Americans at the River Raisin, took Fort Dearborn (Chicago), chased settlers out of the borderlands, and orchestrated a three-pronged  offensive against the remaining American forts.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 5: The Creek War and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend

Angered that they were turned down by Spanish governor Gonzalez Manrique. they turned to John Innerarity at the Forbes store  in Pensacola.  Innerarity feared that an Indian war was about to begin and showed them only empty barrels and turned down their request for guns and gunpowder

However, Governor Manrique decided to help the Creeks and  provided Chief Peter McQueen with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder.  An attack on Fort Mimms caused the United States to declare war on the Creeks.

Alarmed that the Creeks would become a dangerous threat if the British armed them, Andrew Jackson's Tennessee volunteers marched to the Alabama River from Nashville and defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and forced the Indians to ceded half of their territory to the Americans.

With some justification,  hostile factions among the Creeks and Seminoles blamed Forbes & Company for their lack of firearms and gunpowder that led to their defeat and loss of land.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 4: It Was a British, American and Spanish Thing

According to their British charter, the Forbes Company could operate under the flag of any country.  James and and John Innerarity had already obtained Spanish citizenship by residence without giving up their British, and thereby  were able to trade freely in Florida,

After the United States annexed Mobile in 1813, the Inneraritys applied for U.S. citizenship.  U.S. General James Wilkinson quartermaster purchased tools, bricks, lumber, food and office supplies from the company.  Through these favorable associations, the senior Forbes partners were becoming even closer to  Americans and more suspicious of British intentions.

The War of 1812 was already being fought between Nova Scotia and Washington, and now Forbes ships plying between Nassau and London were in jeopardy.

In July 1813, several delegations of Creek Indians, who were hostile to American encroachment, had arrived in Spanish Pensacola seeking gunpowder and firearms.  Led by Chiefs Peter McQueen and High Head Jim, about 300 men requested arms from the governor, Gonzalez Manrique, who refused their request.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay, Florida, During the War-- Part 1

From the January 17, 2018, Times (Appalachicola and Carrabelle, Florida) "Apalachicola Bay and the War of 1812" by Robert Register and James Hargrove.

British preparation for the attack on New Orleans began at St. George Island (Florida) in May 1814, when Captain Henry Pigot of the Royal Navy anchored the HMS Orpheus in Apalachicola Bay, and Captain George Woodbine of the Royal Marines unloaded 2,000 muskets for delivery to the Creek Indians and escaped black slaves who were living along the Apalachicola River.

At the same time, the British Navy began their blockade of Mobile and New Orleans.

The British advance into Apalachicola Bay was part of a three-pronged British attack planned by Admiral Alexander Cochrane.

--Brock-Perry

Small World: Henry Burchstead, Tulsa and Route 66

Yesterday I wrote about the possibility that Lt. Henry A. Burchstead died at the Battle of Autossee in 1813 in Alabama.  This took place by the Creek Indian towns of Autosee and Tallasee.

Early this morning, I was looking at the Oklahoma Route 66 Organization's 2011-2012 Trip Guide and was at Tulsa and I read an interesting thing.

Tulsa began as a Creek Indian settlement.  The name was taken from an old Creek settlement in Alabama named Tallasee.  The one in what is today Oklahoma, which was Indian Territory back then and where the Creeks were forcibly moved was called Tulsey-Town, a political subdivision of the Creek nation.

Hence the name Tulsa.

And, since I'm much into Route 66 as well, Tulsa is a major city on that fabled highway.

Like I Said, Small World.  --Brock-Perry

Henry A Burchstead, Class of 1811, Killed in Creek Campaign

From "For What They Gave On Saturday Afternoon."

HENRY A. BURCHSTEAD

Born New York.  Appointed USMA from New York.

Cadet of Military Academy, Feb. 16, 1809, to Mar. 1, 1811, when he graduated and was promoted to the Army as Ensign, 2nd Infantry, Mar. 1, 1811.

Served:  on the Northwestern Frontier, 1811; in General Harrison's (2nd Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, March 13, 1811) Campaign of 1811 in Indiana Territory, being engaged in the Battle of Tippecanoe, Nov. 7, 1811, where he was wounded; on frontier duty in the Gulf States, 1811-1812;  and in the War of 1812-1815 with Great Britain, (First Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, May 5, 1813) being engaged in the Campaign of 1813 against the Creek Indians, in which he was killed, November 30, 1813, on the Alabama River.

--Brock-Perry

West Point Class of 1811: Five Died in the War of 1812

From the Civil War in the East site.

Four other members of the West Point Class of 1811 besides George Ronan were killed during the War of 1812.

Marie V. Boisaubin   First Lt.  Died in 1813 in the capture of Fort George, Upper Canada.

Henry Burchstead   First Lt.     Killed 1813 in Alabama in Creek Indian campaign.

Henry A. Hobart   First Lt.  Killed 1813, Capture of Fort George, Upper Canada.

Alexander J. Williams    Captain     Killed 1814 in defense of Fort Erie, Upper Canada

George Ronan   Ensign    Killed 1812 in Fort Dearborn massacre.  First West Point graduate to be killed in action.

--Brock-Perry

Green Clay's Family-- Part 2: Clement Comer Clay, Governor of Alabama

From Find-A-Grave

A cousin of Green Clay.

December 17, 1789 to September 6, 1866.

Eighth governor of Alabama.  Also attorney, politician, Alabama legislator and U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Born in Virginia.

Served under General Andrew Jackson battling the Creek Indians during the War of 1812.  This is also known as the Creek War 1813-1814.

While governor (1835-1837), his administration's term was dominated by the Creek War of 1836, arising from their resistance to Indian Removal.  During his time in office, the U.S. Army  removed the Creek Indians from southeastern Alabama under the terms of the 1832 Treaty of  Cusseta.

The Creeks were relocated to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.

--Brock-Perry

General Nathaniel Taylor-- Part 2: A Question of Guns

As they marched southward, the men did a lot of road building and guarding wagons.

Many were stationed at Camp Mandeville near Mobile in February 1814, where they encountered much disease.  Captain Joseph Scott's 104-man company had 31 listed as sick in their final muster.

From the East Tennessee Historical Society.

From 1800 to 1814, Nathaniel Taylor became quite a rich and successful businessman and even had iron forges.

In 1814-1815, after the defeat of the Creek Indians, the U.S. Secretary of War directed a call for 2,500 Tennessee militia to march south and man forts in the recently captured territory.  Taylor's brigade was part of this.  Evidently, there was an acute lack of weapons and a bit of a confrontation along the way with the commander of a regular U.S. Army regiment about his having surplus guns.

On November 9, at Fort Jackson, half of Taylor's troops were without guns.

Brock-Perry

Fort Mitchell Historical Site, Alabama

From Wikipedia.

Park and archaeological site in Alabama.  Was made a National Historical Landmark in 1990.

Restoration of an 1813 stockade used during the Creek War.  Also a museum with exhibits.  There is also a restored 19th-century log home and a visitors center.

Adjacent to it is the Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center of the Creek Nation and Removal during the Trail of Tears

This fort and center represent three distinct times of Creek-U.S. relations.  The fort was named for David Brydie Mitchell, the governor of Georgia.  The U.S. defeated the Creeks and forced them to ceded 21 million acres of land to the states of Georgia and Alabama.

During the second time, the fort served as an Indian Factory/trading post beginning in 1817.

The third phase was the Creek Removal to Oklahoma.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mitchell, Alabama-- Part 2: By Present-Day Fort Benning

The site of Fort Mitchell was used again as part of the defense of Columbus, Georgia, during the Civil War, although the original fort was long-gone by this time.

The original site of the fort is just outside the boundaries of present-day Fort Benning and the Fort Mitchell Veterans Administration Hospital.

The site was excavated in 1971 and a marker and modern reconstruction of the fort is located at Fort Mitchell Park.  Admission is free.

The Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center is adjacent to  the park.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mitchell, Alabama-- Part 1: First Creek Indian War

From North American Forts--  Alabama.

Georgia's Gen. John Floyd built this fort along the present day Georgia-Alabama state line.

FORT MITCHELL

1813, 1837 or 1840, 1865

The Georgia state militia, under gen. John Floyd, built the original fort during the First Creek War.  The Creek Indian Agency located here in 1817.  Federal troops rebuilt the fort in 1825 as a stockade with two blockhouses.

The Creek Nation was gathered here in 1836 for their forced removal to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Hull and Camp Defiance, Alabama

From North American Forts-- Alabama.

FORT HULL

Georgia state militia fort on the Federal Road, 5 miles southeast of Tuskegee, Alabama.

CAMP DEFIANCE

1794, 1814 in Macon County.

The site is located on the Calabee Creek, 48 miles from the Chattahoochee River.

The Georgia state militia abandoned and destroyed the original post in 1794.  The site was later used by Georgia militia under General John Floyd in the 1814 Creek War as a subpost of Fort Hull.

Red Stick Creeks attacked the post in January 1814.

Brock-Perry

Charles Rinaldo Floyd-- Part 1: Gen. Floyd's Son

From Wikipedia.

Born October 14, 1797,  Soldier in War of 1812.  Saw action at the Battles of Tallassee, Chalibee and Autossee versus the Creek Indians.

At age 16, he left home to accompany his father, John Floyd as an aid in the fighting against the Creek Indians.  He wrote in his journal at the Battle of Autossee that a rifle ball grazed his forehead and one passed through his coat sleeve.

He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but was dismissed in 1817 for insubordination over what he considered a "point of honor."  He definitely had a penchant for dueling, something he continued with throughout his life.

--Brock-Perry

Georgia's General John Floyd-- Part 5: Battle of Calabee Creek

By early January 1814, Floyd had replenished rations, firearms and artillery and he took 1500 men along the federal Road into Creek territory.  Forty-nine miles west of Fort Mitchell he constructed Fort Hull as a supply base.

He then advanced to Calabee Creek (Chalibee) and constructed Camp Defiance.

On January 27, 1814, at the Battle of Calabee Creek (also referred to as the Battle of Camp Defiance) he fended off a predawn attack by over 1300 Indian warriors and was helped by friendly Lower Creek Indians.

For this, John Floyd was promoted to the rank of major general.

After the war ended, he was sent to protect Savannah from a possible British attack and later was one of three men appointed to survey the Florida-Georgia line.

Hey, There Is a Country Act Called That.  --Brock-Perry