Fort Holmes on Mackinac Island-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Fort Holmes is a fortified earthen redoubt located on the highest point of Mackinac Island.  Originally built by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812, it was improved by the Army throughout the rest of the war.  It was built to find additional defense to nearby Fort Mackinac which was at a lower elevation.

The British named the redoubt Fort George (not to confused with Fort George in Ontario) and reinforced it with cannon, a blockhouse and a magazine for gunpowder and other munitions.  However, it never functioned as an independent fortification, but always dependent on nearby Fort Mackinac.

When U.S. forces reoccupied Mackinac Island in 1815 under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, they took possession of Fort George.  After surveying and measuring it, they renamed it Fort Holmes in honor of Major Andrew Holmes, who was killed in the 1814 Battle of Mackinac Island.

However, they soon abandoned Fort Holmes.  The earthworks and buildings of the former redoubt slowly eroded and disappeared over the course of more than a century.

--Brock-Perry

Major Andrew Hunter Holmes-- Part 4: Honors

The British held Fort Mackinac until the end of the War of 1812 until it was returned with the Treaty of Ghent.  When the Americans reoccupied it, the name was changed to Fort Holmes in honor of the Major.  (Well, actually Fort Mackinac remained with that name, but nearby British Fort George had its name changed to Fort Holmes.)

Holmes was to receive other honors.  A town and county in Ohio were named after him.  On December 16, 1816, an act was passed by the Mississippi General Assembly to name a town in Pike County Holmesville in his honor.

--Brock-Perry

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

Major Andrew Hunter Holmes

From Find-A-Grave

BIRTH:  1782, Frederick County, Virginia

DEATH:  4 August 1814, (aged 31-32),Mackinac Island, Michigan

CENOTAPH:  Fort Mackinac Post Cemetery, Mackinac County, Michigan

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

Holmes County, Ohio, named for him.

His descendants moved to Canada shortly after his death.  Many of his living descendants are named after him and living in Atlantic Canada.

FATHER:  Governor Joseph Holmes  WikiTree just lists him as Joseph Holmes.

MOTHER:  Rebecca Hunter

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Hunter Holmes-- Part 4: Killed at Mackinac

At the Battle of Longwoods, Holmes' 164 men defeated a British force of 240 men under Major James Basden.  The Americans suffered 4 killed and 3 wounded; the British lost 14 killed, 51 wounded, 1 wounded prisoner and 1 man missing.

Holmes returned to Amherstburg and was promoted to major.

Later in 1814 Holmes received command of a battalion and was assigned to the American force sent to retake Fort Mackinac from the British.

Holmes was killed on August 4,1814, leading one of the first assaults on the British defenses; ultimately the American effort failed.

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Holmes

From Wikipedia.

Major Andrew Hunter Holmes (1782-August 14, 1814)

Born in Fairfax County, Virginia, was a War of 1812 American officer.

He was captain of the 24th Infantry in the War of 1812 and promoted to major on June 8, 1813.

On April 18, 1814, he was major of the 32nd Infantry.

His victory at the Battle of Longwoods in Upper Canada, near present-day London, Ontario was lauded.

But, he was killed on August 4, 1814, in an attack on Fort Mackinac, Michigan, in the Battle of Mackinac Island.

Holmes County, Ohio, and Holmesville, Mississippi , are named after him.

--Brock-Perry

How the Horrors of the River Raisin Became a Rallying Cry-- Part 2: The Surrender of Detroit and the Michigan Territory

American mobilization continued as Brigadier General William Hull, commander of U.S. forces in theOld Northwest -- accompanied by 1,200 Ohio militia and 200 regular soldiers -- arrived in Detroit on July 5, 1812, and began preparations for the attack.

Invasion of British-held present-day Ontario began on July 12.  While Hull assailed the British at Fort Amherstburg, a small British force surrounded and took control of the unaware U.S. garrison at Fort Mackinac.

Hull, unable to hold the captured Fort Amherstburg and protect an overextended supply line that stretched back to Ohio, returned to Detroit in the first week of August.

Hull surrendered Detroit and the entire Michigan Territory on August 16 after a siege by the British and Native warriors.  Hull did this, knowing that more Native warriors were on their way from the upper Great Lakes, and that he was cut off from American support assembling at the River Raisin close to the Ohio border.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Champlin-- Part 19: Capture of the Tigress and Scorpion

In the spring of 1814, Stephen Champlin,  now in command of the Tigress (along with Captain Turner who now commanded the Scorpion) blockade Port Mackinac.  Their two vessels cruised Lake Huron for several months and cut off supplies to the British garrison.

Both ships were captured on the night of September 3, 1814, near Midland, Ontario, by a combined force of one hundred British and three hundred Indians who first approached the Tigress by canoe under the cover of darkness.  By the time they were spotted by the crew of the Tigress it was too late.

The British then sailed toward the Scorpion with the American flag still flying and the British dressed in American uniforms.

Sneaky British.  --Brock-Perry

Another HMS Detroit-- Part 2: The Former American Brig Adams

From Wikipedia.

Launched 1798 by the United States.  150 tons.  Built at U.S. Shipyard on River Rouge near River Rouge.  Begun in 1798 and launched 18 May 1799.

Officially named President Adams.  The commissariat at Fort Shelby in Detroit used the ship to transport troops and supplies to Fort Mackinac and Fort Dearborn.

The Adams was in drydock in Detroit when the War of 1812 began and was back at sea 4 July 1812, but was surrendered along with the American troops by General William Hull on August 16, 1812.

The British Navy took her and renamed the ship the HMS Detroit.  Along with the HMS Caledonia, they effectively controlled Lake Erie and the Upper Great Lakes.

--Brock-Perry

Miller Worsley, RN-- Part 2: Defending the HMS Nancy

After the Raid on Fort Oswego, Worsley was appointed to head up the British naval detachment on Lake Huron, which actually only consisted of a small ship named the Nancy.  Worsley made his way overland to the base at Nottawasago Bay in July and took command of the only British naval vessel on the lake, the Nancy.

Conditions of the British garrison at Fort Mackinac were getting serious and Worsley needed to go to its aid with supplies and munitions.  But, there was a larger American force lying off the coast.  Knowing that the Americans would try to destroy the Nancy, Worsley tried to hide the ship by towing it upriver.

To protect the ship, he had a force of 22 sailors, 9 French voyageurs and 23 Indians.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mackinac Celebrates 200 Years in American Hands

From the July 28, 2015, Great Lakes Echo by Kevin Lavery.

At the end of the War of 1812, the British fort on Mackinac Island was returned to the United States.  The Mackinac State Historic Parks system is currently celebrating the 200th anniversary of it.

The war played a huge role in shaping the territory which eventually became the state of Michigan.  The United Staes held the fort early in the war.  On July 17, 1812, British, Canadian and Indians captured it and held it until the war's end.

The U.S. got it back on July 18, 1815.

--Brock-Perry

Marking the True End of the War of 1812 on Mackinac Island

From the July 18, 2015, Toledo News "Snyder, others marking War of 1812-related bicentennial" by Jeff Karous, AP.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and others are helping mark the bicentennial of the true end in the War of 1812 on Mackinac Island.

The ceremony was held July 18th at Marquette Park near Fort Mackinac and featured a peace garden dedication.

The event marked the 200th anniversary of the British withdrawal from the island after the war had officially ended months earlier.They had recaptured the fort in 1812 with the help of hundreds on Indians in one of the war's earliest operations.

The Battle of Mackinac Island, which took a month, came two years later.

So, It Didn't End With the Treaty of Ghent.  --Brock-Perry

Major Andrew Hunter Holmes

Wikipedia.

Was a captain with the 24th U.S. Infantry and promoted to major June 8, 1813  On March 4, 1814, he was victorious leading the 32nd U.S. Infantry at the Battle of Longwoods, Upper Canada.

He was killed August 4, 1814 in the attack on Fort Mackinac.

--Brock-Perry

American Assault on Fort Mackinac

AUGUST 4-5, 1814:  Fort Mackinac was commanded by Lt.-Col. Robert McDouall who had arrived that spring with reinforcements.  As part of American Arthur Sinclair's expedition that sailed from Detroit to recapture that post, Lt-Col. George Croghan commanded a force of 700 regulars and Ohio militia, almost twice the strength of the British force at Mackinac.

Once at the post the Americans could not bring their vessels' guns to bear on the fortification, located on a height of land and therefore landed their troops at the far side of the island to lure McDouall into open combat.

Unable to breech the strong British defensive position established by McDouall on the edge of a clearing, Croghan's botched attack suffered heavy casualties.

The Americans withdrew to Detroit, ending Sinclair's upper Great Lakes Expedition.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Timeline: July 1814

FromHistoricPlaces.ca: War of 1812 Timeline.  The best chronology of the war that I have found.

JULY 1814:  British complete Fort George on the high ground overlooking Fort Mackinac further strengthening their positions on the island of Michillimackinac, Michigan territory.

JULY 1814-APRIL 1815:  MAINE CAMPAIGN.  British Naval campaign along the Maine coast met little opposition.  At various times, they occupied Eastport, Machias, Castine and Bangor.

JULY 2ND:  British raid St. Leonard's, Maryland, destroying naval supplies and residences.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Timeline: June 1814

JUNE 1814:  Upon receiving news that Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin territory, had fallen to American forces, the Mississippi Volunteers, a British unit formed primarily of voyageurs and fur trappers, is raised at Fort Mackinac to help recapture the lost post.

JUNE 1, 1814:  British raids on Cedar Point and St. Jerome's Point in Maryland.

JUNE 2-5, 1814:  Americans take possession of Priarie du Chien, Wisconsin Territory, and start construction of Fort Shelby.

JUNE 3, 1814:  The British Secretary of War, the Earl of Bathurst, orders Governor General Sir George Prevost to take offensive action against the Americans with the reinforcement of 13,000 regulars that will soon arrive from Europe.  Prevost will allocate the majority of these troops to the September 1814 campaign in northern New York near Plattsburg and Lake Champlain.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Timeline-- April 1814: Reinforcing Fort Mackinac

APRIL 19TH, 1814: As already mentioned, on April 19th, Lt.Col. Robert McDouall and a contingent of British soldiers and sailors depart Glengarry Landing, Upper Canada, to reinforce the garrison at Fort Mackinac in Michigan territory. //// He left with two companies of the Royal Newfoundland Fencible regiment, a handful of Royal Artillerymen and agroup of Royal Navy sailors. They had been ordered from Kingston in February 1814 to reinforce and resupply the British garrison at Fort Mackinac. //// They at first traveled overland and then stopped at the forks of the Nottawasaga River in Upper Canada near Georgian Bay and spent two months constructing 29 large boats with which to carry supplies to the post on Michilimackinac Island. //// The clearing they made became known as Glengarry Landing. //// The expedition encountered ice-choked and often stormy waters in their journey over Lake Hurin to Fort Mackinac. Upon arrival on 18 May, McDouall assumed command of the post. //// --Brock-Perry