Andrew Hunter Holmes' Virginia Sword-- Part 2

"Being of the opinion that it would more comport with the views of the General Assembly, that these swords should be presented to the persons, authorised to receive them in public, than in private, after having given public notice to that effect, I presented two of them respectively, in person, in the chamber of the House of Delegates, on the 4th of July last, to the gentlemen authorised to receive them.

"The one to Thomas Ritchie, Esq. in behalf of his brother, Col. Archibald Ritchie, the nearest male relative of captain John Ritchie.  --The other to Philip N. Nicholaus, Esq. in behalf of Governor Holmes, of Mississippi, the nearest male relative of Major Andrew Hunter Holmes.

"Copies of my addresses to these gentlemen, with their replies respectively on this interesting occasion, marked B, will accompany this communication.  No person appearing to receive the one in behalf of captain Henley, it has been retained."

--Brock-Perry

Joseph Holmes (Father of David and Andrew Holmes)

From WikiTree.  Also his mother Rebecca (Hunter) Holmes.

Joseph Holmes (1746-1806) was the father of both David Hunter, Mississippi Territory Governor and Andrew Hunter Holmes who I have written about earlier.

He was born near Londonderry in Ireland.  He was a successful merchant in Winchester, Virginia before the American Revolution.  During the war he was Colonel Commissary of Prisoners. 

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

DAVID HOLMES

U.S. Congressman from Virginia.  Governor of Mississippi Territory in 1809.  Governor of the State of Mississippi 1817 (first governor).

U.S. Senator from Mississippi.  Mississippi Governor again in 1825.

--Brock-Perry

David Holmes (Major Andrew Hunter Holmes' Older Brother)

From WikiTree.

I mentioned Governor David Holmes of the Mississippi Territory several times when writing about Andrew Hunter Holmes.  He later became Governor of Mississippi.

Son of Joseph Holmes and Rebecca (Hunter) Holmes. This is where Andrew Holmes got his middle name.

Brother of Ann (Holmes) Boyd, Elizabeth (Holmes) McGuire, Rebecca (Holmes) Conrad, Andrew Hunter Holmes and Gertrude (Holmes) Moss.

Spouses and children unknown.

Born 10 March 1769 in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Died 20 August 1832, at age 63, in Winchester, Virginia.

--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

Andrew Hunter Holmes-- Part 2: Service in New Orleans

From the Encyclopedia of the War of 1812.

U.S. Army officer, Andrew Holmes, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1782.  He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1799 and moved to Kentucky where he became a merchant.

He was appointed an attorney in Mississippi by his brother, David, the territorial governor, on October 8, 1809, and then established a law practice in Washington, Mississippi and was admitted to the bar in Louisiana in 1812.

When the War of 1812 began, he volunteered for service and received a commission as captain in the 24th U.S. Infantry to command a company of mounted light dragoons.  When Louisiana governor William C.C. Claiborne was forced to deal with illegal smuggling by Baratarian pirates, he dispatched Holmes to intervene.

Holmes seized contraband from Jean Lafitte in a raid on November 16, 1812, after a brief engagement and later testified at Lafitte's trial.

--Brock-Perry

Andrew Hunter Holmes-- Part 1: A Lawyer in New Orleans Before the War

From Wiki Tree

A Pennsylvania veteran of the War of 1812.  Younger brother of David Holmes (1769-1832), U.S. Congressman from Virginia, governor of the Mississippi Territory 1809, governor of Mississippi in 1817.  then U.S. senator and later governor again.

Andrew Holmes was a lawyer in New Orleans when the War of 1812 broke out.  he went into the Army and distinguished himself in several battles, especially in the Battle of the Thames where he led an attack that defeated part of a Highland regiment.

He fell leading his wing of Colonel Croghan's force against Mackinac in an unsuccessful attack on 1814.  Holmes was killed in the attack on British Fort George in that action along with several others.

--Brock-Perry