Historic Fort George-- Part 9: After the War of 1812

Fort Niagara remained under British control for the rest of the war and their focus shifted to more strategically located Fort Niagara across the river instead of Fort George.

In July 1814, American forces under Winfoeld Scott attempted to capture Fort Niagara, but called off the attack when he realized  that the naval support he had been promised would not come.

In 1817, American President James Monroe visited the Canadian side of the river on a goodwill trip and was entertained at Fort George by British officers.  However, Fort George's  inability to guard the entrance to the Niagara River caused a new installation named Fort Mississauga to be built near the mouth of the river in the 1820s.

During this same period, the constuction of Butler's Barracks was undertaken southwest of Fort George and out of range of American batteries.

The equipment within the fort was auctioned off in 1821 and the palisades relocated to other sites in the next year.  By 1825, the body of Isaac Brock was exhumed from the northeast bastion and placed at Brock's Monument in Queenston.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain-- Part 1: How It Got the Name Fort Blunder

From Wikipedia.

FORT MONTGOMERY (ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN)

Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain is the second of two American forts built at the northernmost point of the American part of the lake. A first, unnamed  fort was built on the same site in 1816.  Fort Montgomery was built in 1844.

FORT BLUNDER

Construction on the first fort at this location, an octagonal structure with 30-foot high walls, in 1816 to protect against attack from British Canada such as what had happened at the Battle of Plattsburgh/ Battle of Lake Champlain in 1814. 

In July 1817, President James Monroe visited the incomplete  fortification and the adjacent military reservation known locally as "The Commons."

However, due to an earlier surveying error, it was found that this American fort was actually situated on the wrong side of the border.  This resulted it as sometimes being referred to as Fort Blunder.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the NY Flotilla-- Part 2: Who Pays for More Gunboats and Their Crews?

In February, before the British announced their blockade of New York, Secretary of the Navy William Jones had  reduced the number of gunboats in the New York Flotilla to fifteen as a cost-cutting measure.  He stipulated that Lewis could  bring the excess gunboats back into service in an emergency and have them crewed by volunteers.

When the Royal Navy squadron appeared off Sandy Hook, Lewis returned the laid off gunboats to service and requested the Navy Department to pay for the crews.  This request brought a strong rebuke from  Jones, who reminded him that he was to find volunteer crews to man the gunboats and that Lewis could be held personally responsible for any costs his actions incurred. He then ordered Lewis to take the extra gunboats out of service unless the British were to attack.

(Don't you know that Lewis hit the ceiling when told this which was most likely the reason he tried to get Secretary of State James Monroe in on his side.)

Nicholas Fish, the Federalist chairman of New York City's Committee of Defense, asked Jones to authorize the addition gunboats for which the city would pay for the crews.  Jones agreed to this compromise and told Lewis to bring up to  fifteen additional gunboats into service.

This situation was a successful example of sharing defense responsibilities between the federal and state governments.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis Writes Sec. of War Monroe About the N.Y. Flotilla-- Part 2

"Gunboats hitherto have been held in the utmost contempt, owing to a false prejudice the inhabitants of  this vast City now begin to believe, that the City cannot be defended without the Auxillary force of this floating defence."

He has gotten many requests from the First masters of New York ships to joining his flotilla and that he could have a hundred of them if he chose.

Plus, he feels their is a "prejudice of the Navy against G Boats" because the Navy Department means that appropriations to the gunboats mean there is less for regular warships like frigates.

"Gun Boats take the place of Frigates in the defence of harbours therefore frigates instead of being employ'd for that purpose go on the bosom of the Ocean and Cruize for Glory & pelf."

In case you're wondering, pelf means money.  In the case of frigates that would be prize money from captures of British ships and shipping. (I had to look it up myself.)

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis Writes to Secretary of State Monroe About His New York Flotilla

February 27, 1813

** "I am very desirous of possessing the confidence of the present  Secretary of the Navy as I did the late Mr. Secy. Hamilton.'  (Paul Hamilton)  The Secretary of the Navy after Hamilton was William Jones.  (Evidently Lewis did not get along with Jones very well.  At first I thought Mr. Secy. Hamilton was Alexander Hamilton.)

**  Raising and organizing crews of NY Flotilla.    Intends to make them able to fight on land as well as sea.    Wants to be able to put as many as 1000 on the shore and also be be able to "place the  flotilla in of perfect safety where the Enemy could not possibly  get at them."

**  Will train crews on landing, embarking marching, forming and "displaying  Colloms."  (columns)

**  "They shall be  amphibious Soldiers."

**  But needs  the support of the Secretary of the Navy.  (Evidently not getting it.)

**  The gunboats are  "held in the utmost contempt" by the City of New York.

--Brock-Perry

Jacob Lewis & the New York Flotilla-- Part 1

From the "Naval War of 1812:  A Documentary History" by William S. Dudley.

Jacob Lewis & the New York Flotilla.

Jacob Lewis was the commander of the privateer Bunker Hill early in the war and was appointed master commandant in the U.S. Navy in 1812.  Given command of all the  gunboats and fire ships stationed at New York, Lewis accepted this new challenge and set out to immediately assess the status of his flotilla.

One of his new ships was probably Gunboat No. 47, Richard Hill's ship.

He found his new command to be undermanned and "in a pitiable State owing to the prejudice against it."  Lewis knew that he had local support because the committee for harbor defense, fearful of a swarm of British ships in the spring, exhorted the state legislature for money for defense.

Unsure of Navy Secretary Jones' support, he enlisted the support of Secretary of State James Monroe in convincing the Navy Department that gunboats used in  coastal defense freed frigates for sea duty.

Brock-Perry

Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace Dedicated-- Part 5

In 1976, the College of William and Mary conducted an archaeological survey of the Monroe  birthplace site and uncovered  a 20-by-58 foot foundation, which coincided with known  1845 etchings of the Monroe birth home.

In the early 2000s, plans for developing  the birthplace site came to the attention of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, which was established  in 1928 by Monroe's  great-great-grandson, Lawrence Gouverneur Hoes.

Partnerships with and donations from Westmoreland County and many state and local  chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of 1812, Daughters of Colonial Wars, Order of Founders and Patriots and the Daughters of Founders and Patriots, as well as individuals, enabled development  to begin.

"If we mentioned  everyone involved in the project, we'd be here until lunchtime," said Woody Hynson, vicechair of the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors.

A visitors center has been open at the site on weekends  for several years and now the house, which is lightly furnished, is part of the experience.

The birthplace park is open free of charge  on Saturdays and Sundays.

--Brock-Perry

Replica of James Madison's Birthplace Dedicated-- Part 4: His Formative Years

Ron Wittman, who represents the First Congressional District, which includes Westmoreland County, in Congress-- said the foundation for Monroe's decades of public service was laid at his birthplace and childhood home.

"We can imagine a young James Monroe here with his siblings, doing his chores, taking care  of the animals and garden," Wittman said.  "What he learned here, he took with him the rest of his life.  This place keeps alive an important part of  history -- the formative years of James Monroe.

Monroe sold  his birthplace property in  1783, describing it  in a newspaper advertisement as, "About 500 acres of land in Westmoreland county on Monroe's creek, within a mile and a half of Potowmack river," with "a dwelling house  with a passage and several rooms below and above, with a kitchen, barn, stables, and other necessary out-houses...."

--Brock-Perry

Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace Dedicated-- Part 3: A Presence in Early U.S. History

 After serving as Virginia's governor, Monroe served as ambassador to Great Britain and special envoy to France -- where he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase -- under Thomas Jefferson.  Under James Madison's presidency, Monroe served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War.  

Om 1816, he was elected to the first of two terms as president of the United States.  His presidency is sometimes referred to as the Era of Good Feelings due to a sense of national purpose and unity following the War of 1812.

"Like the wind, sometimes quietly  and sometimes boldly, [Monroe] was always making his presence known" in the early history of this country," G. William Thomas said.  After reading the last two entries I fully agree with that statement.  This man did a bit of everything in our early history.

--Brock-Perry

Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace-- Part 2: Service in the American Revolution and Virginia

James Monroe, still a teenager, joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment, commanded by Hugh Mercer, and served in campaigns led by George Washington in  New York and New Jersey.

"He is our only  president to have  served on active military duty in the Revolutionary War  aside from George Washington," said G. William Thomas, president of the James Monroe Memorial Foundation, in the opening ceremony.

At the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Monroe sustained a bullet wound to his shoulder and nearly died.  He carried that bullet in his body for the rest of his life. 

Following his military service, Monroe served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress and then was elected by state legislators to be one of the first U.S. senators from Virginia.

Washington appointed him  ambassador to France, and in 1799, he was elected governor of Virginia.

--Brock-Perry

Replica of James Monroe's Birthplace Completed in Virginia-- Part 1

From the October 4, 2021, Fredericksburg (Virginia) Free Lance-Star by Adele Uphaus.

After more than a decade of planning,  fundraising and building,  a replica of former President James Monroe's  birthplace farmhouse is finally complete and open to the public.

The James Monroe Memorial Foundation has overseen the reconstruction process ever since signing a 99-year lease on the land with Westmoreland County in 2005, held a grand opening ceremony this past Saturday, October 2.

For decades, the site near the town of Colonial Beach where the nation's fifth president was born and lived until his teens was nothing more than a dusty pull-off from State Route 205--  the James Monroe Highway.

James Monroe was the son of a middling plantation owner and carpenter Spence Monroe and  his wife Elizabeth was born in the family home  on April 28, 1758.

He lived there until the age of 16 when both of his parents died, and he enrolled at the College of William and Mary, where he studied law for two years until he joined in the American fight for independence against Great Britain.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Presidents Who Served During the War of 1812-- Part 1

From the Feb. 14, 2021, National Interest  "Question;  Which presidents served in the U.S. military?" by Peter Siciu.

In honor of yesterday's Presidents Day, here is a look at some of the past presidents.  A total of 29 have served in the military.

The first president, of course, George Washington, was the leader of American forces in the Revolutionary War.  He was one of only two of our Founding Fathers to serve in the military, though.  

The other one was James Monroe, the fifth U.S. president who was an officer in the Continental Army, reaching the rank of major.  He was severely wounded at the Battle of Trenton.

Nearly all of the 29 military presidents were officers with the exception of James Buchanan, the 15th president.  He served as a private in the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry

Action Around Apalachicola Bay-- Part 8: Warning Jackson

WARNING JACKSON ABOUT NEW ORLEANS

Unknown to the British, an American merchant in Havana, Vincent Gray, had learned the invaders planned to  capture cotton bales stored at New Orleans and sell the stolen goods in Liverpool.  Under international law at the time, officers could profit from prize money received for items seized  in war.  It is estimated that 4 million pounds worth cotton, sugar, hemp, tobacco and ships could be seized  at New Orleans, far more than was available in Mobile.

Gray overheard conversations with Nicholls, commander of the Royal Marines, and learned the first British attacks would be on Pensacola and Mobile.  Alarmed at the rumors he was hearing, Gray wrote three letters of warning, that he sent to Secretary of War James Monroe, Gov. William Claibborne of Louisiana and the Forbes partner in Mobile, James Innerarity.

Although his loyalties were torn, James Innerarity  knew the British might loot his stores as war prizes, and decided that the American defenders needed to be warned of these planned attacks.  James requested an interview with Andrew Jackson, and showed him Gray's letter.  By this stroke of fortune, Jackson learned of the British attack on New Orleans four months before the invasion began which gave him time to prepare.

--Brock-Perry

Two North Carolina Men Whose Lives Spanned Three Centuries, from the Presidencies of George Washington to That of George W. Bush-- Part 1

From the June 2, 2020, Mountaineer (Waynesville, N.C.)  "Two local men whose lives  spanned three centuries had other traits in common" by Kathy Ross.

Two men from Hayward County, North Carolina, lived across three centuries.

Federic Messer was born in 1792, during the presidency of George Washington and died in 1907 at the age of 114.  His life spanned the early days of our country's Constitutional history, the War of 1812, the formation of Hayward County, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.  The first time he voted in a presidential election, it was for James Monroe.

Carl Winford Bryson was born 100 years later, in 1892 and died June 28, 2001, at the age of 108.  His lifespan covered two world wars, the Great Depression,  the Cold War, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and the internet.  George W. Bush was president when he died.

The two men had a lot in common.  Both born one hundred years apart, together, they spanned three centuries, but, they had other interesting traits.

--Brock-Perry

Mary Todd Lincoln's Uncle, David Todd-- Part 2: Missouri and a Whig

In 1819, President James Monroe appointed him territorial circuit judge of northern Missouri.    When Boone County, Missouri, separated from Howard County, Todd was one of the citizens who purchased land on which Columbia was laid out in 1818-1819.

When Missouri became a state in 1821, Governor Alexander McNair appointed Todd  state circuit judge, a position he held until 1837.

In the summer of 1840, Mary Todd traveled to Columbia, Missouri, and visited with her uncle, David Todd.  While there, she became good friends with the judge's daughter, Ann.  This was also the year in which Mary became engaged to Abraham Lincoln.

He was an ardent Whig, serving as a delegate to the Whig National Convention that selected William Henry Harrison, Todd's commanding officer during the War of 1812,  for president in 1840.

In 1850, he was practicing law in Boone County and owned real estate valued at $3,500.

--Brock-Perry

Jackson Was Trusting to His Lord for the Victory at New Orleans

Before the battle, Jackson had  told his aide-de-camp Major Davezac of his confidence of victory.  "I was sure of success, for I knew God would not give me previsions of disaster, but signs of victory.  He said  this ditch can never be passed.  It cannot be done."

On January 26, 1815, Andrew Jackson wrote to Robert Hays and talked about the Battle of New Orleans:  "It appears that the unerring hand of Providence shielded my men from the shower of balls, bombs, and rockets, when every ball or bomb from our guns carried with them the mission of death.

On February 17, 1815, Jackson wrote to Secretary of War James Monroe:  "Heaven, to be sure, has interposed most wonderfully in our behalf, and I am filled with gratitude, when I look back to what we have escaped."

--Brock-Perry

USS Fulton-- Part 2: Just One Day of Service

On March 9, 1814, Congress authorized construction of a steam frigate to the design of Robert Fulton, a pioneer in the construction of steam ships.  Construction began in June at the civilian yard of famed shipbuilders Adam and Noah Brown in New York City and launched  October 29.

Delivered to the U.S. Navy in June 1816, but never formally named.  Fulton christened it the Demologos (or Demologus), but after his death, it was named the USS Fulton.

By the time of completion, the War of 1812 was over and she saw only one day of actual service when it carried President James Monroe on a tour of New York Harbor.

Its first commander, Captain David Porter (father of David Dixon Porter of Civil War and Fort Fisher fame and essentially a step father to David Glasgow Farragut) ordered a two-masted lateen rig built on the ship.  In 1821 its armament and machinery were removed and the remainder of its career spent in reserve.

After 1825, she became a floating barracks ship for the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Its end came on June 4, 1829 in a gunpowder explosion while at anchor.  An officer and 47 men were killed.

--Brock-Perry

Was the Battle of Fort McHenry the Beginning of the End for Major Armistead?-- Part 1

I have been looking for information on what George Armistead died of in 1818 and not having much luck.

From NPS.gov site.  "Reading 1:  Armistead's Account of the Battle.

In a report written to Secretary of War James Monroe, George Armistead gave his account of the famous battle.  It was dated September 24, 1814.  Of interest, it was written ten days after the battle.  You'd have thought he would have written right away after winning such an important battle, yet, the letter was dated ten days after the battle.

It opened with:  "A severe indisposition, the effect of great fatigue and exposure, has prevented me heretofore from presenting you with an account of the attack on this Post...."

Did this problem continue after the attack to his death.

I have read that he continued to command Fort McHenry until his death.

--Brock-Perry

West Florida's William King-- Part 2: Military Governor

William King was with Andrew Jackson during his controversial invasion of the Spanish colony of West Florida and occupation of Pensacola. Jackson interpreted the surrender of the Spanish governor there as giving the United States control over all of West Florida.

 Jackson then appointed King as the military governor and charged him with enforcing Spanish laws and protecting Spanish people and property.  In addition, King oversaw the dispersal of Tennessee and Kentucky militia.

However, Jackson's invasion of West Florida was a serious threat to U.S. negotiations with Spain to get all of Florida and President James Monroe wanted West Florida restored to Spanish control as soon as possible.  King served at his post until relieved by Edmund P. Gaines.

William Gaines was discharged from the Army in June 1821 and died in January 1826.

Fort King in Florida was named for him.

--Brock-Perry