River Raisin Massacre-- Part 12: 'Remember the Raisin' and Aftermath

This deliberateness of behavior from the Indians did not diminish, and perhaps intensified, the horror many survivors later described.  Indeed, the most vivid recollections related to to the systematic nature of the killings and treatment of the remains.

The battle ended in what was described as a "national calamity" by Major General, and later president of the United States, William Henry Harrison.  

It also left an impact on the broader American consciousness.  The Americans who pushed north to liberate Detroit went to destroying the British-Canadian-Indian coalition in the west at the Battle of the Thames, near present-day Chatham, Ontario, on October 5, 1813.

Fueled by the battle cry, "Remember the Raisin!" their massive victory sealed the War of 1812 in the western theater for the United States, claimed the life of the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh, and resulted in the end the American Indian Confederation.

In an even broader sense, the aftermath of these battles resulted in the implementation of the U.S. policy of Indian removal from the Northwest Territory at the conclusion of the War of 1812, leading to the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a policy that continues to resonate today.

--Brock-Perry

Major Jonathan Cass-- Part 2

From Find-A-Grave

BIRTH:     Born 29 October 1753 in  Exeter, New Hampshire

DEATH:  9 August 1830 (aged 76) Dresden, Ohio

BURIAL:   Dresden Cemetery  Dresden, Ohio

He was a soldier at Bunker Hill, and officer in the Revolution and, under General Wayne, brought peace to the Northwest Frontier after the war.

From New England, he migrated to the wilds of the Northwest Territory and on the 4,000 acres of Military Lands he purchased, he led a peaceful life until death claimed him.

He was one of the founders of Dresden, Ohio.

There are a lot of Cass's buried at this cemetery.

--Brock-Perry

What Tecumseh Fought For-- Part 5: Aftermath of Tecumseh's War

The Battle of Moraviantown (Battle of the Thames) produced a considerable array of elected officials, among them three Kentucky governors, a vice president (Richard Johnson), and a president, an aging William Henry Harrison, who campaigned in 1840 under the slogan of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too").

And because Tecumseh had died in a British fight, near a river that borrowed its name from England, his doomed war was  easily swallowed up by the larger War of 1812 between the British and Americans.

And then, an unrelenting stream of Americans poured into the Old Northwest Territory and Indians began fighting an increasingly lost war to delay them.  Tecumseh's War presaged  the Black Hawk War of 1832 in Illinois and Wisconsin; the deadly removal of Potawatomi people from Indiana to the Great Plains in  1838; the Dakota Uprising of 1862, in Minnesota.

Trace such conflicts back to Pontiac's Rebellion and what emerges  is not a picture of  innocent pioneer settlement in the continental heartland but a full century of Midwestern dispossession and resistance.

--Brock-Perry

Beverly Powder House Restoration Complete-- Part 2: Safer Than Keeping Gunpowder in Your House with Walls Four Feet Thick

The Powder House was built in 1809 on land sold to the town by Nathan Dane for $30.  Dane was a Harvard Law School graduate and Beverly lawyer.  He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and helped draft the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  He was also very involved with the Hartford Convention during the War of 1812.

The Beverly Powder House was built on the then-undeveloped Powder House Hill following an 1805 ordinance that barred residents from keeping more than 25 pounds of gunpowder in their homes or businesses in recognition that the previous powder house was too close to residences and the town center.

Through the mid-nineteenth century, powder houses were built to hold large amounts of gunpowder because it was much safer than having residents store  the gunpowder in their homes.

The Beverly Powder House  is located on Prospect Hill (originally Powder House Hill) and is the second oldest municipal building  in Beverly after City Hall.  The structure is the only octagonal powder house extant in New England, with brick walls that measure four feet thick.

However, it saw its only wartime use during the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry

The Battle of the Thames-- Part 7: The Aftermath

The United States now had effective control of the Northwest Frontier for the rest of the war.

With Tecumseh's death, much of the Indian threat in the region also was eliminated.  William Henry Harrison was able to conclude truces with many of the tribes.

Harrison proved to be a skilled and popular leader, but he resigned the following summer after disagreements with Secretary of War John Armstrong.

--Brock-Perry

The Frontier in Flames-- Part 19: Why These Posts

I have been taking this directly from the September/October issue of the DAR's American Spirit magazine.  I have written about many of these actions and gone into greater detail, but I find this to be a good summary of events.

--Brock-Perry

A Frontier in Flames-- Part 18: Last British Offensive in Northwest Territory

Proctor and Tecumseh tried again in late July to take Fort Meigs with a combined force of 5,000 regulars, militia and Indians.  They tried to lure the Americans out of the fort by staging a mock battle, hoping they would think that a relief column had been ambushed.  But the defenders were not fooled and stayed in the fort.

On August 2, Proctor sent 400 regulars and militia, plus a number of his tribal allies to attack Fort Stephenson, a small outpost on the Sanduskey River commanded by George Croghan.  Though garrisoned by only 160 men, the fort was surrounded by a deep ditch that slowed the attackers, making them perfect targets for the Kentucky sharpshooters inside the fort.

Thwarted, Proctor again withdrew to Fort Malden in Canada, and abandoned Detroit, the recovery of which had caused so much death and suffering.

This campaign was the last major British attack on the Northwest Territory.

--Brock-Perry

A Frontier in Flames, War Along the U.S.-Canadian Border-- Part 1: An Outgrowth of the American Revolution

From the September/October American Spirit magazine, Daughters of the American Revolution "A Frontier in Flames" by Bill Hudgins.

One of the major issues of the War of 1812 for the United States  was Great Britain's continued presence and interference along the United States'northwestern border and the Canadian province  of Upper Canada, which stretched  along the great Lakes.

At the end of the American Revolution, there were seven major British outposts in the United States new Northwest Territory. (present-day Indiana, Illinois,Michigan and Wisconsin).  They were involved in the lucrative fur trade and had contact with American Indians.

The 1783 Treaty of Paris required the British to give up these outposts, but it took them a decade to do it.  Even worse, they encouraged the Indians to resist westward expansion of the Americans.

--Brock-Perry

A Frontier in Flames, War Along the U.S. Canadian Border-- Part 2: Early Losses Followed By American Victories

When war was declared, it was only natural that this area become the major battlefield.

On paper, it looked like an uneven contest.  The United States had more than 7.5 million people compared to just 500,000 in Canada.  Plus, Great Britain was in a battle for its life in Europe with Napoleon, leaving no extra troops to sent to North America.

The defenses of Canada were left in the hands of British troops already stationed there, along with Canadian militia and a coalition of American Indian tribes.  The Indians were crucial, but proved to be difficult allies.  they pretty much did as they pleased, but their very presence terrified Americans.

However, the Americans suffered from poor military leadership which led to a series of  humiliating, bloody losses in the latter half of 1812 and early 1813.  Several of these defeats were followed by the massacre of American prisoners by the Indians, as well as by atrocities by both sides.

The tide began to turn in the U.S. favor in 1813 as new leaders such as Winfield Scott, Zebulon Pike and William Henry Harrison replaced the older commanders.  Following the death of tecumseh, on October 5, 1813, the tribal coalition collapsed, effectively ending British attacks into the Northwest Territory.

--Brock-Perry

The War of 1812 in Ohio-- Part 2

The War of 1812 is Don Hickey's field of study and he has written several books and articles on it.  His talk was entitled "Ten Things You Should Know About the War of 1812 In the West (But probably Don't)."

The war was effectively two wars.  The first is "where a slightly disinterested England fought the United States to an effective stalemate, and the other was in the west, where U.S. forces fought American Indians with British assistance."

The Indians were already being pushed west.  The War of 1812 was a High Water Mark for them with the charismatic Tecumseh.  The British dropped their support of the Indians and started welcoming American movement into Indian lands so they wouldn't be targeting Canada.

One other thing most Americans don't know is that the widely-held belief that the Battle of New Orleans took place after the war was over is untrue.  The Treaty of Ghent had been signed by U.S. and English commissioners, but had not yet been ratified by Congress, so, technically the war was still on.

Stuff You Might Not Know.  --Brock-Perry

Fort Meigs Under Siege 200 Years Ago

From the April 30, 2013 War of 1812 Blog.

From the May 14, 1813, Boston Weekly Messenger.   "The express who carries the mail to and from Fort Meigs, approached near enough to the fort on 30th April, to hear an incessant firing of cannon and small arms, but returned without reaching the fort and before firing ceased.

A letter from Washington says, 'A steady onset continued till noon, May 3.'"

It was one of the final British offensives in the Old Northwest.

Brock-Perry