Some More on Patrick Gass-- Part 7: Service in the War of 1812

With Jackson's Army, Patrick Gass had the option of enlistment in the U.S. Army for five years, which he took.  Of course, he also got a bounty of $100 for doing so. and then marched north under the command of General Edmund P. Gaines.

Gass was at Fort Massac in Illinois in 1813; and the 1st of July 1814 found him at Pittsburgh, in a battalion under the command of Colonel Nichols, with the Northern Army, which was under the command of General Jacob Brown.

He took part in the assault on Fort Erie, and was conspicuous for his bravery in the Battle of Lundy's Lane, where he was attached to the  21st regiment under the command of the gallant Colonel James Miller.  Gass is said to have distinctly remembered hearing Miller's memorable  answer, when ordered by General Ripley to capture the British battery:  "I will try, sir."

Gass shows up gallantly  in a sortie made August 17 when he was entrusted with the duty of spiking the enemy's guns.  His selection for such duty, requiring cool  courage, was a high compliment to the sergeant and shows the estimation  in which he was held.

He was discharged  at Sackets Harbor in June 1815, and once again returned to Wellsburg.

His military career was now over.

--Brock-Perry

Patrick Gass-- Part 3: His Journal and Later Life

In addition to Lewis & Clark, he kept a journal of the groups adventures in the new country and 1807, his was the first to be published.  He named it "Corps of Discovery."  The book was first printed and distributed in Pittsburgh at $1.00 a copy.  It was later reprinted in England and translated into French and German.

A reprint is presently being sold by the University of Nebraska Press.  The University of Nebraska at  Lincoln  online version of the Lewis & Clark journals gives 220 entries to the Gass journal.

At the age of 60,  he married Maria  Hamilton, aged 20.  She bore him seven children (six of whom survived into adulthood over the remaining 15 years of her life.  They settled in Wellsburg, West Virginia, where he died at 99 years of age, the oldest surviving member of the expedition.

--Brock-Perry

Minding Your 'P's' and 'Q's'-- Part 1: (Admiral Perry?)

Jan. 27, 2021, WBRZ Channel 2 ABC, Pat Shingleton: "P's and Q's "

Near our home in Ellwood City, Pa.,  are roads that  would have been identified as routes of transport during the Revolutionary War.  The roads connected Pittsburgh to Erie where Admiral Perr's Fleet  was located during the War of 1812.  (Well, not actually admiral.)

There are many locations such as Rachael's Road Road House near Grove City that displays a house that George Washington visited.

In those early days, local taverns and public houses or pubs provided lodging, food or drink from inclement weather.  Libations were originally  a convenient means for  combating the winter chill and a "wee-nip" could break the bone-chilling cold.

--Brock-Perry

The Day Word Came That Gen. Hull Had Surrendered Fort Detroit-- Part 2: Indian Allies

Historian Alan Taylor doubts that the Indians would have attacked Pittsburgh, but other historians disagree.  Andrew E. Masich says that the Indians were led by a chief named Tecumseh who led Delaware, Huron and Wyandot warriors whose land had been taken by insatiable white settlers.

They found a good ally in the British who were quick to enlist their help, arm them and treat them with respect. The British commander in Canada was Isaac Brock who hit it off with Tecumseh, regarding him as a noble Indian and a man of great genius.

Against William Hull at Fort Detroit, Brock and Tecumseh's men were greatly outnumbered by the Americans who had nearly twice their number.  They made the Americans think they were the ones vastly outnumbered.  One ploy was to have soldiers and Indians each light a campfire instead of a mess where just one fire would be lit for many men.  Americans peering over the fort's walls saw many campfires around them and were led to believe that they were the ones outnumbered.

--Brock-Perry

The Day Word Came That Gen. Hull Had Surrendered Detroit-- Part 1: Pittsburgh in Fear

 From the August 22, 2020, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Marylynne Pitz.

Three months into the War of 1812, word came that William Hull, an American revolution veteran, governor of Michigan Territory and commander of the North West American Army had surrendered the strategic Fort Detroit to British General Isaac Brock (that's the Brock part of my sign-off).

A postal rider from Warren, Ohio, delivered the news to Pittsburgh.  More than 200 years ago, the Pittsburgh Gazette, a predecessor of this paper, published the story on August 23, 1812, "with heartfelt regret."

Located 300 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Fort Detroit  connected to western Pennsylvania by Indian trails.

Pittsburgh was greatly alarmed because of the British Indian allies who would begin raiding into Ohio with Fort Detroit out of the way.  And, from there, Pittsburgh would be a definite target.

One of today's historians, however, believes that wasn't true.  Alan Taylor says Indian raids at the time did not extend very far east or south.

--Brock-Perry

Lt.Col. Mills Stephenson-- Part 6: Grandfather and Father

From Genealogy.com.  Family of William Stephenson, 1733 from Ireland.

Captain John Stephenson, Mills Stephenson's grandfather, was a Revolutionary War soldier from Delaware. He went to Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pa.) after the war.  In 1795, he moved to Adams County, Ohio (now part of Brown County) where he had a grant for his Revolutionary War service, on Eagle Creek.  He is buried in Brown County near Ripley, Ohio.

He had a son named William Stevenson, born 1733, died 1798.  He had a son named Mils (Mills) Stephenson, born 1777 [1771, born in Delaware according to IGI].  He died in 1822.

--Brock-Perry

Pittsburgh's Role in Perry's Victory

From the June 25th Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "Perry legacy spans centuries" by Craig Smith.

Oliver Hazard Perry was 27 when he was charged with building a fleet on Lake Erie to stop the British Navy.  He turned to Pittsburgh for manpower, suplies and know-how to accomplish the task.  Heavy rope, anchors, iron nails, cannon shot and other materiel were shipped 130 miles from Pittsburgh to Erie, Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie.

Within a year, Perry had built nine ships with lumber from the surrounding area.

Perry was born in 1785 in Rhode Island and his ancestors on both sides of his parents were accomplished Navy men.  By the age 12, he had sailed on his father's ship to the West Indies.  By the age of 14, he was a commissioned midshipman learning to be an officer on his father's ship.  In 1897, he became a lieutenant in the Army.

The ships were built on Presque Island becaus eit was the best-protected natural harbor on the American side of Lake Erie.  His supplies were shipped from Pittsburgh on the Alleghenny River/French Creek system to Waterford and from there on the Waterford and Erie turnpikes.

Once his ships were finished, Perry sailed to Put-in Bay and from there, on September 10, 1813, engaged the overconfideant British fleet.  Although his flagship USS Lawrence was knocked out of action, Perry rowed over to the USS Niagara and continued the fight and winnibng a resounding victory.  The British surrendered and Perry sent the famous message, "W have met the enemy and they are ours."

For the action, he became a hero.  he had significant contributions later in the war at the Battle of Thames and received a Congressional Medal of Honor (or what passed for one back then) and a promotion to captain.

Now, You Know.  --RoadDog