New York's Fort Blunder/Montgomery Has a War of 1812 Connection-- Part 1

Even though it wasn't built during the war.

From the December 5, 2022, Daily Kos  "Mid-19th century New York fortress built to keep the British out sold to Canadians" by  BeeD.

A fortress in upstate New York once designed to defend the  U.S. border from British incursions from Canada was recently sold to Canadian brothers.

The United States has been invaded  by the British using Lake Champlain as their highway three times:  twice during the American Revolution and once during the War of 1812.

The first attack was stalled by Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776 and the withdrawal of the British at the onset of winter, the second ended with the surrender of General John Burgoyne's British and Hessian Army at Saratoga  in October 1777, and the third was stopped by the U.S. Navy  at the Battle of Lake Champlain in 1814.

You're Probably Wondering About the Fort Blunder Name.   --Brock-Perry

This Month in the American Revolution: A Treaty, Saratoga, Nathan Hale and Yorktown

From the American Battlefield Trust 2021 Calendar, September.  Since this was the First War for American Independence and the War of 1812 is sometimes called the Second War for American Independence.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1783-- The Treaty of Paris was signed, bringing the American revolution to an end.

SEPTEMBER 19, 1777--  After a series of defeats,  Continental soldiers fighting under  American General Horatio Gates defeated the British at Saratoga, New York.

SEPTEMBER 22, 1776--  American patriot Nathan Hale was hanged for spying on the British.  As he was led to the gallows, he uttered the famous words:  "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

SEPTEMBER 28, 1781--  The Siege of Yorktown, Virginia begins.

--Brock-Perry

John Whistler-- Part 1: Served With British and U.S. Armies

From Wikipedia.

Back in May i was writing about the first USMA  at West Point graduate, Joseph G. Swift.  On May 22 I wrote that he had mentored younger engineers George Washington Whistler and William Gibbs McNeill.  Was this Whistler fellow somehow related to the famous artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler?

While researching him I found out that the artist's grandfather had been John Whistler who served in the American Revolution on the British side and the War of 1812 on the American side.

John Whistler was born in 1756 in Ulster, Ireland.  He ran away at an early age and joined the British Army and served with British General John Burgoyne in the American Revolution.  After the surrender at Saratoga, John Whistler returned to England and was honorably discharged.

He eloped with the daughter of his father's friend and emigrated to the  United States and settle in Hagerstown, Maryland.

--Brock-Perry