2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
From Find-A-Grave
BIRTH: 1782, Frederick County, Virginia
DEATH: 4 August 1814, (aged 31-32),Mackinac Island, Michigan
CENOTAPH: Fort Mackinac Post Cemetery, Mackinac County, Michigan
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Holmes County, Ohio, named for him.
His descendants moved to Canada shortly after his death. Many of his living descendants are named after him and living in Atlantic Canada.
FATHER: Governor Joseph Holmes WikiTree just lists him as Joseph Holmes.
MOTHER: Rebecca Hunter
--Brock-Perry
At the Battle of Longwoods, Holmes' 164 men defeated a British force of 240 men under Major James Basden. The Americans suffered 4 killed and 3 wounded; the British lost 14 killed, 51 wounded, 1 wounded prisoner and 1 man missing.
Holmes returned to Amherstburg and was promoted to major.
Later in 1814 Holmes received command of a battalion and was assigned to the American force sent to retake Fort Mackinac from the British.
Holmes was killed on August 4,1814, leading one of the first assaults on the British defenses; ultimately the American effort failed.
--Brock-Perry
After the Battle of Lake Erie (September 10, 1813) when Americans recovered Fort Detroit, Holmes' regiment was ordered to assist Major General William Henry Harrison's invasion of Canada. Holmes was present at the Battle of the Thames (October 5, 1813) and was later assigned to the U.S. garrison at Amherstburg (Fort Malden).
From Amherstburg, Holmes commanded a raid against British outposts at Delaware (present-day Middlesex Centre, Ontario) and Port Talbot, Ontario. On March 2, 1814, as Holmes neared Delaware, he received news that the British were aware of his presence and had dispatched a large force to intercept him.
Holmes withdrew to Twenty Mile Creek.
On March 4, 1814, he fought at the Battle of Longwoods.
--Brock-Perry
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
The Battle of Longwoods represented a major turning point in the war in the London district. The British subsequently withdrew from Delaware to Burford, turning this part of Upper Canada into a no-man's land.
It was subject to American raids from Detroit against area farms in search of food and supplies. It is 126 miles between London and Detroit.
Settlers in the Thames Valley were constantly robbed and pillaged. Many frightened families abandoned their farms and did not return when the war ended in late 1814.
--Brock-Perry
Still from the HMdb.
This is a Canadian marker erected in 2014.
After an hour of continuous gunfire exchange, the British began to withdraw. Soon the area was empty, except for the dead British regulars.
Even though his men had won a clear victory, Captain Andrew Holmes would not allow them to rob the dead British soldiers of their shoes and clothes, in respect for the bravery they had shown.
The American casualties amounted to 5 killed and 3 wounded.
Captain Holmes and his officers were concerned that the British would counter attack and they also withdrew.
--Brock-Perry
From HMdb.
AMERICAN FORCES
Commanded by Captain Andrew Hunter Holmes
24th U.S. Infantry
27th U.S.Infantry
28th U.S. Infantry
Michigan Mounted Infantry
Michigan Militia Cavalry
***************************************
CASUALTIES (Killed)
Philip Beard, Levi Bunnell, Joseph Donahue, Thomas Watkins, Eri Wooden
--Brock-Perry
From HMdb.
British forces at the battle:
Commanded by Captain James Basden
Royal Scots Light
Western (Caldwell) Rangers
89th Foot Light
Kent and Middlesex Militia
British Indian Department
**************************
SOME OF THE BRITISH CASUALTIES
Captain D. Johnstone
Lieut. P. Graeme
John Bunn, Wm. Condon, Thom Connors, John Hazeldine, James Hogan, Tomas Jones, Thomas Murphy, Wm. Shaw, James Sheldon, Alex Smith, Abraham Taylor, Uriah Trimm, Lawrence Wall
--Brock-Perry
Although Andrew Holmes had defeated the British, he knew he was outnumbered and decided he would be unable to capture the post at Delaware. At 9 p.m., a short time after the British retired from the field, he abandoned his position at Twenty Mile Creek where the battle was fought and retreated to Detroit.
The British later abandoned their outpost at Delaware.
However, two American six-pounder guns which Holmes had abandoned near Pointe au Pelee were discovered by a Canadian militia unit who destroyed their carriages and concealed the guns in a black ash swamp where they remained until the end of the war.
Holmes was promoted to major, but was killed a few months later at the Battle of Mackinac Island. The British commander, British Captain James Lewis Basden had been wounded at the Battle of Longwoods, recovered and later fought at the Battle of Lundy's Landing.
The battle site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924.
--Brock-Perry
In the aftermath of Harrison's withdrawal, there was what essentially amounted to a no war. The British established outposts at Delaware and Port Talbot. On 23 December 1813, the garrison at Delaware surprised and captured a small American post near Chatham.
The American commander at Amherstburg, Lt. Col. Anthony Butler sent an expedition under Captain Andrew Holmes, to capture one of the two British posts. They left 21 February 1814 but met problems with weather and hunger.
The Americans fell back to a hill and fortified it. A sharp firefight took place on March 4.
The next day, some 240 British troops along with their Canadian militia and Indian allies clashed with the American force of 164. An attempt was made to outflank the Americans while a direct attack was made on their center.
As dark fell, the entire British force retreated.
British losses were 14 killed, 51 wounded, 1 wounded prisoner and 1 missing. American losses 4 killed and 3 wounded.
--Brock-Perry
The weekend will include:
** Tactical and artillery demonstrations, including a afternoon battle.
** Period music.
** A military medicine presentation, demonstrating procedures available in 1812.
** Tours of a historical military encampment.
** Mini militia offering children a taste of life as a 19th-century soldier, including simple arms drill and marching.
** Children's games and rope making.
** Merchants and artisans selling items.
** Self-guided tours of Ska-Nah-Doht Village and conservation area nature trails.
** Food for sale by local service club members.
--Brock-Perry
From the April 24, 2024, Chatham (Canada) Daily News by Trevor Terfloth.
Musket-toting re-enactors in period uniform will gather next month to recreate the Battle of Longwoods and offer visitors a taste of life during the War of 1812.
The Battle of Longwoods will be brought back to life at Longwoods Conservation Area May 4 and 5. The Upper Thames Military Re-enactment Society and Lower Thames Conservation Authority are partnering in the event.
On March 4,1814, an American raiding party defeated an attempt by British regulars, Canadian militia volunteers and Indigenous forces to intercept them near Wardsville.
About 200 re-enactors, including men, women and children are expected for the Longwoods event. They're to arrive Friday, May 3, and camp in period tents until Suday night.
Visitors are invited to experience life as a soldier, camp follower, Indigenous member and merchant, while walking through an authentically recreated camp.
--Brock-Perry
There was a thunderstorm of unusual violence on the night of July 2, 1834 and the young Sam Dewey, he was just 28, took his row boat from Billy Gray's Wharf in Boston and rowed over to the USS Constitution. Climbing over the ship's side by use of the manropes, he went to the bow.
There he accomplished the decapitation and rowed back to safety. He took the fruits of his labor with him with the idea of presenting the head to President Jackson himself. However, Jackson was seriously ill and no one permitted to visit him.
He did get to see Vice President Van Buren though, who was not amused.
Dewey then gave the head to the Secretary of the Navy, Mahlon Dickerson, and no charges were filed, however.
You Sure Would Have Thought. --Brock-Perry
From the USS Constitution Museum "Off with his head" by Margherita M. Desy and Kate Monea.
I wrote about this episode in a blog entry earlier.
When the USS Constitution entered Dry Dock 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard (Boston) on June 24, 1833, her docking had been delayed so that President Andrew Jackson and Vice President Martin Van Buren could be in attendance. However, Jackson was too unwell to attend it.
Jackson was generally liked by the people of New England at the time, but fell out of favor less than a year later after he vetoed a bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, resulting in financial hardship for merchants.
Just prior to Jackson's fall in popularity, the commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Jesse Elliott had hired a local carver named Leban S. Beecher to create a figurehead of President Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812.
When news of this figurehead got out, Bostonians were enraged. A call went out to save the famous ship "from this foul disgrace" and threats were made to Beecher.
After the figurehead was installed, the Constitution was refloated from the dry dock and placed under the protective cover of the USS Independence and Columbus.
However, this did not deter one brave local captain named Samuel Worthington Dewey, who took it upon himself to decapitate the offending figurehead.
--Brock-Perry
Elliott then strong-armed his crew into buying him a set of plates.
When a midshipman was sorely wounded in an unauthorized duel, Elliott abandoned him without funds in a Turkish port. On his last circuit through the Mediterranean, before returning to the United States, Elliott encumbered the gun deck with stalls to contain his menagerie of hogs, sheep, horses and donkeys. All this was done without the Navy Department's approval.
When the ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia, in July 1838, he faced down a mutiny when he delayed payment and discharge of the crew.
He was removed from command of the Constitution and court-martialled in 1840 and found guilty on five counts which saw him sentenced to four years suspension from service and loss of pay.
The loss of pay was rescinded and the suspension shortened, thanks to his powerful political friends.
When he was restored to duty in December 1844 and made commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard where he died in office the next December.
--Quite An Interesting Story. --Brock-Perry
