2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
DECEMBER 30, 1813
British troops burned Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812.
They also burned the nearby and competing village of Black Rock.
This was partially in retaliation for the American burnings of York (then capital of the British Upper Canada colony and now the city of Toronto) and the village of Newark earlier in the year.
Of course, this was 8 months before Washington, D.C. was burned by the British, also in retaliation for the American burnings.
Mean, mean War. --Brock-Perry
On December 29, 1812, during the War of 1812, the frigate USS Constitution engaged and severely damaged the British frigate HMS Java.
The Java was originally a French frigate that was captured by the British and mounted 38 guns, mostly of the 18-pounder long guns and carronades. The Constitution mounted some 50 guns, mostly 24-pounder long guns and carronades so it wasn't much of a fight.
Old Ironsides at Work. --Brock-Perry
DECEMBER 27, 1814:
WAR OF 1812
The American schooner Carolina is destroyed . It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
For more on the USS Carolina, click on the USS Carolina label below. I had some difficulty in determining if this was the USS Carolina or USS Caroline, but now believe the ship's name was USS Carolina.
--Brock-Perry
Also, while a major, Worth uttered his most famous words which are now inscribed in West Point's "Bugle Notes", a book of knowledge that all cadets must know by heart.
They are as follows:
"But an officer on duty knows no one -- to be partial is to dishonor himself and the object of his ill-advised favor. What will be thought of him who exacts of his friends that which disgraces him? Look at him who winks at and overlooks offences in one, which he causes to be punished in another, and contrast him with the inflexible soldier who does his duty faithfully, not withstanding it occasionally wars with his private feelings. The conduct of one will be venerated and emulated, the other detested as a satire upon soldiership and honor."
Brevet Major William Jenkins Worth
I am sure glad I didn't have to memorize this as the wording is particularly hard to comprehend.
After the War of 1812, he was Commandant of Cadets at West Point and rose to the rank of colonel in 1838 when he was put in command of the newly formed 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment.
So, was this the end of Gen. Worth's career? Stay tuned.
Personally, I Think This Could Have Been Significantly Shortened. --Brock-Perry
From the December 23, 2020, Spotlight (NY) News "Five questions: Kevin Franklin" by Jim Franco.
Kevin Franklin is Historian of the Town of Colonie, worked for the City of Menand's police department for 30 years and has been municipal historian of Menand since 1968. My kind of guy.
QUESTION: If you could have lunch with one historical figure, who would it be and why?
ANSWER: I've often thought about that. Who wouldn't want to have lunch with George Washington or Benjamin Franklin (no relation). However, it would be a toss-up between Gen. William Worth who built the large home called "Hedgelawn" across from Schuyler Flatts Park or Benjamin Prescott.
Worth distinguished himself during the War of 1812. He was also an early superintendent of Watervliet Arsenal, fought in the Seminole Indian Wars and the U.S. War with Mexico, quite the flamboyant character.
Lake Worth, Florida, and Fort Worth, Texas, are named after him.
Benjamin Prescott was an army engineer during the American Revolution and had quite a career afterwards.
I'll have to do some research on William Worth.
--Brock-Perry
From the December 22, 2020, NoVa "DAR participates in Wreaths Across America"
Members of the Freedom Hall chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution on McLean, Virginia gathered at the Wrene-Darne Family Cemetery in Falls Church to honor American veterans.
They were joined by Pete Greene who bought the cemetery in 2012 and has spent much effort restoring it.
The veterans they honored were:
James Wren of the Fairfax County Militia, American Revolution
Col. John S. Wren of the 5th Virginia Militia, War of 1812
Captain Robert Darne of the 1st Corps d'Elite Virginia Militia, War of 1812
John Robert Darne of the Civil War.
--Brock-Perry
Several different accounts of the Wreaths Across America campaign, veterans were honored across the entire country.
Some of them were War of 1812 veterans as well. The wreaths cost $15 apiece and are sold by individuals and bought by local businesses.
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA:
Five Civil War and one War of 1812 veteran at Carpenter Cemetery in St. Charles. These were put down by members of the local Civil Air Patrol.
ELIZABETH, NEW YORK:
First Presbyterian Church. Graves of American revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War. Over 2,000 places across the country took part in this.
A Great Idea to Honor the Brave Souls Who Risked All. --Brock-Perry
The Pilgrims came over a little less than 200 years before the War of 1812. But this year marks the 400th anniversary of their arrival.
A mark of the Pilgrims' impact on our modern culture is the number of people who believe they are, or might be, that their ancestors came over to America in the Mayflower in 1620. A poll taken two decades ago suggested that a quarter of Americans believed they were descended from a Pilgrim. That would not be mathematically possible according to one expert.
With the world now celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim arrival, there are probably even more people wanting to join that club.
But, according to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, an association for those with proven Pilgrim descent, 10 million people in the U.S. are descendants from the Mayflower people. They also estimate that some 35 million people around the world are descendants.
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Although, I must admit that I haven't heard very much at all in connection with such a monumental moment in American history. as I would have expected other than a few newspaper articles and TV bits, the magazine/book I am getting this from and the post office has a Mayflower stamp. I would guess this is part of the new erase history movement which condemns the Pilgrims because of what happened to the Indians.
I sure would have believed there would have been a lot more.
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--Brock-Perry
Now that the Cleveland Indians baseball team is changing their name because Indians are offended by it, let's put a War of 1812 spin on the new name.
I say, let's put a War of 1812 spin on the new name. My first suggestion id the Cleveland Commodores because that was what Oliver Hazard Perry's rank was when he defeated the British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie.
Another possibility would be the Cleveland Perrys, after, of course, Oliver Hazard Perry.
Other possibilities could be Commanders or Admirals.
I don't understand wanting the name Indians changed, but maybe that Chief Wahoo is way overboard.
Let's Get a War of 1812 Thing There. --Brock-Perry
From NC Home site.
Born in 1783 and by 1805 was practicing law and was a large landowner.
In 1810, the governor appointed him attorney general. Served in six consecutive General Assemblies, the last three as Speaker of the House as well.
On November 29, 1814, the North Carolina General Assembly appointed him as the 15th governor of the state. He served three terms before leaving office. (One source I've read says he was the 18th governor. Wikipedia has a complete list of North Carolina governors and he is the 18th. The 15th governor was David Stone.)
The War of 1812 was ending as he took office as governor, but he fully supported it and President Madison's policies. Once the war was over, he was pressed by the general Assembly to buy a full length statue of George Washington. Antonio Canova was hired to make it in 1815 and it arrived at the statehouse in 1821.
That statue was unfortunately destroyed by a fire in 1831.
--Brock-Perry
After the war, as governor of North Carolina, he lent his support to early efforts to establish a system of public education in the state. He also helped improve internal state trade and transportation and a revision of the penal code and judicial system.
One of his appointees to the bench was instrumental in the organization of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
After his terms, President John Quincy Adams appointed Miller as diplomatic agent to Guatemala. He died of yellow fever en route to assume his new post.
It is believed he was buried at sea.
--Brock-Perry
From the December 10, 2020, Elizabeth City (NC) Daily Advance "Week in NC History: William Miller, Governor during the War of 1812."
On December 10, 1825, former Governor William Miller died in Key West, Florida.
Born around 1783 in Warren County., Miller worked as a private lawyer, the state's attorney general and a member of the General Assembly before first being elected as governor in 1814. He went on to serve three terms in that post, and was the first to occupy the newly completed Governors' Palace at the south end of Raleigh's Fayetteville Street.
Active on the national political stage, Miller supported the military policies of President James Madison during the concluding weeks of the War of 1812 by ordering out additional militia units for potential service on the southern frontier.
--Brock-Perry
The Asia was off the Chesapeake Bay in the United States in July 1814. The Royal Marine Artillery Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Marines were ferried from Bermuda to the Chesapeake aboard the Asia, via the HMS Tonnant.
During the bombardment of Fort McHenry, guarding Baltimore, the Asia was anchored off the city along with the Seahorse, Surprise and Severn.
Later, the Asia was one of Admiral Cockburn's fleet at New Orleans at the start of 1815 in support of the attack on Andrew Jackson's position. Some 107 Royal marines disembarked from the ship to assist in the attack.
In 1819, the Asia was renamed the HMS Alfred. From 1822 to 1829, the Asia was reduced to a 50-gun fourth rate frigate and was eventually broken up in 1865.
--Brock-Perry
From the December 10, 2020, Sentinel-Record (Arkansas)
The United States Daughters of War of 1812 (U.S.D. 1812) has conducted their 2020 winter drive to gather coats for veterans. Members Joan Davis and Sheila Beatty on December 4, delivered 303 items of men's clothing and blankets to St. Francis House. The collection was also aided by radio station KVRE.
The collecting was primarily done by the radio station, but 1812 members inspected the clothing, sorted it, and when needed, laundered them.
In November, U.S.D. 1812 delivered 150 coats and other winter clothing to the Central Arkansas Veterans health Care System VA Volunteer services.
More Work of Those Great Lineage Organizations. --Brock-Perry
Ray Pentico had reached the rank of seaman 2nd class by the time he got to the Oklahoma where he joined a crew of a thousand men. He was just 16 when the ship left the mainland for Pearl Harbor on October 1, 1941.
His captain, Howard Bode, was unpopular with the crew, but survived the attack at Pearl Harbor, but later killed himself after the Battle of Savo Island.
On December 7, the Oklahoma, in the space of 11 minutes, had 12 torpedoes launched at her by dive bombers, of which 5 struck home. The Oklahoma began to list and capsize within 15 minutes.
It is not known where Ray Pentico was on the ship at the time, but he was one of 429 men killed or missing in the attack.
Ray Pentico had just been aboard the USS Oklahoma for nine weeks.
Pentico and the 394 sailors and Marines on the Oklahoma could not be identified when they fin ally were able to get at the bodies two years later and were buried in communal graves in Hawaii.
--Pearl Harbor
This being the 79th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I will write about it in all eight of my blogs.
From the December 5, 2020, Lexington Clipper-Herald "Lexington sailor still among the unidentified who perished on USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor" by Brian Neban.
It has been four years since the decision was made to disinter the USS Oklahoma Unknowns for identification purposes. So far, 242 have been identified, but that is not the case for Ray Pentico. he is still among the Missing In Action sailors from that stricken ship.
He was born March 31, 1923, in Overton. After attending Lexington public schools, he enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on April 3, 1941. After serving in it for three months, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on July 7, 1941, just five months before the Japanese attack.
He received seven weeks of training in San Diego and upon completion, he was assigned to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37).
--USS Oklahoma
The picture to the right of this post showed both the HMS Albion, which I have been writing about, and the HMS Asia in 1828.
I found out that ship also participated in the War of 1812.
From Wikipedia.
There was an earlier HMS Asia, which participated in the American Revolution.
The HMS Asia was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line in the British Royal Navy. Launched on December 2, 1811 at Frindsbury.
It was 176 feet long with a 47.6 foot beam.
THE WAR OF 1812
On 26 July 1813, the Asia sailed from Negril as an escort for a convoy going to London.
--Brock-Perry
Turks and Caicos are British Islands in the Bahamas Chain, northeast of Cuba.
They have put out a stamp honoring both Admiral Alexander Cochrane and the HMS Albion.
The Albion was stationed off Chesapeake Bay, part of a force that harried the coastline of that bay during the War of 1812.
The Albion operated all the way up the Potomac and Patuxent rivers destroying large amounts of American shipping as well as U.S. government property.
This operation ended when peace was declared in 1815.
--Brock-Perry
In 1812, he long conflict with Napoleon was over and after a long refit. the Albion became the flagship of Rear Admiral George Cockburn and the ship then took part in the War of 1812 against the United States. The previous ship of the line HMS Albion had also taken part in a war with the United States, the American Revolution.
In the summer of 1814, she was involved with actions along the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay, where she operated all the way up the Potomac and and Patuxent rivers, destroying large amounts of American shipping as well as U.S. government property.
These operations ended once it was learned that peace had been declared in 1815.
--Brock-Perry
From Wikipedia.
A 74-gun 3rd rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy. Launched at Perry's Blackwall Yard on the Thames River on 17 June 1802 and broken up at the Chatham.
The ship was 175 feet long and had a 47.6 foot beam.
In 1803, it joined the English fleet of Admiral Cornwallis (brother of Charles Cornwallis who surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, in case you're wondering) which was blockading the French port of Brest. There she took part in the capture of (and prize money of) five enemy ships.
From there, the Albion was detached to the Indian Ocean for several years.
On December 21, 1803, she and another ship captured a French privateer.
Much of the rest of the Albion's service during the Napoleonic Wars consisted of convoy duty.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 24, 2020, Southern Maryland Chronicle .
The St, Mary's County Museum Division in Leonardtown, Maryland, has partnered with a local model ship builder to have a special exhibit of a model of the British ship HMS Albion, the flagship of a fleet of British ships that raided Leonardtown and St. Mary's County during the War of 1812 Chesapeake Campaign of 1814 which led to the burning of Washington, D.C., and the Battle of Baltimore.
The model enthusiast is retired Marine Colonel Robert Ballard who has loaned the stunning and intricate model to display at the Old Jail Museum.
Several display panels give the history of the ship, her raids along the Chesapeake Bay and Admiral Cockburn (I've been writing about him recently because of his proclamation to Blacks to emigrate from the United States.
Mr. Ballard said this model took a year to make and he wanted people to see it.
--Brock-Perry
But, the British government ran into problems when they tried to arrange land for the new immigrants in the province of Nova Scotia. They wanted to send upwards of 3,000 of the new subjects to this province, but the legislature of it said there were already too many Blacks there already.
So, they turned to New Brunswick, where the reception wasn't much better.
On April 13, 1815, Major General Stracey Smyth, the Administrator of New Brunswick, asked the Executive Council to consider whether the province should receive 400-500 black refugees. Although the council voted 3-2 to accept them, the government was reluctant to take any responsibility for their welfare.
Of the thousands who departed the United States , 371 settled in Willow Grove. Here they unfortunately found that the good land for farming they were promised was not exactly what they got. The plots they received were smaller than the ones whites received
The policy of New Brunswick at the time was to give white settlers 100 acres while the Blacks received just 50 acres according to historian W.A. Spray.
And, to make matters worse, the plots Blacks received was not very food farming land.
--Brock-Perry
At no point in the proclamation did Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane mention the words slaves or slavery, but this was clearly his intention. Runaway slaves had already been coming out to British ships to gain freedom.
This was a two-fold attempt at weakening the Americans.
First, these slaves could be enlisted to serve on British warships who were always in need of more crew members as well as the Colonial Marines.
Plus, the loss of slaves hurt the American economy.
With British ships in the Chesapeake Bay area, it was hoped that slaves would get out to the ships in vast numbers from the numerous plantations.
Essentially, this document could be read to be as an instrument of freedom.
The Free Black settlement at Willow Grove in New Brunswick Province in Canada was a result of the proclamation.
I'd definitely call this an early Emancipation Proclamation.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 22, 2020, CBC by Jordan Gill.
A community outside of Saint John will receive a stamp during next year's Black History Month according to Canada Post.
For Ralph Thomas, a descendant of the residents of Willow Grove and a proponent of black history, the honor is a long time in coming. "We have gone through the years without being recognized with some of our great folks that came to these parts and went through a very tough time to get started in life."
The community was founded in 1815 as a result of an 1812 British call to anyone living in the United States would be welcomed in the British Empire. This was primarily aimed at Blacks, both enslaved and free. Thousands of the Blacks took them up on it along the coast and especially from the Mid-Atlantic states and ended up living in New Brunswick looking for a better life.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 20, 2020, The Hill "See the first memorial to the enslaved peoples of southern Maryland in St. Mary's" by Anagha Srikanth.
In 2016, the remains of slave quarters on campus were discovered during an archaeological dig ahead of the construction of a new stadium. This proved that St. Mary's had an association with slavery. Indeed, all colleges built before 1865, especially in the South, had an association with slavery.
On November 21, the college unveiled a new memorial at a virtual commemoration to the slaves of southern Maryland. It takes the shape of a cabin.
The site, which appears to have been abandoned sometime around the 1820s also correlates with an interesting chapter of the area's history. During the War of 1812, British Admiral George Cockburn sailed along the eats coast of the United States near the British-held Chesapeake Bay.
He encouraged enslaved people to defect in return for their freedom. About 19 slaves from the St. Mary's area reportedly defected, raising the possibility that the found slave quarters might even have been theirs.
Never Enough History Markers. --Brock-Perry
The other known War of 1812 veteran who is buried at the Aumack Cemetery in Hazlet, New Hersey is Leonard Aumack.
From Find a Grave.
BORN: 15 January 1785
DIED: 10 May 1849 (aged 64)
BURIED: Aumack Family Burying Ground, Hazlet, Manmouth County, New Jersey.
Son of William Henry and Christiana (Hoff) Aumack
Served as corporal in Captain Thomas White's Company of Infantry, Lt. Col. James Abraham's Regiment of New Jersey Detailed Militia, War of 1812. Also served Captain Daniel D. Hendrickson and Col. Balzer's Company of Riflemen, 3rd New Jersey Detailed Militia, War of 1812.
There was also Corp. Edward J. Aumack from Monmouth Co., New Jersey who was killed in the Korean War. More than likely a relative.
--Brock-Perry
The last two posts were about a cemetery in New Jersey that had the graves of two Aumacks who had served in the War of 1812.
From Geni
GARRET AUMACK
Born January 10, 1773
Died 1845 (age 71-72)
Son of Jacob Aumack and Geertje Aumack. Husband of Mary Aumack.
Brother of Helena (born 1761, died at age 2 or 3), William Henry Ariantje, Helena, Mathiasm Conover, Antje, Jacob Aumack.
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JACOB AUMACK
Born 1769 in Middleton, New Jersey
Died 1849 at age 79 or 80.
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WILLIAM HENRY AUMACK (shown in a uniform, possibly American Revolution)
Born August 21, 1762
Died April 28, 1849 (age 86)
Internment: Hazlet, Monmouth County, New Jersey.
Probably also buried at the cemetery.
--Brock-Perry
In 1811, William Henry Aumack, who served as a private in the Monmouth County Militia during the American Revolution, purchased 42 acres of farmland for $100 (good deal) in present day Hazlet (Middleton back then) He picked a hillock on the farm for a family cemetery after the death of his wife, Christiana in 1841. Thus began the Aumack Family Cemetery.
In 1991, it was concluded that 20 people had been interred at the site, including two from the War of 1812: Private Garret Aumack and Corporal Leonard Aumack. Leonard's grave is the only one still visible in the cemetery.
It is great that the cemetery will be cleaned up and preserved better than in the past.
Thanks to the Boy Scouts and James Borg, Eagle Scout candidate.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 16, 2020, Asbury Park Press "Desecrated cemetery, lost grave of 18-year-old war heron getting restored in Hazlet" by Jerry Carino.
Hazlet, New Hersey.
Thomas Bailey Aumak was 17 years old when he enlisted to fight for the Union in the Civil War. The Bayshore native was mustered into the 87th New York Infantry in November 1861.
Less than a year later, he was dead.
The young hero's grave lies somewhere between two homes on a residential street in Hazlet. He is one of at least four soldiers buried in this hidden cemetery. There are also am American Revolution militiaman and two War of 1812 veterans.
After decades of desecration and neglect, one neighbor even built a shed on the site; another removed a gravestone and used it as a porch step.
But, not anymore. Thomas Aumack would have appreciated it
Because a 17-year-old Eagle Scout candidate was the catalyst. His name is James Borg.
--Brock-Perry
On November 14, I wrote about Zebulon Pike, the American discoverer of what is today called Pikes Peak. In yesterday's Chicago tribune, I saw that date happened 214 years ago, November 15, 1806.
Pikes Perak is 14,100 feet tall and the highest peak of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains., 12 miles west of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
It was discovered during Zebulon Pike's Second Expedition. In early November 1806, Pike and his team spotted and tried to climb to the summit of the peak later named after him. They failed after a two-day attempt.
--Brock-Perry
Tourists arrive at Fort Wool on the Miss Hampton II. a tour boat sailing out of Hampton. Those traveling the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel can see Fort Wool, lying to the east, on man-made South Island.
Construction started on the fort in 1819, and during the next 125 years, Fort Wool evolved as military technology advanced, resulting in a rare fort that contains military architecture that spans the entire era of United States seacoast defense.
Notable are the remaining granite casemates dating to 1826, though most of the fort's defenses date from the early 20th century, including the World War II Battery 229 which included two 6-inch shielded guns and its iconic steel tower.
While fully recognizing the need for nesting sites for migratory seabirds and completing the tunnel-bridge expansions, these solutions need not and should not come at the expense of the permanent loss of a historic treasure.
The site, in the middle of Hampton Roads, near the 1862 USS Monitor-CSS Virginia battle, offers dramatic views of the Chesapeake Bay and Fort Monroe.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 13, 2020, Bay Journal "Fort Wool, nesting seabirds both need saving" by Terry McGovern.
Recently, efforts have been made to turn Fort Wool into a habitat for nesting seabirds. But, Fort Wool is also a historic site and saw use during the Civil War and other wars, including World War II.
It was built on an island of granite blocks after the War of 1812, partially in response to the British attack on Washington, D.C. It and the completion of nearby Fort Monroe allowed American cannons to control access to Hampton Roads.
It also served a s a summer residence for two U.S. presidents: Andrew Jackson and John Tyler and it was an initial sanctuary for enslaved blacks escaping to freedom under the protection of the Union Army. Guns from Fort Wool fired on the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862.
Union president Abraham Lincoln observed the first Union attempt to take Norfolk, Virginia, from the fort's ramparts in May 1862.
Until recently, the fort was visited by thousands of people a year and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
--Brock-Perry
From the Haines City (Fla.) Daily Ridge "More than 200-year-old Army veteran honored at Haines City Veteran's Day Ceremony" by James Coulter.
Most people today would not recognize his name, but if you ever visit Colorado, there is a rather prominent elevation that bears his name, Pike's Peak.
By direction of President Thomas Jefferson, James Pike led two westward expeditions to explore the newly acquired lands of the Louisiana Purchase. During one of those, he crossed the Rocky Mountains and explored the territory now known as Colorado. This feat earned him the honor of having his name given to Pike's Peak.
During his service, he was captured by Spanish colonial authorities near Santa Fe, taken to what is now Mexico and interrogated and later released near Louisiana. He wrote of his exploits in a book published in 1810.
He served in the U.S. Army for 14 years, eventually becoming a brigadier general. During the War of 1812, he was killed while leading an attack on the Canadian city of York (Toronto today).
Cynthia Morrison, one of his descendants, was at the ceremony.
--Brock-Perry
The USS Constitution , called "Old Ironsides" is a museum ship docked in Boston, but she has an active duty crew and commander. She has even sailed under her own power as recently as twenty years ago.
So, one of the Navy's unusual jobs is there at a civilian forester maintained. They call the group of trees Constitution Grove in Indiana.
From the USS Constitution Museum "The Wooden Walls" of USS Constitution.
The USS Constitution received, according to Secretary of War Knox, "the best white oak." However, with each restoration of the ship, white oak of the size needed became increasingly difficult to obtain. Nearly two generations and three restorations ago, white oak trees at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Crane, Indiana, were designated for the USS Constitution.
At the time, as the 1973 work began on the ship, the U.S. Navy noted: "Seasoned white oak, ... needed in the ... overhaul of ... Constitution, was difficult to ... procure." Over 150 white oak trees spread over the 64,000 acre base were designated for the ship.
In April 2012, 70 of these trees were examined and 35 selected that will be used to replace the 30-40-foot long rotted hull planks on the ship.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 8, 2020, Ionia (Michigan) Sentinel Standard "Reading of names of the fallen to highlight Veterans Day ceremony at battlefield" by Dean Cousino.
The reading of about 450 names of men from Monroe County will highlight a special Veterans Day Ceremony at the River Raisin National Battlefield (Monroe County, Michigan) that is decorated with more than 500 American flags until November 15. This is part of a "Field of Honor" program.
The battlefield park preserves and commemorates the January 1813 battles between Americans and the British, Canadians and their Indian allies. The battles and the "Remember the Raisin!" battle cry, and helped inspire a major American victory at the River Thames and were a major turning point in the War of 1812.
The 450 men and women whose names will be read, were from the Civil War.
The "Field of Honor" has more than 500 U.S. 3-by-5- foot flags on ten foot poles and will be lighted at night.
--Brock-Perry
From the November 8, 2020, Gadsden Times "David Murdock Column: On unusual American military units."
He found out about an unusual naval facility located in the middle of Indiana, not exactly where you'd expect to find a naval unit based. It is the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and is located neat Bloomington, Indiana.
According to the Navy, it is the third largest naval installation in the world.
But what really caught Mr. Murdock's eyes a forest of white oak trees. was the fact that it maintains a forest of white oak trees. And the reason it exists and is so large is a warship named the USS Constitution. This old ship, the longest commissioned warship in the world, requires white oak trees for repair and rehabilitation.
The Constitution is a wooden sailing frigate that was launched in 1797. It is the oldest warship still afloat (Britain's HMS Victory has been afloat slightly longer, but is in permanent drydock).
--Brock-Perry
From the November 6, 2020, Kansas City Examiner "Jackson statues to get explanatory signs" by Mike Genet.
A majority of the Jackson County voters voted this week to keep the two Andrew Jackson statues in front of its two courthouses. The statues are in Kansas City and Independence.
But, the statues will be getting explanatory plaques.
You have to be careful about those contextual plaques as often they are giving more in the line of certain opinions existing today.
But, at least the people have spoken.
You Know, Those Culture-Erase Folk. --Brock-Perry
From the November 5, 2020, Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald "War of 1812 medallions placed in Waco cemetery."
A War of 1812 "Real Daughter" medallion was placed on the grave of Emma Buck Harrison and War of 1812 veteran medallion placed on the grave of William Calmes Buck.
The Jordan Bass Chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812 recently placed medallions of the First Street Cemetery at these graves. Emma was his daughter.
Buck was born August 23, 1790, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment Virginia Militia. Before entering the service, he became an ordained Baptist minister. After the war, he preached in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.
He first married Maria Lewright in Jefferson City, Virginia who died in childbirth with her fourth child. Later, Buck married Isabella Miriam Field of Woodford County, Kentucky, with whom he had 11 children. Isabella died in Nashville, Tennessee in 1852 at the age of 42.
After the Civil War, he moved to Texas where he lived the rest of his life.
--Brock-Perry
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
Somewhere in the smoke and fury, Tecumseh went down. Col. Richard Mentor Johnson, severely wounded himself, recounted pulling out his pistols and shooting an Indian -- maybe Tecumseh? In later years, Johnson built his political career on the claim that he had slain the mighty Tecumseh himself.
Tecumseh's death put in motion a series of events and consequences. Furious about the British failure, many of Tecumseh's allies quickly signed an armistice with Harrison, who then sought o enlist them to fight the British.
Even as many American settlers spoke explicitly about the "extermination" of Indian people, their leaders negotiated a series of treaties with confederacy tribes. The British confirmed their faithlessness in the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, but sold out their Indian allies.
Without Tecumseh, his brother, Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, floundered, and he eventually helped the Americans to persuade the Shawnees to leave their lands and relocate in Kansas. There, in 1828, he set up a sad little Prophetstown of four remote cabins, where he faded away to a lonely death less than a decade later.
--Brock-Perry
Continued from October 30.
The British figured that each Indian warrior was worth three American soldiers and when they marched into battle in their traditional red coats, Tecumseh and his warriors would be protecting the flanks.
Tecumseh seemed to be everywhere during the first years of fighting: fighting, recruiting, saving prisoners from torture from his men, cajoling the British to maintain supplies, food and men, and even rallying their troops in the field on occasion.
The British failed in almost every aspect of the war. (Of course a big part of this was because Britain was much more heavily engaged with Napoleon and his French army in the war for control of Europe.) The world's strongest maritime power lost the fight for the Great Lakes, saw its supply lines to the Northwest cut, and , in the fall of 1813, were chased by William Henry Harrison and a large American force into a panicked retreat across Upper Canada.
British commander, General Henry Procter, made a strategic blunder before taking an ill-prepared stand near Moraviantown on the Thames River, in early October.
Tecumseh and some five hundred warriors supported the British line in what became known as the Battle of the Thames, but those lines collapsed almost immediately in the face of an American cavalry charge. A small group of Americans led by Richard Mentor Johnson, a Kentucky militia colonel, charged the Indian lines on horseback, hoping to draw their fire and thus reveal the Indian positions for the next wave of soldiers.
--Brock-Perry
Even though the attempt was made to surrender the village of Buffalo, the British soldiers were to have their revenge for the Newark and York burnings. They set the town ablaze and the flames made quick work of nearly all the 150 structures that made up Buffalo back then.
They also burned the neighboring community of Black Rock.
The British returned to Canada with 130 prisoners They lost 31 men and the Americans 50 in the Battle of Buffalo.
When the fires ceased, all that remained was the "stone jail, Reese's blacksmith shop and the house of Margaret St. John. Within a week of the attack, the residents of Buffalo began to rebuild.
--Brock-Perry
From the October 28, 2020, Buffalo (NY) Rising "Haunted History: Old County Hall is at the center of Buffalo's most dramatic moments" by Daniel Lendzian.
THE WAR OF 1812
The Old County Hall is the site where Colonel Cyrenius Chapin surrendered the village of Buffalo to the British on December 10, 1813, to British Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond after American Brigadier General George McClure abandoned the village saying, "They may all be destroyed, and I don't care how soon." (Nice guy.)
Drummond rejected Chapin's authority to surrender and proceeded to burn the village in retaliation for the American burning of the British settlement Newark (Niagara-On-the-Lake) and previously having burned the Canadian provincial capital of York (now Toronto).
Much business is still done at the building today, especially in the basement. Accordingly, every so many years there will be many people down there waiting for appointments and they will all come running up the stairs saying they had seen something that scared them.
They described apparitions as human bodies missing limbs. Was the County Hall a burying ground?
Like Boo!! --Brock-Perry
Tecumseh's 1811 diplomatic mission among the various Indian tribes rallied the Upper Creeks, but most of the southern tribes rejected it. As a result, most of his efforts remained centered in the Old Northwest, where he drew together the Shawnee, Delaware, Miami, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Saulk, Meskwaki, Ottawa and Ojibwe.
To Tecumseh, the Americans were set on domination of the continent and the Indians were in the wat and must be removed.
William Henry Harrison's victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe might have ended the Indian conflict, but it didn't. He was sure of it, but was very wrong about it. Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, regrouped their people around a powerful ally, Britain, America's opponent in the approaching maritime war.
Again, Tecumseh's aspirations were frustrated by circumstance. Still hoping for an Indian confederacy, Tecumseh found his hand forced by the War of 1812.
For the next three years, the incomplete Indian alliance challenged American armies across the Native homelands. They pummeled the Americans at the River Raisin, took Fort Dearborn (Chicago), chased settlers out of the borderlands, and orchestrated a three-pronged offensive against the remaining American forts.
--Brock-Perry
From the October 26, 2020, New Yorker by Philip Deloria.
This is a book review, I believe of Peter Cozzen's joint effort called "Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who defied a Nation."
The article had a lot about Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet's efforts to unite a strong Indian confederacy to stem U.S. encroachment onto Indian lands and the War of 1812. It is one of those new histories that paints only negative views of the United States.
I will just be concentrating on Tecumseh in the War of 1812.
Most histories portray the role Indians played in the War of 1812 as being incidental to their British allies, marauding along the backcountry fringes of the Atlantic conflict. In actuality, the United States was waging three intertwined wars at once. The war concerned with trade restrictions and impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy; the Creek War, which began as a Native conflict to halt settlement in the South; and Tecumseh's War, which started in 1811, but didn't conclude until 1815.
This last war was fought across Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, lower Canada, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. Tecumseh's War was not only a struggle for territory, but also Indian future in relation to the United States.
--Brock-Perry
The USS Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat. It was undefeated in battle and, in the War of 1812, earned its nickname, Old Ironsides, when British cannonballs bounced off its wooden hull.
The acquired papers cover several topics, including the construction of the nation's first six frigates, which included the Constitution. Also, the strategic plans of the undeclared Quasi-War against France from 1798 to 1800.
The collection belonged to James Sever, the first commander of the USS Congress, another frigate constructed at the same time. These papers had been in his family ever since. James Sever was the naval officer officiating at the launch of the Constitution as I have written about before.
Sever supervised the construction of the Congress and was deployed withy the ship to the Caribbean Sea to protect U.S. merchant ships from French privateers. The Constitution served alongside the Congress.
The collection also includes correspondence from the Constitutions commander, Captain Silas Talbot, Henry Knox, Secretary of War under Washington, who oversaw appropriations for the construction of the Constitution and her sister ships; and Toussaint Louverture, the formerly enslaved leader of the Haitian Revolution, who corresponded with U.S. naval commanders about support for his government.
The documents will be archived at the museum and shared publicly via email newsletters and social media posts at first. They also will be digitalized and made available at the museum's website.
The More We Know. --Brock-Perry
From the October 21, 2020, Boston 25 News "Papers shed light on early years of 'Old Ironsides,' Navy" by Marl Pratt, AP.
The collection was revealed on a Facebook Live celebration of the ship's 223rd birthday.
One of the documents shows the private signals used between the U.S. Navy and that of the United Kingdom.
The USS Constitution Museum has acquired 150 documents, including correspondence between George Washington's Secretary of War and the leader of the Haitian Revolution, that shed light on the ship's early history. Most people know a lot about the ship in the War of 1812, but not much else. The Haitian revolution was the United States' first international conflict.
The collection had been in private hands for more than 225 years, but was obtained at auction. It is the largest collection the museum has gotten in more than a decade.
The cost of the documents was not disclosed, but they were paid for by a group of museum supporters called the Commodores.
Thanks Commodores. --Brock-Perry
Not knowing that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed in December, Admiral Cochrane moved his forces back to Mobile and Prospect Bluff. Just after his marines captured Fort Bowyer in a second attack at Mobile Bay, Cochrane got word of the Treaty of Ghent and began to withdraw from Mobile.
However, he left Nicholls and Woodbine in command of the black Colonial Marines and Choctow Indians at the fort at Prospect Bluff.
The War of 1812 on the Gulf of Mexico began and ended at Apalachicola River.
But the departure of the Royal Navy did not end the conflict with the blacks and Seminoles. Attempts to recover Forbes & Company's losses during the three successive wars occupied Forbes and the Innerarity brothers for the rest of their lives, and led to the second largest Spanish land grant in Florida's history.
Called the Innerarity's Claim of Searcy's 1829 map of Florida, the grant extended from Apalachicola to the Choctawhatchee River. The story of how that land claim was settled and the gradual decline of the John Forbes and Company's trading firm in the Territory of Florida is another story in itself.
--Brock-Perry
After their defeat at Fort Bowyer, the British retreated to Pensacola, and Jackson determined to push them out of that place, even though it was technically neutral. His forces reached Pensacola on November 6, 1814. After the Spanish rejected his flag of truce, he defeated the small garrison the next day in a brief skirmish. One thing about Jackson, he never let a little thing like neutrality stop him.
In the meantime, the British pulled out of the city, destroying Forts Michael and Barrancas on the way.
Jackson went back to Mobile, where he confirmed that the British force was heading for New Orleans. Now that he was sure that Mobile was not the target, he rode with his officers to New Orleans in ten days, with his army following later. Partly because of the warnings of James Inneraritys, he arrived in New Orleans shortly before the British fleet.
He took command of the local militia, prepared the defenses and led his troops to that outstanding victory at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. (See the header at the top of the blog.)
--Brock-Perry
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
In September 1814, John Innerarity learned that the British were planning an attack on Fort Bowyer and the capture of Mobile. The brash Col. Nicolls had informed Governor Manrique in Pensacola of his plans, and Manrique confided this news to his confessor, Father James Coleman, who quickly relayed the information to Innerarity.
Innerarity became alarmed that an attack on Mobile's defenses at Fort Bowyer would include the plundering of the Forbes company store at nearby Bon Secour. He sent a rider named William McVoy to warn Major William Lawrence of the American defenders.
Nichols learned that his plans had been betrayed, but went ahead an attacked Fort Bowyer anyway.
Although outnumbered 4-to-1, the American defenders were able to damage the British flagship HMS Hermes, which became stranded and burned in the shallow water over the bar to Mobile Bay.
As the British landing party retreated, they sacked the Forbes company store on Bon Secour, enlisted ten company slaves into the army and stole tobacco, cattle, horses and equipment valued at $5,890.
Two years later, Nicholls stated that his defeat at Mobile was due entirely to John Innerarity.
--Brock-Perry
In July 1814, a second British fleet anchored at Havana, Cuba, and the Royal Marine commander, Lt. Col. Edward Nicholls, attempted to persuade the Spanish governor general, Ruiz Apodaca, , to allow British troops to defend Florida against the Americans. Spain was neutral in the conflict, and although Apodaca did not protest British troops on the Apalachicola River, he demanded the British stay out of Pensacola.
Nicholls departed for Apalachicola in August , only to find Woodbine had left Prospect Bluff for Pensacola in an effort to get fresh provisions for his Indian and black recruits. Nicholls followed immediately to Pensacola., and was given permission to occupy Fort St. Michael (former Fort George and Fort San Miguel depending on who had control of it).
However, he alienated Spanish citizens by taking military control of the town and recruiting slaves into the marines.
News of the British advances along the Apalachicola River reached Andrew Jackson, and he moved his headquarters to Mobile on August 21, 1814. That city was defended by the newly-built Fort Bowyer located on a sand spit east of the entrance to Mobile Bay (present side of Fort Morgan).
--Old Secesh
Angered that they were turned down by Spanish governor Gonzalez Manrique. they turned to John Innerarity at the Forbes store in Pensacola. Innerarity feared that an Indian war was about to begin and showed them only empty barrels and turned down their request for guns and gunpowder
However, Governor Manrique decided to help the Creeks and provided Chief Peter McQueen with 1,000 pounds of gunpowder. An attack on Fort Mimms caused the United States to declare war on the Creeks.
Alarmed that the Creeks would become a dangerous threat if the British armed them, Andrew Jackson's Tennessee volunteers marched to the Alabama River from Nashville and defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814, and forced the Indians to ceded half of their territory to the Americans.
With some justification, hostile factions among the Creeks and Seminoles blamed Forbes & Company for their lack of firearms and gunpowder that led to their defeat and loss of land.
--Brock-Perry
According to their British charter, the Forbes Company could operate under the flag of any country. James and and John Innerarity had already obtained Spanish citizenship by residence without giving up their British, and thereby were able to trade freely in Florida,
After the United States annexed Mobile in 1813, the Inneraritys applied for U.S. citizenship. U.S. General James Wilkinson quartermaster purchased tools, bricks, lumber, food and office supplies from the company. Through these favorable associations, the senior Forbes partners were becoming even closer to Americans and more suspicious of British intentions.
The War of 1812 was already being fought between Nova Scotia and Washington, and now Forbes ships plying between Nassau and London were in jeopardy.
In July 1813, several delegations of Creek Indians, who were hostile to American encroachment, had arrived in Spanish Pensacola seeking gunpowder and firearms. Led by Chiefs Peter McQueen and High Head Jim, about 300 men requested arms from the governor, Gonzalez Manrique, who refused their request.
--Brock-Perry
At Prospect Bluff, George Woodbine conscripted John Forbes' agents, William Hanby and Edmund Doyle, along with 25 black slaves, to help build and manage their fort. With Doyle and Hanby preoccupied, the British and their allies looted the Forbes store.
The former slaves were recruited into the Colonial Marines, and 300 of Forbes' cattle were confiscated to feed Creek and Seminole Indians., who were starving because Andrew Jackson's forces had burned their villages and crops during the Creek War of 1813.
Woodbine's actions at Prospect Bluff convinced Forbes' partners, James and John Innerarity, the firm would fare better with the Americans than the British. For the rest of the war, they aided Americans by sharing crucial information they gleaned from their vast trading network that extended from Amelia Island to Pensacola and New Orleans.
--Brock-Perry
Continued from September 16, 2020.
The British advance on Apalachicola Bay, Florida, was the first part of a three-pronged British attack on the Gulf of Mexico coast planned by Admiral Alexander Cochrane. He would next hit Mobile and then new Orleans (which resulted in the famed Battle of New Orleans). From new Orleans, his command could then control navigation on the all-important Mississippi River.
He sent Navy Captain Hugh Pigot and Marine Captain George Woodbine to the Apalachicola River to train Creek Indians and black Colonial Marines, expecting that these allies would then prevent American reinforcements coming from Georgia on the Old Federal Road and block them from helping protect Mobile and New Orleans.
Without permission from the neutral Spanish government, who owned the area, the British began constructing a fort 25 miles up the Apalachicola River less than a mile from the store at Prospect Bluff that was run by the merchants and Indian traders of John Forbes & Company.
Although Forbes and his partners James and John Innerarity were British subjects, conflict was inevitable because British officers could augment their pay by looting Forbes' business and selling the plunder as prizes of war. (Kind of a land-based privateering scheme.)
--Brock-Perry
The Beverly (Massachusetts) Powder House was built in 1809 and was the town's third munitions supply house. Its first was built near the town center in 1765.
In addition to its construction of this building, the town also authorized construction of a structure to hose two cannons and associated equipment; it has not survived and its location is not known.
The Powder House's only significant military use came during the War of 1812, when local militia mustered there after a British attack on nearby Gloucester.
It was taken out of service in 1840, as the state transitioned to more centralized armories for militia munitions.
--Brock-Perry
From Wikipedia.
A historic military storage magazine on Powder House Lane in Beverly, Massachusetts. Built in 1809, this small brick building housed the town's military supplies during the War of 1812. Listed on the NRHP in 2019.
It stands amidst residences built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
It is an eight-sided brick structure with a shingled roof built on a wood frame mounted over a brick dome. The walls have no windows, but is designed to allow for the passage of air through the structure, with circuitous passages through the brickwork.
The building is 17.5 feet in diameter near its base and rises 12.5 feet from its stone foundation to its eaves. Its wooden door is attached to a frame by iron strap hinges. The interior is finished with wooden siding, with shelving fastened to framing embedded in the brick walls by wood pegs.
--Brock-Perry
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
From October 3, 2020, Wicked Beverly (Massachusetts).
The City of Beverly recently completed the exterior and interior restoration of this piece of the city's history. It is one of Beverly's most unique historical structures but over the many years it has stood, it was sinking into deeper disrepair.
The project spanned over four years from 2017 to 2020. Lance Daly was instrumental in getting this done. A total of $244,500 was raised in grants and donations thanks to efforts by the city and the Massachusetts Historical Commission's Preservation Projects Fund, Beverly Crossing and the Essex National Heritage Foundation.
The powder House is the second-oldest city-owned property. The restoration itself took five months and included repointing masonry and brick replacement, replacing the existing the existing asphalt shingle roof with a historically wood shingle roof, replacing the wooden floor, adding historically accurate siding to two interior walls and outside landscaping as well as improvements for public use.
--Brock-Perry
From the October 2, 2020, Examiner (Jackson County, Missouri) by Mike Genet.
Voters will decide on November 3 what to do with a pair of Andrew Jackson statues located at Jackson County Courthouse in downtown Kansas City and the Truman Courthouse in Independence. The county is also named for Andrew Jackson.
If voters vote to take them down, the statues will be moved to other buildings in the county, possibly with historical context because of Jackson's complicated legacy. He was a military hero of the War of 1812 and prevented the Southern states from seceding during his presidency.
But he was also a slave owner and responsible for the Indian Removal Act that forced Indians off of their land in what became known as the Trail of Tears.
The downtown statue was damaged in the post George Floyd riots.
This is what should be done for all statue removals. Let the people vote on what is t be done.
--Brock-Perry
Continuing with George Wise's letter to his brother describing what happened to him at the Battle of Craney Island.
"They lost a good many men, which gives a little satisfaction. I am quite out of doors. I had but one shirt left and that on my back. At one time I had but a pair of old shoes, one pair of trousers, upper and under jacket and an old hat, but luckily for me some of the deserters that had took some of them brought them and I recovered three coats, several other pieces with one pair of sheets. Ten (?) of my spoons and a few other things.
"Our country is compleatly ruined, every day is under arms and our crios are the worst I ever saw. I will give you a small scetch at sum convenient time of them fight and action with the gun boats and Frigates, being an eyewitness to the whole.
"My love to your family. I hope to se you all yet, I am your affectionate brother, Geo. D. Wise."
Again, A Really Bad Day for George. --Brock-Perry
On August 2, 1945, the old Norfolk-Ledger-Dispatch newspaper ran an interesting article about the Battle of Craney Island by well-known local historian Rev. W.H.T. Squires, D.D.. At the end, he mentioned a letter by George D. Wise, a farmer on Craney Island, describing the attack. The letter was written on July 19, 1813, 27 days after the attack.
"Dear Brother: I am alive and tolerably well. but stripped nearly of all. I have my plantation laid waste by the English and by our own people. They have taken the Island and my plantation overrun by the soldiers.
"The British made an attack on the island and landed at my house landing and destroying all at the house even to the ... and when they went to attack the island they threw a rocket on the house where I lived and destroyed it, when they were driven back they commenced plunder.
"They got my sheep and nearly all of my hogs and part of my cattle. They went so far as to burn down plows sand every other trifling thing."
A Real Bad Day for George. --Brock-Perry
During the War of 1812, it was the scene of the bloody Battle of Craney Island on June 22, 1813.
The British had launched a ground attack to retake the area and the state of Virginia and 1,500 British soldiers took part in the effort according to historian W.H.T. Squires.
In February 1813, a very impressive British squadron of ships showed up and sailed through the Virginia capes to blockade the Chesapeake Bay. This greatly alarmed residents all through the area. Fortifications were hastily thrown up. Men from all over joined up, including mountain men from the western frontier came to offer their help.
The British had fifty barges, led by the 52-foot barge called the Centipede. Within a short time, all the barges were sunk. British losses were very heavy, but not one single American was lost, however one soldier was killed by a careless sentry who tried to celebrate the victory by lighting up a pipe in the powder magazine.
General Robert Taylor and Captain Arthur Emmerson were heroes of the battle. Taylor, of Norfolk, threw a floating barrier across the mouth of the Elizabeth River. He ordered a fort to be built, and earth mounds to be dug for the attack on Craney Island.
Emmerson, of Portsmouth, formed a militia and became the captain of the Portsmouth Light Artillery Blues. His group's artillery fire on the British was particularly devastating.
--Brock-Perry
After the Civil War, the island belonged to several owners, including the city of Norfolk which used it as a place of confinement in the 1900s due to the many contagious diseases that occurred there. Many suffering from small pox and yellow fever were quarantined there.
In the 1920s, the U.S. Shipping Board took over the island and built 18 huge fuel oil storage tanks. Later, the board leased the island to a molasses company (hopefully they didn't use the fuel tanks to store the molasses.)
In the 1940s, ownership of the island passed to the U.S. Navy and a huge expansion took place due to the increased war demand for fuel, oil and gas.
Today, the island is overseen by the Navy, which runs the fuel depot and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
But, the biggest military action took place at this island during the War of 1812. It was the scene of the bloody June 22, 1813, Battle of Craney Island.
--Brock-Perry
From the September 16, 2020, Virginia-Pilot (Norfolk) "Craney Island has stories to tell" by Robert Hitchings.
In the beginning, Norfolk and Portsmouth shared a small island in the Elizabeth River. It was named after the birds who nested there. The problem is that early colonists thought the birds were cranes, but they were actually white and blue herrons, so it probably should have been called Heron island, but Craney Island stuck.
For years the island was used for primarily agricultural pursuits by farmers, but the Wise family actively raised cows and sheep on it. Many fishermen used the site to dry their nets.
The island has a long and interesting history. During the American Revolution, the British Army occupied it and were greatly plagued by smallpox. During the Civil War, Craney Island became a safe haven for the many runaway slaves who poured into Norfolk after the city fell to Union forces in May 1862.
The biggest military action to occur on the island, however, came during the War of 1812, which I will write about in the next post.
--Brock-Perry
The fort consists of a two-story bunker surrounding a small area, inside which, a wooden platform would have originally stood. The wooden platform was sunken with a revolving turret for a cannon (not quite sure what this means).
The sides of it held small gunports. The structure was likely connected to the ground by a small staircase.
Construction on the tower was completed December 22, 1814, , two days before the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war.
The second phase of its history involved it being used as an ammunition and storage building. During this time, the top two feet of stone-work was completed. The fort/blockhouse is noticeably different in color, composition and stonework.
Later at the turn of the 20th century, the current entrance and staircase were added, as was the tall flagpole at the center of the fort.
In 1905, it was described as standing 19 feet tall at the western wall and having a base of 34 feet square.
Blockhouse No. 1 stands in North Woods at the northwest corner of Central Park, at a location that is still rugged, high and difficult to reach. It is located south of North Crive and north of Huddlestone Arch. It overlooks Harlem Meer (lake) and the Lasker Rink to the east.
Interesting Site to Visit. --Brock-Perry
The Blockhouse was likely built on the foundation of a structure dating back to a much earlier date. In 1776, during the American Revolution, British and Hessian troops sealed off lower Manhattan from colonial armies by controlling the pass and defending it through a series of fortifications.
From trial excavations performed in 1995, it has been determined that the foundation of Blockhouse No. 1 date back to this time of British occupation of New York.
The current fort was constructed in three phases.
In the first phase, under the direction of General Joseph Gardner Swift, the fort was hastily constructed by New Yorkers during the War of 1812 in anticipation of a British invasion. It was assembled by volunteers who brought the building materials with them, hence the red sandstone blocks included with the Manhattan schist.
--Brock-Perry
Continued from August 30.
From Wikipedia.
The Blockhouse is the second oldest structure in New York City's Central Park after Cleopatra's Needle. It is a small fort in the northern part of the fort and is located on a overlook of the Manhattan schist. (Manhattan schist is the bedrock that enables the tall buildings to stand. I didn't know that and had to look kit up.) It has a clear view of the flat surrounding areas north of Central Park.
Finished in 1814, the fort was part of a series of fortifications in northern Manhattan, which originally included three fortifications in what was then Harlem Heights, now known as Morningside Heights. The fortifications were built in fear of a British attack during the War of 1812 which never came.
The Blockhouse is the last surviving fortification from those defenses.
Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, designers of Central Park, decided Blockhouse No. 1 was a picturesque ruin, romantically overgrown with vines and Alpine shrubbery.
--Brock-Perry
I was teaching at John T. Magee Middle School in Round Lake, Illinois, on September 11, 2001, when I was told by another teacher that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.
At that time, all my lesson plans for that day were suspended and we listened on the radio to the events as they transpired. In between, I told the students about how this attack could be traced back to around 2,000 years ago when the Romans made the Jewish people leave their homeland in Israel and move elsewhere.
With the Jewish people gone, Palestinians moved into the land and it became an Arab country. After World War II and the Nazi Holocaust, the world was so appalled by what had happened, that the country of Palestine was partitioned to give the Jewish people a homeland of their own.
This did not take into account the fact that Palestinians had lived there for all that time in between. They and the other Arab countries around them fought back. The United States supported Israel and with that became an enemy of the Arab countries.
And that was why we had 9-11.
--Brock-Perry
Then, Tecumseh would have his warriors appear out in the open where the Americans could see them, then they would disappear into the forest, then to appear again in a different spot. These tactics unnerved some of the American officers and especially William Hull.
Hull was past his prime as a field commander and despite his junior officers urging him to fight, decided to surrender. This especially after British General Brock (the Brock in my sign-off "Brock-Perry) had told Hull that if it came to a fight between the two forces, that he couldn't guarantee American safety from his bloodthirsty Indian allies.
Some say that Hull had his daughter in the fort as well and that he greatly feared for her safety.
Either way, Hull surrendered Fort Detroit, which opened Lake Erie up to British control. With it in their control, they also held sway over upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
A year later, the war took a different course in September 1813, when a pivotal battle took place on the lake. That battle's hero has something to do with the second half of my sign-off.
Covered in Next Post. --Brock-Perry
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
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
