The Army-Navy Game Today Pays Tribute to War of 1812

From the Nov. 25, 2013, Wasgington Times "Uniforms Army-Navy game unveiled Monday night."

The Navy's uniforms pay tribute to Captain James Lawrence whose famous words "Don't Give Up the Ship" was a battlecry during the War of 1812. You see those words on flags all over the place and were flown at the Battle of Lake Erie.

The Army pays their tribute to General Winfield Scott who fought in the war and later commanded U.S. troops in the Mexican War and was in charge of the Union Army in the early days of the Civil War and came up with Scott's Anaconda Plan to defeat the Confederacy.

We watch this Army-Navy game most every year at the Fox Lake American Legion which has a big party for it with lots of food and cheering. I tend to favor the Navy, but with their domination of the series of late, will be backing the cadets of Army this year.

Go Knights!! --RoadDog

Revenue Cutter Thomas Jefferson

From the U.S. Coast Guard Site and the article from the last post.

The Revenue Cutter Thomas Jefferson was constructed and commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1802 and served out of Savannah until 1809 when relieved by the Revenue Cutter James Madison, then served out of Norfolk until it was decommissioned in 1817.

In May 1812 (before the war) it sailed around the Hampton Roads area with US Navy Captain Stephen Decatur to survey existing lighthouses and signal towers for a communication system. The ship was responsible for the U.S.'s first maritime victory in the war when it captured a British schooner sailing from Guadeloupe to Halifax with a cargo of sugar.

Little is known of the ship after its 1817 decommissioning.

It's War of 1812 commander was William Ham who was commissioned a 2nd mate in Norfolk, Virginia, based cutter Virginia. He served as an officer on Norfolk-based cutters through the War of 1812, after which little is known of his life.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Painting Delivered to Virginia Capital

From the Dec. 20, 2012, (Virginia) Progress-Index "War of 1812 painting delivered to State Capital."

A reproduction of marine artist Patrick O'Brien's painting of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Thomas Jefferson engaging British barges in the James River has been placed in Richmond.

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned the original for the bicentennial of the war. The painting will hang in Virginia Delegate Del Cox's office who heads up the bicentennial commemoration for Virginia. At the end of the year it will be returned to the Coast Guard.

--Brock-Perry

Death From Disease in the War of 1812

From the Dec. 4, 2012, WBFO NPR, Buffalo, NY "War of 1812: Part II- Death and Disease" by Rick Kellman.

More than 20,000 died during the war, some 15,000 from disease. At the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, 600 British and American soldiers are buried in the 1812 plot. Only 16 are known to be from New York.

During the war there was a small U.S. Army hospital on the grounds. The winter of 1812 brought death to what would become Buffalo's Delaware Park where the dead were eventually buried The ground was so frozen that the caskets were only partially buried.

In the spring of 1813, Dr. Daniel Chapin dug them up and buried them in a mass grave on his property.

--Brock-Perry

USS Hamilton and Scourge Shipwrecks "An Archaeologist's Dream"

From the Dec. 6, 2012, CBC "Hanmilton's War of 1812 shipwrecks 'an archaeologist's dream."

The USS Hamilton and USS Scourge are aging well beneath Lake Ontario. The American schooners are 90-meters deep and 10.5 kilometers off Port Dalhousie and owned by the City of Hamilton since 1980. 

The entire site of the wrecks has been mapped and archaeologists want to recover artifacts. The wrecks are currently being colonized by a relative of the invasive zebra mussel and a mapping survey is underway.

Both ships were originally involved in the merchant trade before becoming U.S. warships. A sudden fierce squall after midnight on August 8, 1813, sank both ships quickly. They were first discovered in the 1970s and both sit upright and intact.

 Not the USS Constitution. --Brock-Perry

Temporary White House: D.C.'s Octagon-- Part 5-- Preserving an Icon

John Tayloe III died in 1828 and sometime after 1855, his family left the Octagon. It was later used as a school and a Navy office, but by the end of the 1800s was abandoned, trash-filled and occupied by as many as 10 homeless families. Things looked bleak until it caught the attention of A1A member and preservationist Glenn Brown. (I haven't been able to find out what the A1A organization is, however, but I'm sure they have an interesting history. From the article I gather it is a preservation group.)

The A1A was founded in 1857 in New York City, but after 40 years was going to relocate to Washington, D.C.. They leased it in 1897 and bought it in 1902. The house was rehabilitated and the organization's offices moved there. Since then, they outgrew the house and built a new headquarters behind it in 1973. The Octagon is today a museum.

The most recent renovation, 1990-1995, returned it to its appearance when the Tayloes lived there.

It is located at 1799 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. open for tours Thursday and Friday from 1-4 PM. www.theoctagon.org.

Something Worth Seeing. --Brock-Perry

Temporary White House-- D.C.'s Octagon-- Part 4: The Treaty of Ghent

President James Madison used the circular room on the second floor, above the entry hall, as his office. It was there, at a round pedestal table ringed with labeled drawers, that he signed the Treaty of Ghent, formally ending the War of 1812, or "Mr. Madison's War" as some called it.

The terms of the treaty had been agreed on by Christmas Eve 1814, in Ghent, Belgium, but the hard copy and signings of it took almost two months to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The president added his signature in mid-February 1815. So, the famed Battle of New Orleans being fought after the war was over isn't technically correct as the treaty did not officially go into effect until all parties had signed it.

The Madisons moved out of the Octagon later in 1815 and took residence at a place on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Years later, San Francisco's A1A chapter bought the treaty table at auction and returned it to the Octagon, where it is displayed in what is known today as the Treaty Room. The leather box in which the Treaty of Ghent was delivered to Madison is part of the Octagon Museum collection. I wonder where the original Treaty of Ghent is today?

That's Some History. --Brock-Perry

Temporary White House: D.C.'s Octagon-- Part 3: The War of 1812

The Tayloes referred to the house as the Octagon, even though it only has six sides. The architectural style was part of the new country's tendency to reference traditional forms while developing its own styles.

On August 24, 1814, the British marched into Washington, D.C., and treated themselves to dinner at the White House before setting fire to it and other public buildings. Despite its proximity to the President's House, the Octagon was spared.

]Why?

Possibly because the French Minister, Louis Serrurier, was leasing the house at the time. "The French flag was flying over the residence." Fortunately, the French and British were not then at war as they had been much of the previous twenty years.

After the British left, Madison pledged to rebuild the city and to prove it, took up temporary residence in Tayloe's Octagon. Tayloe was a Federalist and opposed to the war, but nonetheless, offered it to the First Couple. They moved in on September 1814, and Dolley resumed her lavish entertaining that had become so popular.

The Party Continues. --Brock-Perry

Temporary White House: D.C.'s Octagon-- Part 2

Designed by William Thornton, the Federal-style mansion was to be the winter home of Virginia planter and statesman John Tyloe III and, when built, it was the largest and most-stylish home in the new capital city.

Mr. Tyloe was born September 1771 at Mt. Airy plantation overlooking the Rappahannock River in Virginia. He was educated in England and returned to Virginia and oversaw family ventures and was active in the local militia and the Army's Light Dragoons. He was considered one of Virginia's wealthiest men and inherited the plantation.

But, it was very isolated and after considering building in several cities, decided on the new federal capital in the District of Columbia.

In April 1797, he paid $1,000 for a lot at the corner of New York Avenue and 18th Street. He wanted a home large enough to accomodate his large family (15 children), a large staff of servants and for his wife's entertaining. The home's strange dimensions came about because of an acute angle created by the lot's diagonal orientation with New York Avenue and it had a slope as well. This created quite a challenge.

More to Come. --Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Records Now Available Online

From the December 17, 2012, Joplin (Missouri) Globe by Frankie Meyer.

You can now find War of 1812 pension records online at no cost. With the old pension files in such a fragile condition and a great demand stemming from the war's bicentennial, the National Archives and Records Administration has formed a partnership with the Federation of Geneaology Societies and Ancestry.com. This is a similar partnership that worked last year to digitalize the 1940 census.

There are some 7.2 million pages of pension records and so far 414,000 have been digitalized.

You can find more information at preservethe pensions.org.

Digging Deeper Into History. --Brock-Perry

Pearl Harbor, 72 Years Ago

Seventy-two years ago, the Japanese attack on military bases on Oahu launched the United States into World War II. I always observe the anniversary in my blogs. This year, I am giving the name of one American who met his death December 7, 1941, in each of my blogs.

DONALD CLASH, Iron Mountain, Michigan. USS Arizona. His brother James was killed in Germany in March 1945. Imagine their family's grief over losing two sons like that.

Temporary White House: D.C.'s Octagon-- Part 1

From the July/August DAR American Spirit Magazine "The Octagon: An Icon of Democratic Design" by Courtney Peter.

Before this article, I'd never heard of this house or that it had served a s temporary White House for James and Dolley Madison after the British burned much of the city, including the President's House, as the White House was then called.

"The Octagon (not sure why it is not called the Octagon House) has stood at the corner of 18th Street and New York Avenue Northwest in Washington, D.C., for 214 years, yet is best known for a brief period in 1814-1815 when it served as James and Dolley Madison's temporary presidential residence after the British burned a path through the city. Undeniably, the first couple's stay was historically significant-- President Madison signed the Treaty of Ghent, whih officially ended the War of 1812, at the Octagon-- but the home's rich history includes much more than the Madisons."

And, I'd Never Heard of It Before. --Brock-Perry

Fort Mims in Alabama-- Part 3: Jackson Retaliates and the DAR

From the July/August DAR American Spirit Magazine.

Colonel Andrew Jackson mobilized three state militias to attack the Red Sticks. At the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he defeated them, ending the Creek War. This defeat eventually led to the banishment of several Indian tribes to the West on the infamous Trail of Tears.

The modern history of Fort Mims has a lot to do with the Fort Mims DAR chapter of Stockton, Alabama, founded in 1949. Organizing Regent June Whiting Slaughter and her husband Carl were asked by the Alabama Parks and Conservation Department to help clearing brush off land adjacent to their north Baldwin County property where they had been finding arrowheads and pieces of pottery. Charred wood was found that determined the fort's original site.

In the mid-1980s the first battle reenactment was held and this continues. Gregory Waselkov at the University of South Alabama has started a dig at the fort and written a book A Conquering Spirit: Fort Mims and the Redstick War of 1813-1814. Artifacts from the fort will be on display during the anniversary weekend.

We'll probably be driving to Alabama if NIU plays in the Go-Daddy Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, in January. This could be a stop on the way.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Mims in Alabama-- Part 2: Creek-U.S. Tensions and Massacre

Continued from Nov. 30th.

The conditions leading to the Creek Indian War which led to the Fort Mims massacre started even before the War of 1812. In the early 1800s, the Creek Nation numbered between 18,000 and 14,000 primarily inhabiting present-day Alabama and western Georgia. In the years following the American Revolution, Spain, France, Britain and the United States all attempted to gain influence in the region.

By 1805, the Creeks had signed four treaties with the U.S., but animosity between Britain and the U.S. would cause the Creek War which became an extension of the War of 1812. And, of course, another major factor was the continued white pressure to move onto Indian lands.

By early 1813, about 550 settlers and slaves had crowded into the tiny stockade in Tensaw along the Alabama River. On August 30, about 700 warriors from the pro-British Red Stick faction of the Creek Nation attacked the fort, killing hundreds and capturing around 100 slaves, women and children. Only about 36 settlers survived.

--Brock-Perry

Timeline for December 1813-- Part 1: The Burning of Niagara, Upper Canada

DECEMBER 10TH: Burning of Newark.

Major General David Adams burned Nuyaka.

THE BURNING OF THE TOWN OF NIAGARA, UPPER CANADA:

By December 1813, U.S. Brigadier General George McClure was left with only 100 soldiers to defend his base at Niagara. On 10 December, after giving inhabitants little notice, he ordered the destruction of the town and withdrew his men to Fort Niagara, NY.

Elderly and sickly men, women and children were turned out into a fierce winter blizzard. The treasonous "Canadian Volunteers" led by Joseph Willcocks burned the first capital of Upper Canada and pillaged the wretched people.

British and Canadian troops arrived that evening too late to save any buildings but found Fort George in better condition, complete with artillery and camp equipment. McClure had acted against his orders and was forced to resign.

--Brock-Perry

Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron

From the December 18, 2012, Huntington (WV) News "Book Review: 'Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron': The War of 1812 Examined in Readable Detail on Its Bicentennial" reviewed by David M. Kinchen.

I am most interested in the naval aspects of any war so this book would be right up my line.

The book is written by Ronald D. Utt, 528 pages, $29.95. He blames the Royal Navy's impressment actions as the cause of the war. Low estimates put impressment at 2,500 and a high of 25,000 with some 7,500 by the start of the War of 1812.

The Royal Navy faced serious manpower shortages as Britain had been fighting Napoleon and had been at perpetual war for twenty years.

The book covers some land battles, but most of it centers on naval action (that's alright for me). The U.S. Navy had 17 ships at the start of the war that had to fight 500 British warships (though most were involved in the Napoleonic Wars). Utt says the "American courage, gunnery and skill could prove itself against daunting odds."

Signature battle was the USS Constitution vs, HMS Gueriere on August 19, 1812, which made Isaac Hull a national hero (this was actually a very lop-sided battle favoring the Constitution). His uncle, General William Hull, 59, a hero of the Revolutionary War, had surrendered Detroit without much of a fight just three days before the Constitution's victory.

Thomas Jefferson bears responsibility of appointing many of the disappointing American commanders.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Ship Gets a Virginia Marker

From the Nov. 26, 2013, Washington Post "U.S. ship in War of 1812 getting a Virginia marker" by AP.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will dedicate a marker Dec. 3rd in White Stone on Virginia's Northern Neck.

On April 3, 1813, the British overpowered four American privateers. The largest American ship, the Dolphin, fought on after the others had surrendered. It's captain, W.J. Stafford was wounded when the ship was boarded and captured. The Dolphin mounted 12 guns and had a crew of 100.

--Brock-Perry

Tennesseans in the War of 1812

From the Dec. 9, 2012, Knox News "From frontiersmen to Congressen multiple Tennesseans gained war fame" by Steven Harris.

Of course. most famously was Andrew Jackson, but here are some others: Davy Crockett and former Blunt County resident Sam Houston (later somewhat famous in Texas) who was wounded three times at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Knoxville founder James White, a brigadier general in 1813, who led the attack at Hillabees Creek, Tennessee.

Congressman Felix Grundy led the Congressional group called The War Hawks who wanted war with Britain.

General Edmund Gaines of Kingsport, Tn., served on the Canadian border, commanding Fort Erie when it was attcked by British, Canadians and Indians and where the enemy lost over 100 men.

--Brock-Perry

Battle of Credit Island

From the Nov. 11, 2013, Quad-City (Iowa) Times "Researcher talks about 200-year-old battle at Credit Island" by Alma Gaul.

Almost 25 people were at Davenport, Iowa's Credit Island on Nov. 11th as researcher Chris Espenshade of Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group , Inc., hired by the City of Davenport, gave a talk on a very little-known battle in the "Forgotten War."

Around 334 Americans led by future U.S. President Zachary Taylor fought between 20-30 British troops and 800-1200 Indians.

The Americans were outnumbered and retreated to St. Louis.

The battle did not have a big impact on the war, but might have helped bring on the later Black Hawk War in 1832 as Indians feared the continued encroachment of whites into their territory.

Espenshade had been using Zachary Taylor's account of the action as well as two British reports, but is looking for Indian input. He has done some archaeological work but has found no battle-related items. 

--Brock-Perry

Not Much Posted the Last Two Weeks

The laptop did not work for the most part so had to find other alternatives. But, just got back a few hours ago and now have the pc up and running, so will catch up. --Brock-Perry