A Prisoner of the British-- Part 1

"A Prisoner of the British: The Journal of a Prisoner of War in the War of 1812" by Benjamin Waterhouse.  Friendly Press, 2010, 260 pages.

This is an account originally published in 1816 with the rather long title of "A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, Late a Surgeon on Board an American Privateer Who Was Captured at Sea by the British."  This was an account of the author's experiences.

He was first held at Melville Island, Halifax, then on a prison ship in Chatham, England.

One account I have read had Major Watson, who is buried here in McHenry County and whom I have written about in other entries, both here and in my Cooter's History Blog as he was also a Revolutionary War veteran., being held there.    Click labels to find out his interesting history.

--Brock-Perry

Dartmoor Prison in Britain-- Part 5: After the War of 1812

Dartmoor Prison was closed, but reopened in 1851 as a civilian prison and operated until 1917 when it became the Home Office Work Centre for conscientious objectors during World War I.  It reopened in 1920 containing some of Britain's worst offenders.

The Dartmoor Mutiny occurred on 24 January 1932, when inmates took over the prison.

In 2001, Dartmoor was converted into a Class C prison for less violent offenders and continues to operate to this day.

--Brock-Perry

Dartmoor Prison in Britain-- Part 4: The Americans Rebel

On April 4, 1815, problems began with a food contractor attempting to pass off damaged hardtack for soft bread.  This helped touch off an insurrection which the prison's commandant suspected to be a cover for a breakout.

On the 6th, a hole was discovered from one of the five prisons to the yard and fighting commenced.  Some 60 people were wounded, 30 of them seriously.  Seven Americans died, including a 14-year-old.

A memorial has since been erected to the 271 American POWs (mostly died of diseases) buried on the prison grounds.

--Brock-Perry

Dartmoor Prison in Britain-- Part 3: Impatient Americans

From 1813 to March 1815, some 6.500 American sailors were imprisoned at Dartmoor.  They were both naval prisoners and impressed Americans seamen who had been discharged from British vessels for refusing to fight.

Even though this was a British prison and they were in charge, these inmates had a lot of say concerning what went on there.  They had their own government and culture.  Courts meted out punishment.  There was even a market, theater and gambling room.

About 1,000 of them were black.

The prisoners heard about the Treaty of Ghent and expected immediate release, but the British refused parole until the U.S. government ratified the treaty (which happened on 17 February 1815.  It took several weeks for the Americans at home to procure ships for prisoner transport home and this is when problems began.

--Brock-Perry

Dartmoor Prison in Britain-- Part 2: Built to House French Prisoners

Construction on the new prison at Dartmoor started in 1808 and took three years to complete.  In 1809 the first French prisoners arrived and were later joined by American POWs from the War of 1812.  At one point, there were more than 6,000 prisoners at Dartmoor.

Many died and were buried on the moor.

Both wars ended in 1815 and repatriations began.  After the last ones left, Dartmoor remained empty until 1850.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: End of the "Shipbuilders' War"

I would have written about this yesterday, but we had no internet after the storms of Thursday.

American Commodore Isaac Chauncey and General Jacob Brown visit Kingston, Upper Canada.  They visit Commodore Sir Edward Campbell Rich Owen at the site of Britain's main naval establishment on the Great Lakes and home port of the Lake Ontario Squadron.

The trip cumulated with a social gathering aboard the British flagship, the ship-of-the-line HMS St. Lawrence after which Chauncey was honored with a 13-gun salute.

The event symbolized the end of the "Shipbuilders' War" on Lake Ontario and presaged the demilitarization of the Great Lakes formalized by the 1817 Rush-Bagot Agreement which continues to this day.

--Brock-Perry

Dartmoor Prison in Britain-- Part 1: The Need for a New Prison

From Wikipedia.

HM Prison Dartmoor.

Still a prison rated Category C, located in Princetown, County of Devon.

In 1805, the British were at war with Napoleonic France and many prisoners were captured.  Many of these were house in "hulks" which were derelict ships.  This was an unsafe situation due to the ships' close proximity to the Royal Navy Dockyard at Devonport called Plymouth Dock.

In addition, the living conditions on those hulks were horrible.

A new prison was planned for remote Dartmoor.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: The Dartmoor Riots

APRIL 6, 1815:  American naval prisoners, mostly from privateers or pressed men who refused to fight against the United States, riot in Dartmoor Prison in Southwest Great Britain.

Frustrated in the delay of the repatriation and harsh living conditions, the unruly prisoners of war are fired on by British guards.  Seven Americans are killed and 31 wounded.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Madison, Iowa-- Part 3: Preservation

Early settlers built their homes around the former fort and a town grew up, taking the fort's name.  A large monument was erected in the 20th century on the fort's former location.

An archaeological excavation in 1965 exposed the fort's central blockhouse and the foundations of the officers' quarters.  These were now under the parking lot of the Scheaffer Pen Company.

It was listed on the NRHP in 1973 and a replica fort was built several blocks away with much of the labor coming from Iowa State Penitentiary inmates.

The Fort Madison site is now the subject of preservation efforts and buying the land is a great start.

----Brock-Perry

Fort Madison, Iowa-- Part 2: War of 1812

The Army set out to build a fort near the mouth of the Des Moines River and the first one built was originally called Fort Belleview, but was poorly located and attacked by Indians often.  Several times, they laid siege to it before the War of 1812.  After the war began, the Indians again laid siege to it in September 1812 when Black Hawk claimed that he had shot down the fort's flag.

As the war expanded, the British-allied Sauk Indians and other tribes determined to push the Americans out and reclaim the Upper Mississippi River for themselves.

Beginning in July 1813, they attacked the fort and again laid siege to it..  It went on for weeks before the Americans defending the fort decided they had to abandon it.  They succeeded in the dark by way of a trench to the river where they boarded boats and made good their escape.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Madison, Iowa-- Part 1: Where and What Is Fort Madison

From Wikipedia.

The Original Fort Madison 1808-1813.

The City of Fort Madison, Iowa, located in the southeastern corner of the state, was built around the former United States fort.  It was the first United States permanent fortification built on the Upper Mississippi River.

Named after the 4th President of the United States, James Madison, it was the site of Chief Black Hawk's first battle against United States troops and the only real War of 1812 battle fought west of the Mississippi. In addition, it is the site of the first of the first U.S. military cemetery in the Upper Midwest.

Fort Madison was one of three posts established by the U.S. Army to control the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and built to regulate trade and pacify the Indian tribes of the area.  The other two were Fort Bellefontaine, near St. Louis, built to control the mouth of the Missouri River, and Fort Osage near present-day Kansas City.

--Brock-Perry

Friends of Old Fort Madison Set to Purchase Battlefield in Iowa

From the March 26, 2015, KHQA, Iowa News.

Fort Madison, Iowa.

The friends of Old Fort Madison have agreed to purchase a War of 21812 battlefield in Fort Madison.

This is accomplished partly because of a $50,000 deal struck with the Archaeological Conservancy organization, a preservation group that has historical sites throughout the United States.

The original Fort Madison was completed in 1811 near the former site of the Sheaffer Pen Company factory.

--Brock-Perry

Nearly Life-Size Replica of the HMS General Hunter Being Built-- Part 2

Recovery efforts have been led by Ken Cassavoy.

Bruce County has set aside $100,000 over a three-year period to help cover the HMS General Hunter exhibit and gun deck.

Visitors will be able to walk on the ship's deck and get a sense of history.  When finished, the deck will be forty feet long, sixteen feet short of the original 56 feet,

--Brock-Perry

Nearly Life-Size Replica of HMS General Hunter Being Built-- Part 1

From the January 15, 2012, Owen Sound (Canada) Suntimes "HMS General Hunter" by Willy Watertown.

A nearly life-size replica of the ship is being built at Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton to mark the 200th anniversary of the ship and the War of 1812.  It is expected to take 24 volunteers six months to complete the brig's battle-ready deck, complete with a towering mainmast.

The museum also has a General Hunter and War of 1812 exhibit scheduled to open June 19th.

The General Hunter was built in 1806 at Amherstburg and was used as a provincial marine transport and took part in several War of 1812 actions.  It was wrecked during a storm on the Southampton Beach in August 1816, while an American ship.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 5

In an 1816 letter from a U.S. general said that two boats were sent to salvage whatever they could and then set fire to whatever remained.

What was left after that was eventually covered by sand and forgotten.

The oak hull is in good shape.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 4

At the Battle of Lake Erie, six British ships, including the General Hunter, engaged nine American ones and all were captured.

While in American hands, it is unclear if the General Hunter ever saw action again, but it did serve as a transport and the name was shortened to just Hunter.

Further research has shown that in 1816, the Hunter sailed from Michilimackinac to Detroit when it encountered a violent storm on Lake Huron and was thrown off course.  Its crew of eight, fearing for their lives "put the helm hard a weather and run her in head foremost: onto Southampton Beach.

Everyone aboard, including two passengers, survived.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 3

Part of a musket was found, a bayonet, an officer's walking stick, a wooden deadeye used in the ship's rigging and pieces of a shoe.  Also 194 ceramic shards from plates, cups, saucers, soup bowls and a tankard.

They eventually determine the ship wreck to be that of the HMS General Hunter.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 2

There was confusion as to what ship's remains had been found.  At first it was thought the shipwreck found on shore might be that of the merchant schooner Wenzell lost in 1798.

Preliminary examination of the remains in 2001 and 2002 revealed a mast step, a bracket to secure a mast to the bottom of the boat.  Also, 472 stones, weighing 10,246 pounds used a s ballast were found.

There was a full excavation in 2004.  because of its proximity to the water, a berm was built, but it collapsed and a second stronger one managed to hold Lake Huron's waters back.  Two hundred volunteers spearheaded by the Southampton Marine Heritage Society worked on the remains.

They found it to have been built of oak, 54 feet long at the keel and 18-foot wide with two masts.

In addition, they found a small cannon, 4 cannon balls that would have been used by larger pieces and military buttons from the Royal Newfoundland regiment.

More to Come.  --Brock-Perry

War of 1812's HMS General Hunter-- Part 1

From the Jan. 20, 2012, The Star (Canada) "War of 1812 fighting vessel HMS  General Hunter came to rest in Southampton, Ontario" by Kenneth Kidd.

There is a threadbare flag of red, white and blue of the British Red Ensign with the Union Jack at top and in the left-hand corner and surrounded by a sea of red is on loan from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.  And, it is no small flag either.  It is 8-foot by 10-foot, but was shortened at some point by four feet when a linen backing was put on it.

It was a war trophy, captured by Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie.  It was the flag flying on the HMS General Hunter that day.  Three years later, the ship was run ashore near Southampton's downtown in the midst of a bad storm.

In 2001, low water on Lake Huron and retreating ice exposed the tips of the General Hunter (also referred to as the Hunter).

At first, no one was sure what ship it was as there are some fifty other shipwreck sites in the area.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Hunter/General Hunter

From Wikipedia.

The Hunter was a ten gun brig manned for 45 crew.  Launched in 1812, it covered the British attack on Fort Shelby (by Detroit).

It was a part of the squadron Commander Robert Heriot Barclay led into the disastrous Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813 and was captured.

It was lost while serving the United States in 1816 in Lake Huron near the town of Southampton, Ontario,.  The wreck was discovered on the beach under sand in 2001.

--Brock-Perry