On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain in this Act (ARC 299950). The war would last for two years and include the invasion of Canada, battles with Native Americans, dueling ships on the high seas, and the burning of the Washington, DC, by British troops. One battle even inspired a now-famous song: do you know which battle and which song?
The War of 1812 in the "West," as Ohio and Indiana were called back then.
Navigating the Records from The War of 1812 Dec 7, 2022 by Allen County Public Library on YouTube The Genealogy Center From bounty land to pensions, there are no shortage of genealogical records for soldiers from The War of 1812. Learn why these records were created, how to make sense of them, and what those records can contain for your ancestors. Presented by Brian Rhinehart. Brian Rhinehart is a professional genealogist and speaker and is the owner of CivilWarRecords.com He is a graduate of Boston University’s Certificate of Genealogy Research and the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (GenFed) in Washington DC. A direct descendant of six Civil War soldiers, Brian specializes in research and record retrieval for Civil War and War of 1812 soldiers at the National Archives in Washington DC and has retrieved military files for hundreds of clients there. Handout: https://static.libnet.info/frontend-i...
A replica of a cannon that would have been used during the War of 1812.
For many years, just inside the History Center, sat a familiar artifact for many Fort Wayne residents; a cannon, mounted upon a wooden carriage, pointed out of the entrance as if it were defending the other artifacts inside the museum. This cannon, crafted in Scotland in 1776 by the Carron Company, has a long-attributed history. The cannon has been reported to have been taken from the British after their defeat by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie, and as a result has often been used as a monument to the War of 1812. However, based on the available information, the “Perry Cannon” is probably not one of the guns captured by Perry at Lake Erie. While this object is certainly familiar to most visitors to the museum, most in Fort Wayne do not realize just how familiar a sight it has been over the course of our city’s history. The cannon was owned by Franklin P. Randall and used as a hitching post outside of his home at the corner of Lafayette and East Berry. Following his death, it was given to the city as a memorial to the War of 1812 and it resided in Hayden Park. It remained in there until 1930, when it moved to Swinney Park. In 1960, an authentic replica gun carriage was created, and placed upon a cement pad near the Swinney House Museum. Director David Drury, 1965 to 1973, is pictured with the cannon and a group of schoolchildren in front of the Swinney House Museum in 1965. In 1980, the Historical Society closed its museum at the Swinney Homestead and reopened in its current location at Old City Hall in October of that same year. During this time, the cannon was moved to Historic Fort Wayne and set up outside the visitor center. In 1994, the “Perry Cannon” was removed from the fort and taken to the Old City Hall Museum, where the cannon rested in the same spot for over a quarter century. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was removed from display to allow for proper social distancing. For over 150 years, the “Perry Cannon” has captured the imagination of Fort Wayne residents. Although its connection to Commodore Oliver Perry or the Battle of Lake Erie can be questioned, its legacy as a moving monument to the War of 1812 cannot. #sociallyhistory
Siege of Fort Wayne
When we are taught about the War of 1812 in school, most of the focus is placed on the burning of Washington D.C. by the...
When we are taught about the War of 1812 in school, most of the focus is placed on the burning of Washington D.C. by the British. Little attention is given to the battles waged in the former Northwest Territory, with Fort Wayne amongst the list. Fort Wayne, in northeast Indiana Territory, had fallen into disrepair in the years leading up to 1812. As a frontier outpost, Captain James Rhea had allowed many of the buildings to deteriorate and the walls, once strong enough to withstand cannonballs, had not been properly maintained. Although there was a good well inside the fort, the food stores had gotten low by September. The siege of Fort Wayne began on September 5, 1812 and it lasted until September 12th. During the siege a Native American force, comprised of local tribes, burned all the cabins, outbuildings and crops located outside the fort, and laid waste to the farm of William Wells. The fort’s commandant, Captain James Rhea, lost control of the garrison, due to his alcoholism, and Lieutenants Daniel Curtis and Philip Ostrander took command for the remainder of the battle. On September 10, General William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, arrived with his 2,500 soldiers to relieve the siege, at which time the opposition disappeared. Today the History Center marks the 208th anniversary of the beginning of the weeklong Siege of Fort Wayne. #sociallyhistory
Mid-August, 1812 Colonel Johnston asks for the women and children to be brought from Fort Wayne to Piqua. Among the...
Mid-August, 1812 Colonel Johnston asks for the women and children to be brought from Fort Wayne to Piqua. Among the women are Ann, Rebecca, and Mary Wells, and the wives and children of Antoine Bondie, William Bailey, and Stephen Johnston. He calls on Johnny Logan and sends letters to the commander of the fort with him to prove the request is legit. Their conference was a night. Logan says he will not sleep until it is done and will die in the attempt if necessary.
August 20th, 1812 – Antoine Bondie warns Benjamin Stickney of an imminent attack on Fort Wayne. The Potawatomie Metea has warned Bondie because of his wife who is Miami. Stickney warns Capt. Rhea, who does not listen. Bondie and Stickney take refuge in the fort.
In September 1786, Captain Benjamin Logan of Kentucky captured a young Indian boy about the age of 14 during a raid across the Ohio River on the Machachac Tribe towns of the Shawnee Nation. He made him a part of his family, where he stayed several years until he was permitted to return to his native land. He was ever afterwards known by the name of Logan. Logan was elevated to a civil Chief on account of his many estimable qualities, both intellectual and moral. Logan was married and had two children. From the period of his residence in Kentucky to the time of his death, Logan was the unwavering friend of the United States. Immediately after the declaration of the war against England in 1812, he joined the American service, acting as a guide for General Hull’s march to Detroit. After Hull’s surrender, he was employed by the Indian Agent John Johnston to help evacuate the women and children from Fort Wayne when it was under threat. They were removed to within the inhabited portions of Ohio. The siege of Fort Wayne was lifted by the combined force of Kentucky and Ohio troops under the command of General William Henry Harrison.
Information on Captain Logan courtesy of Richard Rozevink.
September 5th, 1812 (app.) The siege of Fort Wayne begins in earnest. Worthington reaches Piqua
Harrison receives information that a British party of 140 men and four hundred Indians had left Malden on August 18 with the ultimate purpose of attacking Fort Wayne. He determines to go to the relief of Fort Wayne and encourages Winchester to either follow or head for Detroit. Harrison sends nine hundred choice men to join the mounted men of Ohio at St. Mary’s to relieve Fort Wayne. He only awaits ‘sufficient cartridges and muskets’ before joining them. Harrison ordered that the troops should prepare for a rapid march to the ‘front’, all heavy baggage to be left behind (in Piqua). He calls for the Kentucky mounted volunteers to hurry from Kentucky and Cincinnati to follow him. Harrison gives a speech. One of the men declines to go. He is plunged ‘in the waters’ by which his fellows’ absolve him of obligations of courage and patriotism, and then give him leave of absence.” Harrison writes to Meigs and asks for additional troops, lamenting that he had not ‘sufficient fixed ammunition for half the troops within (his) reach.’
Crawford's defeat : a tale of the frontier in 1812 by the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1954, on Archive.org.
FOREWORD During the early days on the Midwestern frontier, especially during the War of 1812 and the concurrent Indian warfare, terror was easily spread through settlements and villages by rumors of nearby redskins. Raids were frequent, and the horrors of Indian warfare made even the boldest men fear for their lives and for the lives of their loved ones. But even in the midst of danger, a practical joke was not unappreciated. Such was the setting for the following incident, retold in the INDIANA STATE GAZETTE of November 19, 1829.
George Croghan by Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County, 1953, on Archive.org.
FOREWORD George Croghan, an officer in the W^r of 1812, typifies the patriotism, the bravery, and the gallantry of the young American of that period. At the age of twenty-one, he was in temporary command of the garrison at Fort Wayne for a brief time. His excellent record in the defense of Fort Defiance and Fort Meigs earned him the command of Fort Stephenson (the present site of Fremont, Ohio). His intelligent and valorous defense of the fort against overwhelming odds touched the imaginations and thrilled the hearts of the American people. His later life was uneventful; he served as United States postmaster at New Orleans and as inspector general in the regular army. He saw action under General Taylor in the Mexican War and died of cholera in New Orleans in 1849. The following account of Croghan's early life, compiled by a woman who had known him as a boy, appeared in the supplement appended to Volume VII of the NILES' WEEKLY REGISTER. The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County reprint this biographical sketch in the hope that it will prove interesting and entertaining to students of local history. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation have been changed to conform to current usage.
A soldier's life on the western frontier in 1813 Publisher Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society, 1953, on Archive.org.
FOREWORD The following letter, written by an anonymous author to an unknown correspondent, vividly depicts the life of an American soldier on the western frontier during the War of 1812. Reprinted from the WEEKLY REGISTER, this letter might have been written by a twentieth-century soldier, for the experiences, hopes, and fears of this enlisted man in the early nineteenth century are similar to those of an American serviceman of our own day. Hardships, sufferings, and dangers are illustrated; but good will, respect for authority, and companionship are present in no lesser degree. The letter is reprinted as published except that grammar, spelling, and punctuation have been changed to conform to current usage.
William B. Northcutt Journal, online at the Kentucky Historical Society, posted and discussed December 22, 2017 by the Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Indiana on Facebook says this relates Old Historic Fort Wayne history. He was from Bourbon County, Kentucky, his 257 page diary is an autobiographical account of his life up to the War of 1812, the bulk of the diary is 1812-1813 during his time with Captain Garrard's Light-Dragoons.
War of 1812 Indiana Muster, Pay and Receipt Rolls at the IUPUI University Library Digital Collection states: This collection consists of Muster, pay and receipt rolls of Indiana territory volunteers or militia of the period of the War of 1812. They are in the form of four oversized bound volumes of photostats made by Leet Brothers Co. in 1926 from information in the U.S. Adjutant General's Office. According to the following note, "The U.S. Adjutant general states that these records do not include the names of soldiers of the regular army of the U.S. and member of the U.S. Rangers who enlisted from Indiana territory. The names listed...include Justices of the Peace, administrators, administratrices, clerk of court, witnesses, widows, attorneys, substitutes, etc."
The four physical volumes digitized here reside in the collection of the Genealogy Division, Indiana State Library. An Index was created by Genealogy Division staff and bound into Volume 1. The Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Indiana - Male descendants of good moral character and reputation proving lineal descent
from an American participant of the War of 1812 are eligible for membership.
National Society United States Daughters of 1812 - founded in 1892 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political, women’s service organization for descendants of patriots who aided the American cause during the War of 1812.
We LOVE the War of 1812 Pension Files! Here are a few things you might find in these rich records: 1- family bible pages, 2- service information, 3- maiden or birth name of spouse, 4 - names and birthdates of children. We are adding new files each week. Check out the collection here: War of 1812 Pension Files
This is where the magic happens. Here is one of the digitization stations at the National Archives where we are working...
This is where the magic happens. Here is one of the digitization stations at the National Archives where we are working to digitize the War of 1812 Pension Files. It will take us at least another year to complete this project, but we've made it to the letter "S" and are about 86% done. Check out our blog to see what you can learn from a pension file: What Can You Learn From the War of 1812 Pension Files
When the Cornfields Ran Red with Blood Uncovering Indiana's Role in the War of 1812 by Jacob Herr on Vocal.Media.com. It has lots of interesting references including "Fort Wayne, Gateway of the West, 1802-1813" by Bert J. Griswold.
