June, 1814: U.S. General Flournoy ordered Colonel John Bowyer to abandon Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point.
July 1814: U.S. Navy Commodore Patterson of New Orleans sailed to Dauphin Island to assist a stranded cargo ship. The Royal Navy was already beginning their naval blockade of the mouth of the Mississippi and was using Dauphin Island as a camp on their supply line.
July 20, 1814: A committee of Mobile citizens appealed to General Jackson to restore Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point.
RESOLUTION DELIVERED TO GENERAL JACKSON BY LIEUTENANT CONWAY
HIS EXCELLENCY
MAJOR GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON
Commanding the 6th and 7th
Military District
HICKORY GROUND
(ed. note: The following quotation was on the outside of the envelope when it was delivered to the War Department in Washington. It is Jackson's endorsement in his handwriting.)
"The memorial of the citizens of the Town of Mobile, to be answered with assurances of every protection, that the means within my power will afford, that the abandonment of Mobile Point was by the order of the secratary of war. The remonstrance, has been forwarded to the secratary of war with the appropriate remarks. The remonstrance to be forwarded to the secratary of war as above."
At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Mobile convened at the dwelling house of Josiah Blakeley Esquire on Wednesday the 20th July 1814, for the purpose of taking into consideration the perilous situation of affairs in this section of the Territory.
Josiah Blakeley Esq. was called to the Chair,
and M. McKinsey was appointed Secretary
On motion of Joseph P. Kennedy, seconded,
That a committee of Five be forthwith appointed to draft a memorial to his Excellency Major General And. Jackson explanatory of the defenseless and awful situation of this quarter of the Territory- the ill-advised abandonment and evacuation of Mobile Point, and the withdrawal of the Gunboats from the Bay of Mobile- praying his Excellency's relief thereupon
which motion was unanimously agreed to
Whereupon the President appointed Colonel Hinson Powell and Messieurs Kennedy, Robertson and McKinsey, as a Committee to draft said memorial and dispatch the same tomorrow morning by Lieut. Conway
A true Copy of the Original
Mobile 20th July 1814
M. McKinsey
Secretary
August 1814: General Andrew Jackson ordered the restoration of Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point.
Saturday, August 13, 1814: Vincent Gray, a native of Massachusetts who made his living as a cotton merchant in Havana, wrote a letter of U.S. Secretary of State James Monroe describing the Royal Navy's secret campaign to capture New Orleans. Gray received this information from the conversations British Colonel Nicolls had with citizens in Havana. Gray wrote three letters: one to Secretary of State Monroe, one to Governor Claiborne in New Orleans delivered by way of Captain Jean Lafitte and one to James Innerarity, the head of John Forbes and Company in Mobile and head of the Mobile town council.
August 22, 1814: Jackson arrived in Mobile on the same day American Commodore Joshua Barney scuttled his fleet of gunboats in the Patuxent River in Maryland while being pursued by the British coming from the Chesapeake. In Mobile, Jackson met Major William L. Lawrence before the Major embarked for Mobile Point with 160 men to restore the defense of Fort Bowyer.
August 22, 1814: The 65 ton schooner, Speedwell (probably about 63 feet long), was captured by the British on the Patuxent River in Prince George County, Maryland at the same time that U.S. Commodore Joshua Barney scuttled his U.S. Navy gunboats in the same river. In February of 1815, the Speedwell was at Dauphin Island serving as a tender for Admiral Malcolm's HMS ROYAL OAK. It also held a Royal Navy sailor as a prisoner because he refused to participate in the New Orleans Campaign. On February 17, 1815, this sailor who claimed to be an American, Archibald W. Hamilton, was released at Dauphin Island from the Speedwell by the British.
August 27, 1814: At 5 P.M. on this Saturday afternoon, James Innerarity, first President of the Mobile Town Council, handed General Andrew Jackson two letters, one written by Innerarity's brother, John, in Pensacola and another one written by cotton merchant, Vincent Gray, in Havana. Both letters described in detail the Royal Navy's plan to capture New Orleans and the fact that the Royal Navy's ships had anchored in Pensacola and that British troops were occupied forts around the town.
"...but for this intelligence so fortunately and singularly given, New Orleans, would most probably have fallen without a battle, and without a renowned hero to grace its history." ~ from the journal of R.K. Call who had kept this information a secret for over 40 years because it would have been harmful to the Innerarity brothers' business interests in Great Britain.
September 3, 1814: Captain Percy of the HMS Hermes delayed the attack on Ft. Bowyer on Mobile Point so that Captain Lockyer of the HMS Sophie could sail from Pensacola to Barataria Bay to contact Lafitte and attempt to enlist the Baratarians for the British cause. This proved that New Orleans was the ultimate target of the British Expeditionary Force.
September 10, 1814: Colonel Nicolls and his Royal Marines embarked from Pensacola aboard the HMS Childers for an attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point.
September 11, 1814:The HMS Sophie captained by Nicholas Lockyer returned to Pensacola from their mission to Barataria to meet Lafitte..A few days' previous, she had chased a Baratarian privateer and seized its prize, a Spanish ship, which was manned by some men from the Sophie to go to Pensacola. On the way, the Spanish ship grounded at Dauphin Island and the Americans at Ft. Bowyer captured the ship and crew. Gen. Jackson proceeded to hold the Spanish crew members hostage for an earlier raid on Mobile.
U.S. Captain MacDonough won a great naval victory over the British on Lake Champlain.
September 12, 1814: The HMS Childers disembarked the Nicolls and his Royal Marines 9 miles east of Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point. They were armed with a 5.5 inch howitzer and were joined by refugee Red Sticks and fugitive slaves who had been recruited into the Colonial Marines.
September 13, 1814: General Andrew Jackson sailed toward Fort Bowyer on Mobile Bay but is stopped by Americans in a boat bound for Mobile near the mouth of Mobile Bay and informed that the British amphibious attack on Fort Bowyer had begun. Jackson's boat turns around and sails back to Dog River. These Americans prevented Jackson from sailing directly into the British naval fleet off Fort Bowyer.
September 15, 1814: British Colonel Nicolls, Royal Marines and newly recruited fugitive slaves and refugee Red Sticks failed to win their attack on Fort Bowyer at Mobile Point. The HMS Hermes ran aground, caught fire and exploded. This defeat was fatal to British prestige. It alienated the Spanish, scattered their Indian recruits and increased American confidence in General Jackson.
Thursday 15 September 1814
HM Sloop Childers
At anchor off Mobile Bay
Raining at Noon
Light winds & fine
2.15 weighed and made sail in the following order: Hermez[sic] Sophie Carron Childers
2.30 Hermez Gint
3 Fort on Mobile Point commenced firing at Hermes which she returned at 3.30-3.45 Sophie opened her fire wind light and variable made all sail
4.20 Carron aphirsid her broad side
4.45 came to luistal that from the Fort with the Brot Bower with ossiings rraced to half a cable comissicar and and lrifit info kroney fire on the fort
fire from the fort going dark 5.45 Hermes gone
6 man and action the boats ready to bord and Hermes drifting out.
6.10 Hermez Gint
To rescue the crew Hermes aground to the south of the fort
6.45 guasend facing out the cables and made sail fathom off auch with the small Bow 5 fins Fort North 2 miles
7.30 Boats returned all 4 the min being removed from the Hermes recd to evacuated men and 38 of the Creek. Obsd the Hermes in flames. Supplied the following provisions to Marines and Indians on sh for order bread 826lbs rum gallons beef 2 barrels twenty seven lbs eight lbs each pork two barl fifty
At 11 Hermes blew up
LINK TO ALL FOUR BRITISH SHIPS THAT FOUGHT IN THE FIRST BATTLE OF FT. BOWYER. http://archive.today/hDwA
Private James Rose of the Woolwich Division deserted on 18 September 1814 from Pensacola, just after the first attack on Fort Bowyer. Private Charles Butcher, a labourer from Switzerland, was the sole fatality from Nicolls's detachment at the attack on Fort Bowyer on 18 September 1814. Ship-borne casualties were:
HMS Hermes 17 killed in action, 5 died of wounds, 19 wounded
HMS Sophie 6 killed in action, 4 died of wounds, 12 wounded
HMS Carron nil killed in action, 1 died of wounds, 4 wounded
All of these 69 casualties from the battle are named in Admiral Cochrane's letter to the Admiralty dated 7 December 1814 which is in the correspondence file, UK National Archives reference ADM/1/505.
September 17, 1814: The Royal Marines and Indians, returning to Pensacola during their retreat from Mobile Point, raided the Forbes and Co. stores and mills at Bon Secour.
On the same day, Admiral Cochrane on the Chesapeake, received a secret July 29th letter from Lord Melville authorizing an attack on New Orleans. Cochrane on board the HMS Tonnant sailed the same day for Halifax, Nova Scotia, leaving Rear-Admiral Malcolm to continue leading the blockade and the attacks against Americans on the Chesapeake. (page 119 of HOW BRITAIN WON THE WAR OF 1812)http://books.google.com/books?id=qr1v7O0KKioC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
September 20, 1814: Following the sounding of reveille, approximately 180 of the nearly 500 men at Fort Jackson(located near present-day Wetumpka) deserted and marched for Tennessee, "yelling and firing their guns".General Jackson had the six ringleaders of this rebellion executed by firing squad in Mobile on February 21, 1815. http://www.pipkinusa.org/philipmilitia.txt
September 21, 1814: General Jackson issued a proclamation from Mobile to all free men of color in Louisiana. "As sons of freedom you are now called upon to defend our most inestimable blessing... To every noble-hearted freeman of colour volunteering to serve during the present contest with Great Britain, and no longer, there will be paid the same bounty in money and lands, now received by the white soldiers of the United States."
October 10, 1814: Jackson writes Secretary Monroe that "My undivided attention and all my disposeable force have been employed to place Fort Bowyer in, a complete state of defence. I have sent to new Orleans for heavier guns, and hope to have them well mounted, in a few days, on the battery of the fort. Major Lawrence has succeeded in raising from the wreck of the Hermes, 11 32 lb. carronades, and one 12 lb. Carronade. He expects to be able to recover the rest of her guns. This Fort, when completed, together with the ship now on the stocks at Tchefoneti (which I would recommend to be finished), well manned, and armed with long 24 and 32 pounders, would effectually protect the Bay, and of course the Town of Mobile. These points being thus safe, the troops now kept here to cover them, might be disposed of for other purposes. I beg leave to refer to my former letters as to the necessity of having possession of Pensacola, and confidently hope to receive instructions relative thereto."
November 13, 1814: General Jackson returned to Mobile from his capture of Pensacola.
Tuesday, November 22, 1814: General Jackson left Mobile on horseback, accompanied by only three or four other soldiers including his Adjutant General, Robert Butler, his aide-de-camp, Major John Reid and Major Howell Tatum, his chief topographical engineer. They traveled slowly for ten days to make a reconnaissance of the coast between Mobile and New Orleans. On this same day, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Forester Inglis Cochrane, RN, arrived at Negril Bay in Jamaica aboard his flagship, HMS Tonnant, and began assembling the British Expeditionary Force that would attempt to capture New Orleans.
Details of General Jackson's ride from Mobile to New Orleans may be found in Major Howell Tatum's Journal http://archive.org/stream/majorhowelltatum07tatuuoft/majorhowelltatum07tatuuoft_djvu.txt
December 5, 1814: Six Tennessee militiamen were court martialed for exciting mutiny of the troops at Fort Jackson on September 20. This mutiny occurred because of confusion over the time of enlistment. Men who enlisted on June 20 believed their tour of duty ended after three months on September 20. Unfortunately, they were incorrect.
December 9, 1814: (from Judge Alexander Walker's book "Jackson and New Orleans)
"The pilots, who have accompanied the fleets from the
West Indies, have announced that the land is not far
off and all parties are on deck, eagerly straining their eyes for a view of the desired shore. There, in the distance, they soon discover a
long, shining white line,
which sparkles in the sun like an island of fire.
Presently it becomes more distinct and substantial
and the man at the look-out proclaims 'land ahead'.
The leading ships approach as near
as is prudent and their crews, especially the land
troops, experience no little disappointment at the
bleak and forbidding aspect of Dauphin Island,
with its long, sandy
beach, its dreary, stunted pines, and the entire
absence of any vestige of settlement or cultivation.
Turning to the west, the fleet avoids the island and
proceeds towards a favorable anchorage in the
direction of the Chandeleur islands, the wind in the
meantime having chopped around and blowing
too strong from the shore to justify
an attempt to enter the lake at night.
"As the Tonnant and Seahorse pass near to Dauphin
Island, the attention of the Vice-Admiral
is called to two small vessels,
lying between the island and the
shore. They are neat little craft, sloop-rigged, and
evidently armed. They appear to be watching the
movements of the British ships and when the latter
take a western course, they weigh anchor and
follow in the same direction.
At night-fall the signal
'to anchor' is made from the Tonnant and the order
is quickly obeyed by all the vessels in the squadron."
"The suspicious little sloops, as if in apprehension
of a night attack of boats, then press all sail and
proceed in the direction of Biloxi Bay. They prove to be the United States gunboats No. 23, Lieutenant
McKeever, (afterwards Commodore McKeever) , No. 163,
Sailing Master Ulrick, which had been detached from
the squadron of Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones
(later the Commodore Jones
who ran up the first American flag at Monterey,
California, in 1847), who had been sent by Commodore
Patterson with six gunboats, one tender, and a
despatch boat, to watch and report the approach
of the British. In case their
fleet succeeded in entering
the lake, he was to be prepared to cut
off their barges and prevent the landing of the
troops. If hard pressed by a superior force, his
orders were to fall back upon a mud fort, the Petites Coquilles, near the mouth of the Rigolets and shelter his vessels under its guns.
"The two boats which had attracted the notice of the
British Vice-Admiral, joined the others of the
squadron that night near Biloxi. The next day,
the 10th of December, at dawn,
or as soon as the fog cleared off,
Jones was amazed to observe the deep water
between Ship and Cat Islands where the current flows,
crowded with ships and vessels of every calibre and
description. The Tonnant having anchored off the
Chandeleurs, the Seahorse was now the foremost ship.
Jones immediately made for Pass Christian with
his little fleet, where he anchored,and quietly
awaited the approach of the British vessels."
January 22, 1815: General Jackson signed the order for the executions of the six Tennessee militiamen who were found guilty of exciting mutiny at Fort Jackson on September 20, 1814.
Saturday, February 4, 1815: The weather improved and the larger British men-of-war and the larger troop transports received orders to sail to the lower(southern) anchorage off the Chandeleur Islands and the shallow draft vessels which included smaller men-of-war and troop transports were ordered to sail to the upper(northern) anchorage near Ship Island. This was done in anticipation of the ships of the lower anchorage taking the outer passage in the Gulf to the mouth of Mobile Bay and the ships of the upper anchorage taking the inner passage through the Mississippi Sound. Admiral Malcolm took command of the ships of the upper anchorage.
Monday, February 6, 1815: The ships of both anchorages weighed anchor and sailed east toward Dauphin Island. All of the troops on board the ships on the outer passage except the ones to be used in the attack on Ft. Bowyer were ordered to land and occupy the eastern point of Dauphin Island the next morning.
Map of the Second Battle of Fort Bowyer from LaTour
February 12, 1815: The Americans formally marched out of Fort Bowyer and stacked their arms. The British flag was raised over Mobile Point.
[from the Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith]
AFTER the Army was somewhat refreshed, an attempt on Mobile was resolved on, for which purpose the fleet went down to the mouth of Mobile Bay. Here there was a wooden fort of some strength, Fort Bowyer, which some time previously had sunk one of two small craft of our men-of-war which were attempting to silence it. It was necessary that this fort should be reduced in order to open the passage of the bay. It was erected on a narrow neck of land easily invested, and required only a part of the army to besiege it. It was regularly approached, and when our breaching batteries were prepared to burn or blow it to the devil, I was sent to summon it to surrender. The Americans have no particular respect for flags of truce, and all my Rifle education was required to protect myself from being rifled and to procure a reception of my flag. After some little time I was received, and, upon my particular request, admitted into the fort, to the presence of Major Lawrence, who commanded, with five Companies, I think, of the 2nd Regiment. I kept a sharp look-out on the defences, etc., which would not have resisted our fire an hour. The Major was as civil as a vulgar fellow can be. I gave him my version of his position and cheered him on the ability he had displayed. He said, "Well, now, I calculate you are not far out in your reckoning. What do you advise me to do? You, I suppose, are one of Wellington's men, and understand the rules in these cases." "This," I said, "belongs to the rule that the weakest goes to the wall, and if you do not surrender at discretion in one hour, we, being the stronger, will blow up the fort and burn your wooden walls about your ears. All I can say is, you have done your duty to your country, and no soldier can do more, or resist the overpowering force of circumstances." "Well, if you were in my situation, you would surrender, would you?" "Yes, to be sure." "Well, go and tell your General I will surrender to-morrow at this hour, provided I am allowed to march out with my arms and ground them outside the fort." "No," I said, "I will take no such message back. My General, in humanity, offers you terms such as he can alone accept, and the blood of your soldiers be on your own head." He said, "Well, now, don't be hasty." I could see the Major had some hidden object in view. I said, therefore, "Now, I tell you what message I will carry to my General. You open the gates, and one of our Companies will take possession of it immediately, and a body of troops shall move up close to its support; then you may remain inside the fort until to-morrow at this hour and ground your arms on the glacis." I took out pen and ink, wrote down my proposition, and said; "There, now, sign directly and I go." He was very obstinate, and I rose to go, when he said, "Well, now, you are hard upon me in distress." "The devil I am," I said. "We might have blown you into the water, as you did our craft, without a summons. Good-bye." "Well, then, give me the pen. If I must, so be it;" and he signed. His terms were accepted, and the 4th Light Company took possession of the gate, with orders to rush in in case of alarm. A supporting column of four hundred men were bivouacked close at hand with the same orders, while every precaution was taken, so that, if any descent were made from Mobile, we should be prepared, for, by the Major's manner and look under his eyebrows, I could see there was no little cunning in his composition. We afterwards learned that a force was embarked at Mobile, and was to have made a descent that very night, but the wind prevented them. We were, however, perfectly prepared, and Fort Bowyer was ours.
A portion of a watercolor of Fort Bowyer found in the Pulteney Malcolm papers at the University of Michigan. It was reprinted in Gene Allen Smith's article, DEFEAT AT FORT BOWYER, in the Summer 2014 issue of ALABAMA HERITAGE http://www.alabamaheritage.com/issue-113-summer-2014.html
February 13, 1815: British Admiral Cochrane at Dauphin Island wrote General Jackson of the reception of news that peace had been declared.
Captain Sterling of the HMS Brazen arrived at the anchorage of the British fleet off of Dauphin Island with news that a treaty of peace had been signed by the two countries on December 24th in Ghent.
[from the Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith]
In a few days after the capture of this fort the Brazen sloop-of-war arrived with dispatches [14 Feb.] The preliminaries of peace were signed, and only awaited the ratification of the President, and until this was or was not effected, hostilities were to cease. We were all happy enough, for we Peninsular soldiers saw that neither fame nor any military distinction could be acquired in this species of milito-nautico-guerilla-plundering-warfare. I got a letter from my dear wife, who was in health and composure, with my family all in love with her, and praying of course for my safe return, which she anticipated would not be delayed, as peace was certain. I for my part was very ready to return, and I thanked Almighty God from my heart that such fair prospects were again before me, after such another series of wonderful escapes.
Pending the ratification, it was resolved to disembark the whole army on a large island at the entrance of Mobile Bay, called Isle Dauphine.62 This was done. At first we had great difficulty in getting anything like fresh provisions; but, as the sea abounded with fish, each regiment rigged out a net, and obtained a plentiful supply. Then our biscuit ran short. We had abundance of flour, but this began to act on the men and produce dysentery. The want of ovens alone prevented our making bread. This subject engrossed my attention for a whole day, but on awakening one morning a sort of vision dictated to me, "There are plenty of oyster-shells, and there is sand. Burn the former and make mortar, and construct ovens." So I sent on board to Admiral Malcolm to send me a lot of hoops of barrels by way of a framework for my arch. There was plenty of wood, the shells were burning, the mortar soon made, my arch constructed, and by three o'clock there was a slow fire in a very good oven on the ground. The baker was summoned, and the paste was made, ready to bake at daylight. The Admiral, dear Malcolm, and our Generals were invited to breakfast, but I did not tell even Sir John Lambert why I had asked a breakfast-party. He only laughed and said, "I wish I could give them a good one!" Oh, the anxiety with which I and my baker watched the progress of our exertions! We heard the men-of-war's bells strike eight o'clock. My breakfast-party was assembled. I had an unusual quantity of salt beef and biscuit on the table, the party was ready to fall to, when in I marched at the head of a column of loaves and rolls, all piping hot and as light as bread should be. The astonishment of the Admiral was beyond all belief, and he uttered a volley of monosyllables at the idea of a soldier inventing anything. Oh, how we laughed and ate new bread, which we hadn't seen for some time! At first the Admiral thought I must have induced his steward to bake me the bread as a joke, when I turned to Sir John and said, "Now, sir, by this time to-morrow every Company shall have three ovens, and every man his pound and a half of bread." I had sent for the Quartermasters of Corps; some started difficulties, but I soon removed them. One said, "Where are we to get all the hoops?" This was, I admit, a puzzle. I proposed to make the arch for the mortar of wood, when a very quick fellow, Hogan, Quartermaster of the Fusiliers, said, "I have it: make a bank of sand, plaster over it; make your oven; when complete, scratch the sand out." In a camp everything gets wind, and Harry Smith's ovens were soon in operation all over the island. There were plenty of workmen, and the morrow produced the bread.
The officers erected a theatre, and we had great fun in various demi-savage ways. Bell, the Quartermaster-General, dear noble fellow, arrived, and a Major Cooper, and, of some importance to me, my stray portmanteau. I was half asleep one morning, rather later than usual, having been writing the greater part of the night, when I heard old West say, "Sir, sir." "What's the matter?" "Thank the Lord, you're alive." "What do you mean, you old ass?" "Why, a navigator has been going round and round your tent all night; here's a regular road about the tent." He meant an alligator, of which there were a great many on the island. The young ones our soldiers used to eat. I tasted a bit once; the meat was white, and the flavour like coarsely-fed pork.
In this very tent I was writing some very important documents for my General; the sandflies had now begun to be very troublesome, and that day they were positively painful. I ever hated tobacco, but a thought struck me, a good volume of smoke would keep the little devils off me. I called my orderly, a soldier of the 43rd, and told old West, who chawed a pound a day at least, to give him plenty of tobacco, and he was to make what smoke he could, for of two evils this was by far the least. The old Peninsular soldiers off parade were all perfectly at home with their officers, and he puffed away for a long time while I was writing, he being under my table. After a time he put his head out with a knowing look, and said, "If you please, sir, this is drier work than in front of Salamanca, where water was not to be had, and what's more, no grog neither." I desired West to bring him both rum and water. "Now, your honour, if you can write as long as I can smoke, you'll write the history of the world, and I will kill all the midges."
The ratification at length arrived [5 March], and the army was prepared to embark. Sir John Lambert, Baynes his Aide-de-camp, and I were to go home in the Brazen sloop-of-war, with a Captain Stirling, now Sir James, who was ultimately the founder of the Swan River Settlement. A more perfect gentleman or active sailor never existed: we have been faithful friends ever since. As many wounded as the Brazen could carry were embarked, and we weighed with one of our noble men-of-war.
As soon as the word was given, we sailed to the Havannah for fresh provisions.
A watercolor of Fort Bowyer found in the Pulteney Malcolm papers at the University of Michigan. It was reprinted in Gene Allen Smith's article, DEFEAT AT FORT BOWYER, in the Summer 2014 issue of ALABAMA HERITAGE http://www.alabamaheritage.com/issue-113-summer-2014.html
February 15, 1815: The Treaty of Ghent arrives in Washington, D.C.
February 16, 1815:http://www.hnoc.org/BNO/bno_timeline.html
The United States and Great Britain exchange ratifications of the Ghent Treaty in Washington, thus officially ending the War of 1812.
February 17, 1815: After receiving confirmation that peace had been declared, the British released their American prisoners held in the ships anchored off Dauphin Island. British used this truce as an opportunity to ship supplies from Dauphin Island to their Indian and Negro allies on the Apalachicola.
A man who claimed to be an American serving in the Royal Navy, Archibald W. Hamilton, came to be released from his confinement at Dauphin Island on February 17. He had been held a prisoner on the schooner SPEEDWELL, a boat from Prince George County Maryland that was captured Aug. 22, 1814 in the Patuxent River at the same time Commodore Barney scuttled his U.S. Navy convoy to avoid capture. Hamilton claimed to be an American who volunteered to be a sailor in the Royal Navy in 1809 because he wanted to learn the maritime trade. He served until he found out they were trying to capture New Orleans and so he was imprisoned on the Speedwell which had been converted by Admiral Malcolm into a tender for the HMS Royal Oak. The reason we have so much documentation is that the Hamilton filed a claim for compensation FROM THE U.S. CONGRESS plus George Biscoe, the original owner of the Speedwell used a Hamilton deposition for his own compensatory claim to the Congress. Of course, the Congress turned Hamilton down.
February 19, 1815: British Major-General John Lambert wrote Jackson that he had informed Edward Livingston,then with the British fleet at Dauphin Island, that the British were ready to exchange the Fort Bowyer prisoners and the Battle of Lake Borgne prisoners who had just been returned to Dauphin Island from Havana where they had been held since their U.S. Navy ships had been captured on December 14.
February 21, 1815: Six of the Tennessee militiamen are shot to death by firing squad three miles southwest of the town of Mobile near the bay shore. They were ordered to be executed by a court martial that found them guilty of inciting a general mutiny of all of General Jackson's troops.
February 27, 1815: British Major-General John Lambert wrote Jackson a letter from his headquarters on Dauphin Island telling Jackson that he would cordially receive any slave masters claiming their slaves and that he would be "very happy if they can be persuaded all to return, but to compel them is what I cannot do...."
March 5, 1815: News of U.S. ratification of THE TREATY OF GHENT arrived on Dauphin Island.
From Parton's LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON, pages 304 and 305
...the opening fortunes of the
British were suddenly closed by an event which
occurred on the 13th, just two days after
the surrender of Fort Bowyer.
On that day Mr. R. D. Shepherd(ed. note:aide
to Commodore Patterson) was standing on the
deck of the TONNANT conversing with Admiral Malcolm
, a gentleman of the most amiable and genial
manners, when a gig approached,
with an officer, who coming aboard the
TONNANT presented to
the admiral a package. On opening and reading
the contents, Admiral Malcolm took off his
cap and gave a loud hurrah.
Then turning to Mr. Shepherd, he seized his hand
and grasping it warmly, exclaimed,
" 'Good news!
Good news! We are friends. The BRAZEN has just
arrived outside with the news
of peace. I am delighted !'"
adding, in an under tone, " ' I have hated this war from the beginning.' "
March 15, 1815: Americans returned British prisoners of war to the Royal Navy at their headquarters on Dauphin Island. This was also about the first time that religious services were provided for British troops since they had been deployed to North America.
March 31, 1815: British troops begin to get on board ships anchored off Dauphin Island in anticipation of a voyage to Havanna to pick up supplies for a trans-Atlantic voyage.
April 4, 1815: British embark from Dauphin Island. Many departing British ships sail either to St. Marys/Fernandina or to New Providence Island, Bahamas. From those ports, troops made their way home, generally by way of the Bermuda. The retreat of the British Expeditionary Force from Dauphin Island resulted in hundreds of fugitive slaves from the area around the Northern Gulf of Mexico being disembarked as freed "Refugee Negroes" on Nova Scotia and Trinidad.
posted by robertoreg at 6:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home