February 1813 Stories

First Edition Published October 28, 2015

Second Edition Published September 30, 2016

Third Edition Published November 7, 2018

February 1, 1813

In Fort William

Jonathan Daily of Elizabethtown, Leeds County, was detained at Fort William and confined by the British while in the possession of a double sleigh and harness, a pair of horses, a cutter and harness, a mare’s saddle, and a large chest of carpenter’s and joiner’s tools.  In 1815, he made a claim for the loss of these articles, which had not been returned to him after his release.  The claim was rejected as Jonathan was in the act of crossing over to the enemy at the time of his arrest.^[1]

Fort William was a North West Company fur trading post created in 1803 on Lake Superior, the present location of the City of Thunder Bay.[2]

February 3, 1813

In Quebec

            Earlier, Captain Hull, the senior officer of the Provincial Navy on Lake Erie, had submitted queries to the Marine Department to the Commander of the Forces.  On this date, the minutes of the commander’s decisions were written in Quebec.

            The hiring of additional ship’s carpenters was approved at the increased pay of five shillings per day with a limit of thirty men.

            All able-bodied seamen on the Lakes were to receive increased pay from eight to ten dollars per month during the war.  Ordinary seamen were to still receive eight dollars.  The daily pork ration was increased by four ounces.  Wives and children of seamen were to receive the same rations as those of soldier’s.

            The daily rates of pay of commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers were to be:

Rank                                      Shillings, Pence

Captain                                  15, 6

Master and Commander     10, 6

1^st Lieutenant                       7, 0

2^nd Lieutenant                      5, 0

Master                                    6, 0

Surgeon                                10, 6

Assistant Surgeon               7, 6

Purser and Clerk                  5, 0

Boatswain                             3, 6

Gunner                                  3, 6

Carpenter                              4, 0

Clerk and Steward               2, 6

Master’s Mate                       2, 6

Boatswain’s Mates and Gunner’s Mates were to received twelve dollars per month.

            Officer’s uniforms were to be the same as those of the Royal Navy and the highest rank in the Marine was to be commander.

            Slop clothing for sailors was to be approved by Major General Sheaffe.

            Prize money from captured American vessels had not yet been settled.

            Mr. Richardson, the garrison mate and barrack master at Amherstburgh was appointed surgeon to the Provincial Marine on Lake Erie and was to resign his other two positions.

            Mr. M.S. Green, a master’s mate and acting lieutenant, was appointed as a second lieutenant.

            The new thirty-gun ship being built at York was to be called the “Sir Isaac Brock.”[3]

In Halifax, Nova Scotia

            In Halifax the conversion rate was five shillings to the dollar.  Seamen had pay deductions for food and uniforms.

February 5, 1813

From Amherstburg to Fort George

            Lieutenant Robert Land of the 5^th Lincoln Militia commanded a detachment of twenty-six men while escorting American prisoners from Amherstburg to Fort George.[4]

February 10, 1813

From York to Amherstburg

            Ensign David Kerns of the 5^th Lincoln Militia commanded a detachment of eighteen men until the 18^th, while transporting stores from the Town of York to Amherstburg.[5]

February 22, 1813

The British Raid on Ogdensburg, New York

            Fort Wellington was built on land owned by Colonel Edward Jessup UE in Prescott on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River about a mile from Ogdensburg.  Edward Jessup had founded the Town of Prescott in 1784.

            The fort became a mustering point for the local militia and in 1813 was a base for the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles.  On this day, Lieutenant Colonel George Macdonell, commander of the light infantry, led about 500 men onto the frozen river for a drill.  The men were then ordered to proceed to Ogdensburg where they attacked the American military base there and four American vessels that were frozen in the river.  The British took some prisoners and plundered the town of provisions, ammunition, and cannons.[6]

            Captain John Jenkins lead one of the companies across the river.  He had to abandon his sleigh-mounted six-pounder artillery piece as it became stuck in a snow drift.  As they advanced into American artillery fire, the captain was struck in the left arm by an iron ball from their grape-shot.  He continued to lead the advance but was then struck in the right arm.  After being evacuated back to the Upper Canadian shore, his left arm was amputated.  He later wrote that the wounded suffered poor conditions in the hospitals and that room temperatures varied from freezing cold to over heated.  After his recovery, John Jenkins returned to Fredericton, New Brunswick.

            Lieutenant Philip Empey of the Stormont Militia laid in the hospital near to Captain Jenkins and was recovering from the amputation of his right leg.

            Of the seven killed and forty-five wounded that day in the British force, six of the killed and thirty of the wounded were Upper Canadians.[7]

            After the raid, the people of Ogdensburg became opposed to the stationing of American troops in their town.  The lack of a military presence also opened up the opportunity to sell supplies and food to the British across the river.

            Edward Jessup had received money for the land Fort Wellington was built on but the British had used his remaining property adjacent to the fort throughout the war and his heirs made war loss claims for those losses after the war.  The British had occupied the land and buildings on the estate, removed fences, orchards, about 4500 trees, a barn, and a house, and quarried stone from the property.  By 1824, Colonel Edward Jessup and his son Edward Jr. had both passed away and the colonel’s daughter-in-law Susannah Jessup continued the appeal for recompense.  She expressed her need for a prompt resolution to the claim as she had 7 young children to support.[8]

February 28, 1813

In Ancaster Township

            Benjamin Smith of Ancaster Township took nineteen bushels of wheat to Hatt’s, eighteen bushels to the Union Mill, and seven bushels to Hatt’s mill.  Jesse helped him thrash wheat on his farm.  On the first Sunday, he and his wife Nancy went to Peter Gordon’s and to Hotail Lee’s.  On the 9th, he went to a mill and Hotail’s where he saw some prisoners.  On the 11th, he went to a burial and Nancy, his wife, had a son born.  The child died two days later and was buried on the following day, a Sunday.  Wheat was cleaned, wood was cut, and the windmill was turned during that week.  On the 27th, Mother Gordon died and he took more wheat to Samuel Hatt’s.  The following day, a Sunday, Mrs. Gordon was buried.[9]

            Who was Hotail Lee?

Sources:

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[1] Collections Canada, War of 1812, Board of Claims and Losses, Microfilm t-1126, pages 399-405.

[2] Fort William, Ontario, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William,_Ontario, accessed October 28, 2015.

[3] Montreal Herald, Sept. 19, 1812, page 5, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=bFI3QPDXJZMC..., accessed Feb. 14, 2018.

[4] Collections Canada, War of 1812:  Upper Canada Returns, Norminal Rolls and Paylists, RG9, Militia and Defence, Series 1-B-7, Microfilm t-10386, page 1081.

[5] Collections Canada, War of 1812:  Upper Canada Returns, Norminal Rolls and Paylists, RG9, Militia and Defence, Series 1-B-7, Microfilm t-10386, page 924 & t-10387, page 502.

[6] Fort Wellington, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Wellington, accessed April 2, 2016.

[7] Robert Henderson, The Myth of the “Militia Myth”, The Dorchester Review, Spring/Summer 2013, https://www.dorchesterreview.ca/blogs/news/79434113-the-myth-of-the-militia-myth-news, accessed Apr. 13, 2018.

[8] Collections Canada, War of 1812, Board of Claims and Losses, Microfilm t-1139, pages 318-388.

[9] Benjamin Smith’s Diary, Benjamin Smith Fonds F582, Ontario Archives, Toronto, Ontario.