In 1814 We Took A Little Trip

     In April, 1959 the popular song, The Battle of New Orleans¹ by Johnny Horton topped the charts.  I was in eighth grade at the time and loved singing this song.  Even today if this song comes on the radio I will start singing. (Assuming that I am in the car alone.)

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

     Based on the War of 1812 records, James Legget was in Perkins' Battalion of the Mississippi Militia.  This battalion participated in the real Battle of New Orleans
     He was certainly part of the battalion at the time of the battle.
     Doesn't it make you wonder if he caught any alligators after the cannons melted down?


1. Driftwood, Jimmy, Battle Of New Orleans 1957

SEPT 10, 1813 - Did Peter Picket fight with Commodore Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie?

Commemorative Bicentennial Flag
Gift from Linda Platt

View from Perry's Monument in the general direction of the Battle of Lake Erie

     Today is the bicentennial of the Battle of Lake Eire.  Did Peter Picket fight with Commodore Perry in that battle? 
     My first clue about Peter Picket was found on page 324 of The History of Union County, Ohio¹, in a bio about his son Barton H. Pickett.  I discovered this county history on my first trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

"Peter Pickett [Picket], was a native of Dutchess County, N. Y.; he went as a sailor boy when eighteen, and followed the water for thirty years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, under Commodore Perry, and, participated in the battle of Lake Erie, where he was seriously wounded. He died January 13, 1854, aged seventy-four years. His mother, Elizabeth Mills, was born in Montgomery County, Md. , and moved to Harrison County, Ohio, with her parents, Elias and Nancy (Harris) Mills, when she was eighteen years old; she died October 31, 1857."  

    So I have an ancestor who may have fought with Commodore Perry during a critical time in history.  But can this be proven?      
    So far I have been able to verify that Peter and Elizabeth were indeed married in 1818 in Harrison County, Ohio and that she was the daughter of Elias and Nancy Mills.  All four of them are buried in Moorefield, Harrison, Ohio.
     But verifying that part about fighting with Commodore Perry has proven more difficult.  The timeline of 'followed the sea for thirty years' just doesn't match up with other dates. A recent trip the the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial on South Bass Island didn't help prove what I was hoping.  His name does not appear on any of the brass plaques at the monument.  His name does not appear in Deep Water Sailors Shallow Water Soldiers².  Several books indicate that the known records are incomplete.  There were sailors who fought in the battle but did not make it into muster rolls.       
     So did Peter Picket sail with Commodore Perry and fight during the Battle of Lake Eire?  Was he injured in this battle?  I know that not everything in county histories is true but I also know that new records are being discovered in archives so I will continue the quest to prove or disprove the county history.  So the answer as of now is "I don't know".   But I won't give up the hunt.       
  

1. Durant, Pliny A. The History of Union County, Ohio. Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1883. http://archive.org/details/historyofunionco00dura (accessed July 29, 2013).

2. Altoff, Gerard T. Deep Water Sailors Shallow Water Soldiers. Put-in-Bay, Ohio: The Perry Group, 1993.

Elisha Gates - Not the Only Volunteer

Elisha Gates (1789-1863)

     After the Raisin River Massacre, Kentucky Governor Isaac Shelby called for 1500 volunteers to avenge the deaths of the Kentuckians.  On July 31, 1813 over twice as many volunteers showed up near Cincinnati, Ohio.  Some Kentuckian showed up with knives and no guns.  Some were on foot and others on horseback.  
     Governor Shelby had a big task ahead to organize, arm, and feed over three thousand men.  The first few weeks of August 1813 were spent in southern Ohio organizing the army.  The task of organizing and outfitting the militia actual consumed a significant portion of the scheduled enlistment period.
     Elisha Gates became a Private in the Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia¹. He was assigned to serve in Captain Presley C. Smith's Company, commanded by Colonel James Simrall.



1. Clift, G. Glenn. Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812. Frankfort, Kentucky: Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, 1891

Elisha Gates - Answering the Call

     Elisha Gates' tombstone indicates that he was born on June 3, 1789. But the earliest known records are a collection of papers in the Maryland, Probate and Guardianship Files.¹
      These records state that Elisha and his sister, Elizabeth were orphaned around 1800.  Their parents are shown to be James T. and Mary Gates.  The estate maintained ownership of the Plantation Anchovy Hills containing at least 150 acres in Maryland.  By 1806 it appears that Joshua Mudd is their guardian and they are living in Kentucky.  
     In any case Elisha was in Kentucky when the call from Governor Shelby went out for volunteers to avenge the Massacre at the River Raisin. He gathered up his rifle and horse and answered the call. 
     Below is one of the 47 pages in the Guardianship File of Elisha and his sister.

1. "Maryland, Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XXFC-PPB : accessed 28 July 2013), Elisha Gates, 01 Jan 1800

Remember the River Raisin

From the Library of Congress¹

    One cause of the War of 1812 was the need for land.  As American settlers moved west the Native-American tribes were being squeezed out.  The frontiersmen needed land and a method for transporting goods to market.  The fight was for land and control of the waterways.

     A major battle in the war was fought in the northwest in what is current day Michigan. The battle was near Frenchtown, along the north bank of the River Raisin. This is now River Raisin National Battlefield Park, part of the National Park System.  (http://www.nps.gov/rira/index.htm)

     Between January 18 and January 23, 1813 three hundred ninety-seven Americans, many from Kentucky were killed.  Some of those killed were massacred some time after being captured by the Indians.  As a result a battle cry went out and was heard all over the frontier.  "Remember the Raisin." 

    On July 13, 1813 Governor Issac Shelby of Kentucky put out a call for fifteen-hundred volunteers to march north in order to avenge the deaths of fellow Kentuckians.  He called for these volunteers to meet at Newport, Kentucky on July 31st.  Newport lay just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

     One of those who answered the call was Elisha Gates, my ggg-grandfather.  

1. Lewis, Samuel. Library of Congress, "A correct map of the seat of war." Last modified 1812.  Accessed July 28, 2013. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3711s.ct000770