The most recent newsletter for the Iowa Society, The Federalist, is now posted. Here’s a link:
The Federalist (Volume 1, Issue 2)
In it you will find short articles about War of 1812 event logos, a recap of the recent Salisbury House History Series program attended by several society members, two War of 1812 ships lying at the bottom of Lake Ontario, and an ancestor profile of Private Thomas Triggs.
On Thursday, April 4, 2013, a lecture about a recent War of 1812 book will be given at the Salisbury House.
Event Details (from the Salisbury House website):
Join us for a lecture presented by one of today’s most compelling authors. Pulitzer Prize winner, Alan Taylor, will speak about his recent book, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies.
The doors open at 6:45 pm for a wine reception, and the lecture begins at 7:30 pm.
The History Series at Salisbury House is made possible through the generous support of Harry Bookey, Pamela Bass-Bookey and Fred and Charlotte Hubbell. Accommodations provided by the Butler House on Grand.
*Note that there is a $10 ticket fee. You may register online at the link above.
General James Wilkinson: Valor For Sale
When the War of 1812 started that June the United States Army had a 55 year old Revolutionary War veteran as its commander in chief. General James Wilkinson certainly had an impressive list of accomplishments to his credit but he had as many or more questionable actions on that same resume. Large among them was his very recent involvement in the conspiracy of former Vice-President Aaron Burr. Burr who had travelled west after his lethal duel with Alexander Hamilton in 1804 was put on trial for his alleged attempt to seize control of a large parcel of land in the Louisiana Purchase which included New Orleans. General Wilkinson who was the Commander in Chief of the United States Army and Governor of Louisiana had only recently met with Burr in New Orleans.
The chief witness for the prosecution was none other than General James Wilkinson himself who could produce nothing on the witness stand but confusion and unanswered questions. In the end Burr was acquitted and Wilkinson’s involvement was seriously questioned but never followed up on as the prosecuting attorney was later rumored to be in political debt to Wilkinson.
General Wilkinson returned to New Orleans and continued in his capacity there with many complaining of his secret business ventures and heavy handed governorship. It was also during this time that Wilkinson continued his long association with Spanish authorities. In fact General James Wilkinson had sworn loyalty to the King of Spain as early as 1788 and encouraged the Spanish to make the region of Kentucky where he lived at the time a part of their colony. The Spanish saw the benefit of having an agent high up in the new American government and paid a handsome pension to their new subject referred to in correspondence as Agent 13.
James Wilkinson took money as Agent 13 for many years and fed information to the Spanish all that time as well. Chief among his information was how to keep the Americans from getting control of their lands in Florida. During this time after the Revolutionary War and up until the War of 1812 James Wilkinson was accused of many things by many people. It was also during this time that he continued to serve in the US military and used political clout to move up often criticizing others and lauding his own accomplishments.
By 1811 President James Madison had heard enough and put General Wilkinson up on charges but they could not be substantiated and he was acquitted. When the War of 1812 erupted James Wilkinson was the Commander in Chief of the Army but he did very little to organize or prepare the army for war.
In 1813 General Wilkinson was sent north to the St. Lawrence River Valley to lead the American Army north into Canada. The campaign was marked by sickness and poor planning and after encountering stubborn British and Canadian resistance General Wilkinson fell back for the winter. His last action was in March 1814 when he moved his army of 4,000 men north to capture the lightly garrisoned blockhouse at Lacolle River. Despite the odds the small garrison fought the Americans spiritedly until help arrived and they repulsed Wilkinson’s Army.* An inquiry had already started in regards to the failed St. Lawrence Campaign the previous fall and this debacle sealed General Wilkinson’s fate.
General James Wilkinson was relieved of command and he spent the last years of his life refuting the long list of allegations that followed him. He passed away in December 1825 while in Mexico working on another one of his ventures.
Submitted by: Louis A. Zenti Jr.
*Note: The Battle of Lacolle Mills fought on March 30, 1814 resulted in 154 American casualties including a young Captain Adam Larabee of the 2nd US Regiment of Light Artillery. Captain Larabee though severely wounded recovered and married with his son William Larabee coming to Iowa and becoming Governor. Governor Larabee donated many of his father’s belongings to the Iowa Historical Society including the coat his father was wounded in on that day in March 1814.
GSW1812 member Don E. Stout is passionate about restoring the Old Rose Hill Cemetery in Mahaska County, Iowa. Many of the earliest pioneers and settlers in the county are among those buried there. Don first became interested in the cemetery following the death of his mother and his retirement from the United States Postal Service in 2004. Maintenance of the cemetery grounds had suffered for many years due to limited funding and a lack of younger volunteers to help with the physical work required.
Located near Rose Hill in rural Mahaska County, the cemetery fence lines had become overgrown with brambles, brush, and fallen trees. Trash and old floral arrangements littered the perimeter of the cemetery. The grounds had deteriorated to the point where the cemetery association was no longer able to sell new burial plots because of the overgrowth. Don became a member of the Old Rose Hill Cemetery Association Board of Directors in 2009 and was elected President of the Association soon after. He immediately set about recruiting several younger volunteers and Board members to help get the cemetery grounds back in shape.
To date, the fence lines have been cleared of brush and fallen trees. Scrub trees that had grown up along the fences are being cleared in preparation for the repair of the existing fences. Vegetation that had grown wild in the cemetery has been removed revealing new grave markers previously unseen. Don has also undertaken several new Board of Director initiatives. He drafted and worked to implement new Association By-Laws and General Cemetery Policies. With the help of his son, Don, a new website for the cemetery was created (www.oldrosehillcemeteryassociation.org). The website features original founding documents and cemetery history, announcements, current and vintage pictures, a list of veterans and a link to Findagrave.com where every burial in the cemetery and a picture of each headstone can be found. Early on, Don had ensured that everyone known to be buried in the cemetery had a memorial and picture on Findagrave.
He recently completed an extensive genealogy research project for everyone buried in the cemetery to ensure there was basic birth, death and family information on their Findagrave memorial.
Don, whose parents, grandparents, gr-grandparents and gr-gr grandparents are all buried in Old Rose Hill Cemetery, continues to travel there several times a year from his home in West Des Moines to work with other volunteers. He is a firm believer in the importance of remembering those that came before and the sacrifices they made to ensure the freedoms and prosperity we enjoy today.
Pictured above L-R are ORHC Association Board members and volunteers Tyson Stout, Barry Stout, Don D. Stout and Don E. Stout. The men were in Old Rose Hill Cemetery to spend the day cutting trees and burning brush. They are shown at the grave of their ancestors George Washington Stout and his wife Mary Moore Stout. G.W. Stout settled in Mahaska County in 1855 after leaving his home in Union County, Ohio.
Members of the Society of the War of 1812 were on hand this past Sunday (June 24, 2012) to help honor the memory of Abraham “Abel” Galland at a small pioneer cemetery in northwestern Shelby County, Iowa.
Abel Galland was born in the State of New Jersey. He served in the War of 1812. Abel came to Kanesville with the Mormons in 1846. In the fall of 1846, Abel followed an Indian trail, northeast of Kanesville, now eastern Council Bluffs, parallel to the Mosquito Creek, to a location called “Six Bee Tree Grove” just north of the present day Manteno Park. Since the pioneers, in place of sugar, used honey, trees in which bees store honey were highly prized.
In 1847, Abel returned to Kanesville with a wagon load of honey after the local people heard about the trees, honey and the opportunity for religious freedom, they followed him back to the Galland’s Grove area.
In 1848, Abel Galland and his son-in-law, William Jordan, built the first log cabin in Shelby County. Abel died June 22, 1857. Abel is buried in Gallands Grove. ~ Copied from the program for The Abel Galland Memorial Cemetery Unveiling
Volunteers headed by Ron Chamberlain of the Western Iowa Pioneer Cemetery Association (WIPCA) and others in the local area have spent countless hours in researching the location of this little cemetery – located in a field behind where early pioneer settlers came to worship – and working to find and mark graves, clean up the area and erect a fence and brick path. Their hard work was “unveiled” on a hot Sunday afternoon to a large and happy crowd including direct descendant Roger Galland and his wife Virginia who traveled from Utah to attend the ceremony.
Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Iowa members Mike Rowley, Danny Krock and Dan Rittel took part in the ceremonies and our member-of-the-year Ron Rittel was also in attendance and took some of these pictures.
Dan Rittel, also a member of WIPCA, acted as master of ceremonies. Danny Krock and Mike Rowley (Rowley in War of 1812 uniform) stood with the honor guard from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, of which both Krock and Rowley are also members, for a veteran’s headstone dedication after the official unveiling of the cemetery by WIPCA. Also present were honor guards from the following American Legion Posts: Defiance/Westphalia Post #707, Dunlap Post #224, Earling Post #615, Elk Horn Post #322, Panama Post #601, and Portsmouth Post #547.
For his part, Mike Rowley read the Proclamation from the City of Dunlap and short biographies of four veterans of the War of 1812 buried in Harrison County, Iowa, that was prepared by the Harrison County Genealogical Society.
The event was very well attended by local residents, representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Community of Christ Church and several members of the Crandall and Roundy families who had gathered that weekend for a large family reunion. After the ceremonies, guests were treated to ice cream (provided by Blue Bunny) and cookies and lemonade or iced tea provided by WIPCA volunteers.
More pictures of the event can be seen on the Facebook page for the Abel Galland Memorial Cemetery.
Just two days before the 200th Anniversary of President James Madison’s signing of the Declaration of War against Great Britain, which occurred on June 18, 1812, the Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Iowa was honored as General Society President General Lawrence Casey presented our Charter in a joint meeting with the Iowa Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Ron Rittel was named Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Iowa “Member of the Year” (our first!) for his countless hours of research and organization in attempting to track down as many War of 1812 veterans as possible who lived and are buried in the State of Iowa. To date, we are aware of over 480 veterans buried here in Iowa.
The joint meeting with the Sons of the American Revolution was held on Saturday, June 16, at the Gold Star Museum on the grounds of the Iowa National Guard’s Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa. Participating was Iowa SAR member Senator Charles Grassley who was kind enough to join us for a picture.
More pictures can be seen on our Facebook page by clicking here. Thank you to Mary Rittel for the photography.
Now and then we get a picture sent to us of a headstone found in an Iowa cemetery marking the final resting place of a War of 1812 veteran. It really isn’t all that surprising of a find – our society historian has documented well over 400 War of 1812 veterans buried here in the State of Iowa. Many of these pictures are posted in our Facebook album. Today, I received an email from Robert Shields of the Fairbank Iowa Historical Society with a photo and short story about Harvey Harford, a veteran of both the War of 1812 and the American Civil War.
Here is the story …
Along with 2012 being the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War it is also the 200 year anniversary of the start of the War of 1812. Surprisingly there are quite a few veterans of that war who later moved to Iowa. There is one that we found that lived in the Fairbank area. Harvey Harford. Harvey also served in the Civil War in the Virginia Infantry.
Harvey Harford was born in Orange County, New York, in 1796, he moved to Lake County, Illinois, in 1848, and to California in 1849 Harvey returned and located in this county in 1854. He married Miss Ann McManners, January 1, 1824; she was born in Rutland County, Vermont, in 1795. They have two children — Peter B., born Feb. 19, 1831 and Cynthia D., born June 24, 1834. He owns 166 acres of land, worth $30 per acre. Mr. Harford is one of the old heroes of the war of 1812, being a soldier under General Brown, of the United States force, in Capt. Marsh’s Company; even at his advanced age, he retains the bearing of a once brave and fearless soldier. Mrs. Harford died in 1877. (Page 667, 1878 History of Fayette County, Iowa)
On 15 June 1855 John Steggall and Harvey Harford together bought 120 acres in Buchanan County and 240 acres in Fayette County. Harvey also served in the Civil War in the Virginia Infantry. (Page 667, 1878 History of Fayette County, Iowa)
On 3 January 1864 he enlisted in Company F 22nd Virginia Volunteer Infantry at camp Gauley West Virginia and mustered 23 January 1864 at the age of 68 years. Harvey mustered out in the spring of 1865. (Iowa Civil War Soldier Burial Records)
Harvey died 2 October, 1880 and is buried in the Oren Township Cemetery, Lot 71.
Thank you, Robert, for the photo and research!
There is a Memorial Day weekend event planned at Old Fort Madison as posted on www.fortmadison-ia.com.
Remembering the Fallen: Old Fort Madison’s Bicentennial Memorial Dedication
10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Join the staff and volunteers of Old Fort Madison for a living history weekend dedicated to remembering those that gave their lives at Fort Madison between 1808 and 1813. Re-enactors representing both sides of the War of 1812 will be demonstrating their weapons, drill, clothing, equipment and living conditions. On May 28, there will be a memorial and interpretive sign dedication at the replica site in Riverview Park, as well as a display of artifacts (including an original uniform) uncovered by the Office of the State Archaeologist of Iowa and walking interpretive tour of the original site. Old Fort Madison is located in Riverview Park, Fort Madison, Iowa.
Sounds interesting!
Thank you, Council Bluffs and Mayor Hanafan for the War of 1812 Bicentennial Proclamation!
This makes seven proclamations received so far. If your town mayor would consider making a similar proclamation, we would be happy to have it listed here on our website with the others we have received.