The UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA Board of Trustees never owned many slaves. I would guess four or five at a time and they were a pain in the ass because of all the holidays. As soon as school let out, all the professors started pushing the steward around in order to get his slaves to work on their pet projects plus the steward wanted them to work on his pet projects. 

I have identified four categories of slaves associated with the University:

1) Slaves that the students brought from home. Check out the biography of Oran Milo Roberts in Special Collections. Roberts brought his slave Prince to Tuscaloosa in 1833 when he entered the University and hired him out in town to pay college expenses. Roberts also says that the straw that broke the camel's back for Dearing occurred when students kidnapped one of his slave girls and brought her to campus.[ Dearing built the University Club and the big house across from the post office off of 21st Avenue]. Students attacked Dearing when he came looking for his girl. Students' slaves weren't allowed on campus but students lodged them in town and hired them out for a profit. 

2) Slaves owned by faculty and the President. These servants were often hired by the University. Barnard's slave was his lab assistant. Manly mentions that Barnard's Morgan pimped Barnard's Luna to the students "who they use in great numbers nightly." Luna may be Barnard's servant girl who was so brutally raped by the student at Ole Miss. Barnard's attempt to punish the perpetrator led to the violent threats that forced Barnard to quit his job as President of the University of Mississippi and to flee to the north just before the outbreak of the Civil War. 

3) Slaves owned by Tuscaloosa citizens and hired out to the University. This was the most common form of slavery and I'm not sure how many records exist. The wild thing was Garland impounding all the slaves in Tuscaloosa during the war to build earthworks over by the present-day police station. He caught holy hell from Tuscaloosa and the Governor forced him to stop. 

4) Slaves owned by the Board of Trustees. 

Check out the local papers for the first week of January each year. There really wasn't what you would consider a slave market here but January 1 was called "Hiring Day" and the sheriff would have estate sales on the courthouse steps and slaves would be sold the first week in January. Lots of ads for this in Tuscaloosa papers. 

Random thoughts... 

Slave clothing included Cottonade coats & pants, flannel coats,summer vests, summer hats, winter coats, shoes, slippers 

Board for a slave $3 month- board for a horse 4 to 5 dollars per month 

Carpenters hired at $2 per day. William, owned by H.S. Pratt, was so skilled at building desks and bookcases that he demanded more and had to be paid under the table because his rate was so high. 

Dr. Reuben Searcy, whose doctor's office was located in the present day Alabama Grill on Greensboro Avenue, charged the Board of Trustees for 33 office visits for Moses over a period of 3 months in 1857. 

Moses (a.k.a. "Preach") was bad to drink and fight. They threatened to sell him so he got religion. From a Mobile Tribune article 1859. "I say, Preach, what are you going to do when the devil gets you?" 

"Wait on the students," Preach replied. 

1844: Trustees curtailed use of slaves during vacation by the Steward. Top priority holiday work:receiving coal, cleaning, whitewashing 

Underground Railroad!!!! In 1852, Professor Scherb found runaways sleeping in Room 18 of Franklin Hall west of the present day Gorgas Library. 

Sam, owned by the Board, beat Tom who had been hired from Alex Glascock. Glascock's house on 21st avenue has just been renovated. Gatozzi Valuations is located there now. Glascock shows up in Sellers' History of the First Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa. 

Garland started out with 3 but soon had 60. His women refused to be sold to the owner's of their husbands so Garland had to buy their husbands. 

Student abuse: 

1837: Henry Elmore chastised servant and then called before faculty. Elmore signed an apology. 

1842: Student admonished " for chasing a Negro through campus during study hours." 

1843: 4 students dragged a servant out of a professor's yard and abused and injured him for sport. 

Foster and two students beat the President's negro so badly that he required surgery. 

I have where Smith used Supreme Court lawyers to overcome his indefinite suspension for abusing servants. 

1845: Ben Saffold got a Presidential admonition after stabbing Moses in the arm with a table fork. 

1846: A.P. Robinson hit Moses with a crutch for not bringing food to his room. The student had to pay $1.50 per day for a substitute while Moses recovered. University students could not send servants on errands, get food,etc, for them even when ill. 

1845: Milton Saffold beat Sam for insolence when Sam refused to scald a bedstead. This was Milton's third offense and "he must leave Tuscaloosa in the stage which departs for Selma this evening." This kid probably had a long history of abusing servants before he arrived in Tuscaloosa. 

June 1850: 6 students and Barnard's Morgan stole Moses's chickens. 

Check out John Massey, Reminiscences(Nashville, Methodist Episcopal Church,South, 1916) 

Check out Letters of Landon Garland 

In Richard Thigpen's January,' 81 article in The Alabama Review,"The Four Public Buildings of The University of Alabama to Survive the Civil War", he never mentions the four slave cabins. Thigpen served as an interim President of the University. 

quote from Manly, "there is no set of men in Alabama that I would sooner be a slave ["slave" is underlined] to ( if I must be a slave) [this parenthetical phrase is also underlined] than the Trustees." 

Manly had two slaves named Lydia. This will confuse you. Also there's a good chance that some of Manly's slaves knew Denmark Vesey. 

The Junior Class students in Washington Hall collected $75 to hire Barnard's slave so they could have experiments. I have a note "Could this be Johnson?" I have another card which says Johnson, owned by Barnard, was discharged when Sam was hired. 

Levi, a little negro boy, (page 174 of Manly's diary) January 10, 1840 Jan. 10 received from Father in Law Rudulph of Lowndes County, Ala. Born April 5, 1825 "This boy is intended as a gift and is to be my property. My father in law purchasing his [family] came under some obligation to liberate each of them at the age of 25 years provided the laws of country should admit emancipation. After liberating the mother in 1821, she got into trouble and great need and came back to her master to offer herself as his slave for life, since which time Levi was born." 

Larrey, given to Manly by his father, served as Manly's body servant. 

Manly, Taxed for a riding chair [could this be a sedan chair?] Manly quote,"I have 8 negroes over 10 years of age and 8 negroes under 10; but these are not considered taxable under the charter of the university." 

Serena, born of Lydia #2 b. October 31, 1846 ; died of cholera May 27, 1849 

$150 allowed by Board of Trustees for hiring a servant. "suitable servants could not be got for less than $200" Professor Pratt's Scipio and Peter hired for $200 each. "If the board of trustees do not pay the additional $100, the Faculty are to do it out of the money deposited for contingencies by the students, and subject to our control" [interesting use of student activity fees] 

June 28, 1841[ Source: New Building Fund- Money Paid Out] Jim owned by J.A. Prattt hired for 10 days at 70 cents per day. May 22, 1841 paid Ms. Pratt $140 for hire of carpenters William and Jim. 

Boysey(proper name William) November 22, 1843 Mary's son died of whooping cough at daylight 7 years old [from Manly's recipe book-description of the case and prescription. Funeral was in the President's Mansion and he was buried by the present day Biology building on the same afternoon] 

Cory- Garland's carriage driver who drove Mrs. Garland and the girls to the edge of the woods when the University burned. 

Drish's colored man June 9, 1841 [New Building Fund] "paid Wm. Drish (colored man) for various jobs of brick work- such as setting iron chimney backs, laying hearths, repairing arches, and filling up scaffold holes under colonnade before plastering. Cash $8.50 

Jack, died May 5, 1843- died of pneumonia before 2 o'clock in the afternoon -Manly,"He was an African, a member of the Methodist church- honest and faithful- did as much and as well as he knew how." 

First Sharecropping: 28 Manly slaves on the Tuscaloosa plantation sign a contract on June 20, 1865, for the production of 10 acres of corn each. 

The Arthur negroes sold students peanuts, candy and tobacco. Tuscaloosa slaves also sold possum dinners door to door in the dormitories. 

Frederick Thomas, English professor, drunk on a steamboat coming up from Mobile. On brandy and opium, he grabbed a slave girl and took her to his cabin. Dismissed from the university. 

Dr. Stafford's Archie " sold mean whiskey to students" and rented Dr. Stafford's carriage and horses to students for the night. 

Friday, December 23, 2016

Why am I not surprised? About what? Why am I not surprised that with all the HYSTERICAL COMMISSIONS, museum "curators", "patriotic" organizations, "preservationists", "civic" organizations, "historians" and "social studies teachers" in this PITIFUL world, I AM THE ONLY SOUL WHO RECOGNIZES THAT 200 YEARS AGO TODAY, on Monday, DECEMBER 23, 1816, the first legislation to establish a state government for the people of PRESENT-DAY ALABAMA was read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. (that should give you an idea of just how well your "ALABAMA BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION" is progressing)
A BILL TO ESTABLISH THE TERRITORY OF MOBILE
December 23, 1816
Read twice and committed to the committee of the whole House, on the bill "to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi Territory to form a Constitution and State Government and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States."
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010692468;view=1up;seq=28

Wednesday, July 27, 2016, will mark the 200th anniversary of the destruction of THE NEGRO FORT on the Apalachicola River from a single U.S. Navy hot shot cannonball which landed inside the fort's powder magazine. One of the major reasons for the U.S. to order the destruction of this British-built fort was in order to protect the surveyors who were in the field surveying the public lands in present-day Georgia and Alabama which the Creek Indians lost under the terms of THE TREATY OF FORT JACKSON following the defeat of the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend.

Reprinted from THE NATIONAL REGISTER, Volume 7

Preceding the destruction of the Negro Fort, this letter was sent from General Gaines at Fort Montgomery (near the present-day Baldwin County community of Tensaw) to Colonel Clinch at Fort Gaines, Georgia. It authorized Colonel Clinch to establish what was known as Camp Crawford (later Fort Scott) on the Flint River in present-day Decatur County, Georgia. I have emphasized the portion which deals with protecting the surveyors.

No. 19. General Gaines to colonel Clinch.
 Head Quarters, Fort Montgomery, M T.(Mississippi Territory)
 23d May, 1816.
Sir, — Your letters up to the 9th instant, have been received. The British agent Hambly, and the Little Prince, and others, are acting a part, which I have been at a loss for some time past to understand. Are they not endeavoring to amuse and divert us from our main object? Their tricks, if they be so, have assumed a serious aspect, and may lead to their destruction; but we have little to apprehend from them. They must be watched with an eye of vigilance. The post near the junction of the rivers, to which I called your attention, in the last month, must be established speedily, even if we have to fight our way to it through the ranks of the whole nation.

THE SURVEYORS HAVE COMMENCED LAYING OFF THE LAND TO BE SOLD AND SETTLED; AND THEY MUST BE PROTECTED. The force of the whole nation cannot arrest your movement down the river on board the boats, if secured up the sides with two inch plank, and covered over with clapboards; nor could all the nation prevent your landing and constructing a stockade work, sufficient to secure you, unless they should previously know the spot at which you intended to land, and had actually assembled at that place previous to. or within four hours of, your landing; but your force is not sufficient to warrant your march to the different villages, as suggested, by land. The whole of your force, (except about forty men, or one company, for the defence of fort Gaines,) should be kept near your boats and supplies, until the new post shall be established. You may then strike at any hostile party near you, with all your disposable force; but, even then, you should not go more than one or two days, march from your fort.

If your supplies of provision and ammunition have reached you, let your detachment move as directed in my letter of the 28th of last month.You can venture to move with twenty five days rations, but you should order a supply to the agency, or fort Gaines, where a boat should be built, and held in readiness to send down, in case any accident should prevent or delay the arrival of a supply which I have ordered from New Orleans.

 I enclose you an extract of a letter containing an arrangement for the supply, by water, and have to direct that you will provide a boat, and despatch it with an officer and fifty men to meet the vessels from New Orleans, as soon as you are advised of their being on the river One of your large boats will answer the purpose, provided you have no barge or keel boat. Should the boats meet with opposition, at what is called the Negro Fort, arrangements will immediately be made for its destruction, and for that purpose you will be supplied with two eighteen pounders and one howitzer, with fixt ammunition, and implements complete, to be sent in a vessel to accompany the provision. 1 have likewise ordered fifty thousand musket cartridges, some rifles, swords, etc. Should you be compelled to go against the Negro Fort, you will land at a convenient point above it, and force a communication with the commanding officer of the vessels below, and arrange with him your plan of attack. Upon this subject, you shall hear from me again, as soon as I am notified of the time at which the vessels will sail from New Orleans.
With great respect and esteem, Your obedient servant,
(Signed) EDMUND P. GAINES, ) Major general commanding.

Lieut, col. 1). L. Clinch, or officer commanding on the Chattahooche.

A true copy. — Rob. R. Ruffin, Aid-de-camp.

General Gaines to Commodore Patterson.
Fort Montgomery,
May 22d 1816.
Sir, — By a letter I have received from lieutenant colonel Clinch, commanding a battalion of the 4th regiment infantry, on the Chatahoochie, I learn that in the early part of the present month, a party of Indians surprized and took from the immediate vicinity of his camp, two privates sent out to guard a drove of beef cattle, purchased for the subsistence of the troops. The cattle, amounting to thirty head, were also taken; the Indians were pursued forty five miles, on a path leading to St. Marks, but being mounted and having traveled all night, escaped with their prisoners and booty.

This outrage, preceded by the murder of two of our citizens, Johnson and McCaskey, by Indians below the lines, and followed by certain indications of general hostility, such as the war dance, and drinking war physic, leaves no doubt that we shall be compelled to destroy the hostile towns.

The detached situation of the post, which I have ordered lieutenant colonel Clinch to establish near the Apalachicola, will expose us to great inconvenience and hazard, in obtaining supplies by land, particularly in the event of war, as the road will be bad, and the distance from the settlements of Georgia near one hundred and fifty miles.

Having advised with the commander in chief of the division upon this subject, I have determined upon an experiment by water, and for this purpose have to request your co-operation; should you feel authorized to detach a small gun vessel or two as a convoy to the boats charged with our supplies up the Apalachicola, I am persuaded that in doing so, you will contribute much to the benefit of the service, and accommodation of my immediate command in this quarter: the transports will be under the direction of the officer of the gun vessel, and the whole should be provided against an attack by small arms from shore. To guard against accidents, I will direct lieutenant colonel Clinch, to have in readiness, a boat sufficient to carry fifty men, to meet the vessels on the river and assist them up. Should you find it to be convenient to send .a convoy, I will thank you to inform me of the date of its departure, and the time which, in your judgment, it will take to arrive at the mouth of the river (Apalachicola.) Enclosed you will receive the best account I can give you, from the information I have received, of the Negro fort upon the Apalachacola. Should we meet with opposition from that fort, it shall be destroyed: and for this purpose the commanding officer above, will be ordered to prepare all his disposable force, to meet the boats at, or just below, the fort, and he will confer with the commanding officer of the gun vessels, upon the plan of attack.
 I am, with great consideration and esteem,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) EDMUND P. GAINES, Major general by brevet.

 Com. Daniel T. Patterson, U. S. Navy,

Map of the Forbes Purchase which includes the location of the Negro Fort about twenty miles north of Apalachicola Bay.


J. Loomis to Commodore Patterson.
Bay St. Louis,
13th August, 1816,
U. S. Gun Vessel, No. 149
 Sir, — In conformity with your orders of the 24th June, I have the honor to report, that with this vessel and No. 154, sailing master James Bassett, I took under convoy the schooners General Pike and Semilante, laden with provisions and military stores, and proceeded for Apalachacola river; off the mouth of which we arrived on the 10th July. At this place I received despatches from lieutenant colonel Clinch, commanding the 4th regiment United States infantry, on the Chatahoochie river, borne by an Indian, requesting me to remain off the mouth of the river, until he aould arrive with a party of men to assist in get ting up the transports; desiring me also, to detain all vessels and boats that might attempt to descend the river.

On the 15th, I discovered a boat pulling out of the river, and being anxious to ascertain whether we should be permitted peaceably to pass the fort above us, I despatched a boat with an officer to gain the necessary information; on nearing her, she fired a volley of musketry into my boat, and immediately pulled in for the river, 1 immediately opened a fire on them from the gun vessels, but with no effect.

On the 17th, at 5 A. M. I manned and armed a boat with a swivel and musketry and four men, and gave her in charge of midshipman Luffbolough, for the purpose of procuring fresh water, having run short of that article. At 11 A. M. sailing master Bassett, who had been on a similar expedition, came along side with the body of John Burgess, 0. S. who had been sent in the boat With midshipman Luffborough; his body was found near the mouth of the river, shot through the heart. At 4 P. M. discovered a man at the mouth of the river on a sand bar; sent a boat and brought him on board; he proved to be John Lopaz, O. S. the only survivor of the boat's crew sent with midshipman Luffborough He reports, that on entering the river, they discovered a negro on the beach near a plantation; that Mr. Luffborough ordered the boat to be pulled directly for him; that on touching the shore he spoke to the negro, and directly received a volley of musketry from two divisions of negroes and Indians, who lay concealed in the bushes on the margin of the river; Mr. Luffborough, Robert Maitland, and John Burgess, were killed on the spot; Lopaz made his escape by swimming, and states that he saw the other seaman, Edward Daniels, made prisoner. Lopaz supposed there must have been forty negroes and Indians concerned in the capture of the boat.

On the 20th July, I received by a canoe with five Indians, despatches from colonel Clinch, advising that he had arrived with a party of troops and Indians at a position about a mile above the negro fort requesting that I would ascend the river and join him with the gun vessels He further informed me, that he had taken a negro bearing the scalp of one of my unfortunate crew, to one of the unfriendly Indian chiefs. On the 22d, there was a heavy cannonading in the direction of the fort. On the 23d, I  received a verbal message from colonel Clinch; by a white man and two Indians, who stated that colonel Clinch wished me to ascend the river to a certain bluff, and await there until I saw him. Considering that by so doing, in a narrow and crooked river, from both sides of which my decks could be commanded, and exposed to the fire of musketry, without enabling me to act in my own defence; and also, that something like treachery might be on foot, from the nature of the message; I declined acting, retained the white man and one of the Indians as hostages, and despatched the other, with my reason for so doing, to colonel Clinch, that his views and communications to me in future must be made in writing, and by an officer of the army.

 Lieutenant Wilson and thirteen men joined me on the 24th to assist in getting up with the transports; he likewise informed me that colonel Clinch had sent the canoe the day before.

On the 25th I arrived with the Convoy at Duelling Bluff, about four miles below the fort, where I was met by colonel Clinch: he informed me that in attempting to pass within gun shot of the fortifications, he had been fired upon by the negroes, and that he had also been fired upon for the last four or five days, whenever any of his troops appeared in view; we immeditely reconnoitred the fort, and determined on a site to erect a small battery of two eighteen pounders to assist the gun vessels to force the navigation of the river, as it was evident from their hostility we should be obliged to do.

On the 26th the colonel began to clear away the bushwood for the erection of the battery; he however stated to me that he was not acquainted with artillery, but that he thought the distance was too great to do execution. On this subject we unfortunately differed totally in opinion, as we were within point blank range; he however ordered his men to desist from further operations; I then told him that the gun vessels would attempt the passage of the fort in the morning, without his aid. At 4 A M on the morning of the 27th, we began warping the gun vessels to a proper position, at 5 getting within gun shot, the fort opened upon us, which we returned, and after ascertaining our real distance with cold shot, we commenced with hot, (having cleared away our coppers for that purpose,) the first one of which entering their magazine, blew up and completely destroyed the fort. The negroes fought under the English Jack, accompanied with the red or bloody flag.

This was a regularly constructed fortification, built under the immediate eye and direction of colonel Nicholls of the British army ; there were mounted on the walls, and in a complete state of equipment for service, four long 24 pounders, cannon; four long 6 ditto; one 4 pounder field piece, and a 5 and one half inch brass howitz, with three hundred negroes, men, women, and children, and about 20 Indian warriors of the renegade Choctaws; of these 270 were killed, and the greater part of the rest mortally wounded; but three
escaped unhurt; among the prisoners were the two chiefs of the negroes and Indians On examining the prisoners they stated that Edward Daniels, O S who was made prisoner in the boat on the 17th July, was tarred and burnt alive. In consequence of this savage act, both the chiefs were executed on the spot by the friendly Indians.

From the best information we could ascertain there were,

2,500 stand of musketry, with accoutrements complete.
500 carbines
500 steel scabbard swords
4 cases containing 200 pair pistols.
300 qr. casks rifle powder.
762 barrels of cannon powder, besides a large quantity of military stores and clothing, that I was not able to collect any account of, owing to an engagement made by colonel Clinch with the Indians, in which he promised them all the property captured, except the cannon and shot.

The property captured on the 27th July, according to the best information we could obtain, and at the lowest calculation, could not have been less than $200,000 in value, the remnant of the property, that the Indians did not take, was transported to fort Crawford, and to this place, an inventory of which I have the honor to transmit for your further information.

 On sounding the river, I found it impassable for vessels drawing more than four and a half feet water, consequently, colonel Clinch took the provision from the General Pike into flats, and lightened the Semilante, so as to enable her to ascend the river as high as fort Crawford. On the 3rd August, after setting fire to the remaining parts of the fort and village, I left the river and arrived at this anchorage on the 12th current.

 I cannot close this letter without expressing to you. my entire approbation of the conduct of sailing master James Bassett, commanding gun vessel No. 154, for his cool, deliberate, and masterly conduct, and the support I received from him in all cases of difficulty and danger. In fact, Sir, every man and officer did his duty.
Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, (
Signed) J. LOOMIS,

Commodore Daniel T. Patterson, commanding U. S. Naval Forces, New Orleans station.

(An interview I gave to Courtney Haden of Weld Magazine in March of 2012)

 

 

Forget the spirit of '76. In Alabama, we're looking forward to looking back to the Spirit of 1812. An interview with Dothan-born author, instructor and…

History books don’t tell you a lot about the War of 1812, but Robert O. Register can. The Dothan-born author, instructor and indefatigable blogger has dug deep into the narrative of that oft-ignored American conflict in his general research into the history of the Southeastern U.S., and, with the 200th anniversary of the war at hand, Roberto is ready for a bicentennial celebration. “No generation has ever had THE ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity we BABY BOOMERS now have to be able to say we experienced two NATIONAL BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS in a single lifetime,” he exults on Zero, Northwest Florida, one of his 16 different blogs.
For most of us, the War of 1812 evokes fleeting images of redcoats torching Washington and Dolley Madison saving the cupcakes. What we know about the Battle of New Orleans, we may have learned from Johnny Horton’s old country song of the same name. However, Register and other scholars want you to know that America’s first major war of choice was a complex undertaking, not to be considered lightly, one that echoes across two centuries to the present day. We caught up with Mr. Register preparing for his first-ever trek to Valley Forge, and asked for some bicentennial particulars:
What’s your take on what the War of 1812 was about in the first place?
You could argue that the U.S. could have avoided declaring war on Great Britain in June of 1812 and that the war was unnecessary because it ended in 1815 with no clear winner, but in many ways it was unavoidable. The U.S. declared war on Great Britain because, even after losing the American Revolution, the Brits absolutely refused to treat us as a sovereign, independent nation and it was hurting us in the pocketbook. Great Britain did not see our fledgling republic as permanent or destined to have dominion from sea to shining sea. The impressment of hundreds of American sailors into the Royal Navy and the confiscation of American shipping destined for Europe showed they had no intention of treating us as independent. Encouraging the Indians to kill our settlers in order to stop American expansion or threatening to turn the Deep South into another Haiti via slave insurrection didn’t help relations any either.

How did it come off as a referendum on US military preparedness almost 40 years after Lexington and Concord?
At the opening of the war, the U.S. Navy had six warships. The Royal Navy had about 400.
Neither the U.S. Army nor the state militias were prepared to go to war with Great Britain in 1812. Look at what happened here, in what is now Alabama, in the summer of 1813 at Burnt Corn Creek and Ft. Mims. The Battle of Bladensburg, which occurred just before the burning of Washington, D.C., has been called “the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms” and “the most humiliating episode in American history.”
The U.S. had only been making muskets for about 15 years when we declared war, so there weren’t a whole lot of guns to go around. There are many cases of the militia being called and not many folks showing up or showing up unarmed, but the “Spirit of ’76” was constantly being invoked as newspaper editors of the day asked their readers if this next generation after The Founding Fathers had “the right stuff.” We were lucky that during the first two years of the war the Brits were tied up in Europe fighting Napoleon. That all changed after Napoleon got exiled to Elba in May of 1814.

Are we still experiencing repercussions from the War of 1812, or was it a self-contained historical event?
Yes, we are still experiencing repercussions from the War of 1812 in the present day.
Probably the most important thing to come out of the War of 1812 was the creation of our national consciousness. We still sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” and “Old Ironsides”, the ship that first showed the world that the Royal Navy was not invincible, still floats in Boston Harbor and is the world’s oldest commissioned ship. I visited the Smithsonian last Veteran’s Day and from what I could see, “Old Glory” was definitely the most visited exhibit in any of the museums.
Unfortunately, Andrew Jackson, who first came to prominence during the War of 1812, is still used to this day by radicals on the left and the right to push their propaganda. Neo-Nazis post items on the Web like “Hitler was no worse than Andrew Jackson.” The defeat of the Red Sticks, and the subsequent removal of all the tribes west of the Mississippi, has been called “a model for Hitler’s ‘final solution’.”
On a more positive note, the war brought on a two-century era of peace and cooperation between the United States, Great Britain and Canada and today Tecumseh [a Shawnee Indian chief who threw in with the British] is considered a Founding Father of Canada by many Canadians.

What got your attention about the War of 1812 in the first place?
Twenty years ago I decided to write a driving tour of the Gulf South. After my initial research, I realized I didn’t know enough to write such a guide, so I began to study the formative years of the Gulf Coast in earnest. I have been familiarizing myself with our local people, places and events related to the War of 1812 for two decades now. One of my current goals is to use what I have learned to create a kind of glossary of the Deep South’s role in the War of 1812, which can be used to create driving tours/maps, calendars/almanacs or be used to enhance Wikipedia articles about the subject.

Why should the rest of us care?
Well, the War of 1812 on the Gulf Coast is a terrific story that really could stand more clarification. The bicentennial celebration can show communities the need to preserve their cultural resources and the importance of passing an accurate picture of our area’s story down to coming generations. The Bicentennial of the War of 1812 is a once in a lifetime opportunity to focus attention upon a story that will attract visitors to our area. Visiting historic sites and museums is one the most popular vacation activities in America. Visitors spend money and the more we make our area more interesting and entertaining, the more visitors we will attract. Heritage tourism can attract visitors from our own state as well as the entire nation.
In addition, we should encourage television production companies to film travel programs and historic reenactments at historic sites in our area. I’d be a lot more interested in watching those kinds of shows than the current epidemic of “Red Neck TV” reality shows that now fill our cable channels.

Alabama wasn’t even a state yet, but it figures prominently in the narrative, doesn’t it?
A lot happened in Alabama before it became a state but things really started cooking after all of the area within our present state boundaries came into the United States and that didn’t happen until April 15, 1813 when Old Glory was finally raised over Fortenza Carlotta at the Port of Mobile and the Spanish flag was retired forever. Mobile’s population was down to about 300 in 1813. Seven years later it was up to 2800 and by 1840 almost 13,000 people lived in Mobile and it was one of the largest ports in the country. Mobile has a wonderful colonial heritage but nothing much really happened until the Americans showed up in 1813 and we hope to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Advent of the American Flag Over the Port of Mobile on Monday, April 15, 2013.
On July 27,1813, the Red Sticks [a faction of the Creek Indian tribe] were attacked by Mississippi Territory Militia near Burnt Corn Creek and on August 30, 1813, the Red Sticks retaliated by wiping out most the defenders, women and children of Ft. Mims in present day Baldwin County. Beginning in November 1813, the U.S. Army, supported by the Tennessee State Militia, the Georgia State Militia and the Mississippi Territory Militia fought many major battles in present day Alabama culminating in the defeat of the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 17, 1814.
On August 9, 1814, the Treaty of Ft. Jackson, located where the Tallapoosa River and the Coosa River meet to form the Alabama, was signed and the Creek Nation extinguished its title to over 23 million acres of land in present day Alabama and Georgia.
On September 15, 1814, Americans at Ft. Bowyer on Mobile Point, the present day site of Ft. Morgan, repelled an attack by British forces based in Pensacola.
In August of 1814, Andrew Jackson moved his headquarters to Mobile where he gathered men, material and intelligence in preparation for the Battle of New Orleans, which occurred on January 8, 1815.
After the Battle of New Orleans, Ft. Bowyer was overrun by British forces on February 11,1815. This battle was the last land battle of the War of 1812.
The only permanent exchange of territory that occurred as a consequence of The War of 1812 was the U.S. acquisition of Mobile County south of Ellicott’s Line [a surveyor’s mark of the boundary between the U.S. and Spanish West Florida].
We have a unique opportunity during the next three years to celebrate the 200th anniversary of many major events that shaped our region and our nation’s history.

So what do you think? Andrew Jackson: racist or genius?
Sure, there’s a lot of racism and genius in Andrew Jackson’s story. I’m very sensitive to those who would make Andrew Jackson a scapegoat for the way all aboriginal people have been treated in North America for the past 400 years.

Andrew Jackson. By Thomas Sully

It’s true that Jackson killed Indians in war and many tragically died during the removal to Oklahoma but I don’t see how trading land in Alabama for land in Oklahoma and moving there translates into genocide or how Jackson’s decisions can be compared to the horrors of genocide in the modern day. The Cherokee’s Trail of Tears occurred two years after Jackson was out of office and I believe the Indian tribes would have been moved away from white settlements and pushed west of the Mississippi whether there had been a President Andrew Jackson or not. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson proposed their migration west of the Mississippi River if the plans for their assimilation into American society did not work and a secret clause in an 1802 agreement between the State of Georgia and the U.S. included a clause for the peaceful removal of all Indians from the State of Georgia. Removal to Oklahoma was the destiny of the Southeastern Indians whether there was an Andrew Jackson or not.

How is the bicentennial to be observed hereabout?
This national celebration of what has been called “The Second American Revolution” kicks off next month with NOLA Navy Week in New Orleans.
Middle Tennessee State University has placed an outstanding Tennessee War of 1812 Driving Tour on the web.
In the summer of 2013, a major event is planned for Ft. Mims in southwest Alabama. The Alabama Department of Archives and History has included all the dates of the major battles of the Creek War and Andrew Jackson’s move to Mobile in preparation for the Battle of New Orleans in their press materials to promote “Becoming Alabama,” from 2012-2015, a commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812, the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War and the 50th Anniversary of major events of The Civil Rights Movement.
As I said before, it is our wish that some sort of an appropriate celebration be conducted in Mobile in April of 2013 to commemorate The Advent of The American Flag in Mobile. Hopefully, some of your readers will become involved and help promote in some way the next three years of celebrations connected to the Bicentennial of The War of 1812.

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE U.S. NAVY'S ACTIVITY IN THE VICINITY OF DAUPHIN ISLAND

January 1778: William Pickles,commissioned by the Continental Navy in October, 1776, was ordered to New Orleans  by the Continental Congress.

James Willing (c.1750–1801), a struggling Philadelphia merchant with business interests on the lower Mississippi River, persuaded Congress in January 1778 to finance him in an expedition against Loyalist settlements along the river above New Orleans. Willing accordingly was commissioned a captain in the Continental navy, and with twenty-nine men of the 13th Virginia Regiment, later joined by “a Body of Banditti, amounting in the whole to about one hundred men,” he left Fort Pitt on 11 Jan. 1778 on the gunboat U.S.S. Rattletrap (see Haynes, “James Willing”).

March 7, 1778: James Willing landed at Big Black.

mid-March 1778: Captain Pickles arrived in New Orleans and took command of U.S.S. Morris(see THE APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON). It was a prize vessel named REBECCA that had been fitted out by Oliver Pollack.

October 1778: Willing took a sloop from New Orleans bound for Philadelphia but was captured.

December 1778: Willing escaped the British in New York(?) but is recaptured and stays in captivity until being exchanged in the spring of 1781. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-18-02-0523

August 18, 1779: Storm sank U.S.S. Morris in the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge and 11 of the crew drowned. A second U.S.S. Morris was outfitted by Galvez.

early September 1779: British in West Florida learn of the Spanish declaration of war.

September 10, 1779: A British sloop is captured on Lake Ponchartrain and is commissioned the U.S.S. West Florida. British citizens living on the lake gave oaths of allegiance to "THE UNITED INDEPENDENT STATES OF NORTH AMERICA."

Close of 1779???: Willing was in chains in Fort Charlotte of Mobile for distributing the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE(see DUNLAP BROADSIDE).

Willing’s party proceeded down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, reaching Natchez, Miss., on 19 Feb., raiding the surrounding countryside, and carrying a substantial amount of plunder into Spanish-controlled New Orleans. Willing’s presence in that city embarrassed the Spanish governor and enraged and alarmed Loyalists all the way to Florida, spurring the British to reinforce West Florida and send a flotilla to blockade New Orleans and the Mississippi. Willing was unable to leave New Orleans until October 1778, when he boarded a sloop for Philadelphia and was captured as described here by Costigin. The British, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not treat Willing well; and it was not until the spring of 1781, after being “peculiarly severely treated by the enemy,” that he was exchanged (GW to Board of War, 1 May 1781). For more on Willing’s expedition, see Caughey, “Willing’s Expedition”; and Naval Documents, 10:769, 780).

January 20, 1780: Oliver Pollack, agent of the Continental Congress in New Orleans, appointed Navy Captain William Pickles to command the sloop WEST FLORIDA belonging to the United States. The WEST FLORIDA mounted four 6 pounders and twelve swivel guns. It was provisioned for 60 days and had a crew of 58. Pickles was to assist Galvez in the campaigns against Mobile and Pensacola for a period of 20 days, or longer if necessary. 

April 28, 1781: Over 100 Royalist men, women and slaves flee Natchez on a 149 day journey east through the wilderness.

November 2, 1782: Crew of the U.S.S. West Florida wrote Pollack and said Pickles owed them money. One year later Pickles was stabbed to death in Philadelphia.

December, 1800: Andrew Ellicott enjoyed the hospitality of woodcutters working for the U.S. Navy at Point Peter. "When I arrived at St. Mary’s on the 8th. of December 1799, I found that neither quarters, nor wood could be had without some expense with the inhabitants, I therefore went into the woods near Point Peter among the wood cutters, who were cutting timber for our Navy, and resided without any other expense, than that of provis[i]on, till the 20th. of January 1800, when we proceeded to the source of the St. Mary’s."http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-01-02-0265

July 1812: Troops under General Ferdinand Claiborne raised the American flag on Isla Delphina(Dauphin Island) and ordered the Spanish guard on the island “to withdraw or be regarded as prisoners of war.” The pilot was ordered not to aid Spanish or British vessels. The Spanish guard remained on Dauphin Island.

August 4, 1812: U.S. Council of War in New Orleans votes that they are not qualified to give an opinion on General Wilkinson’s proposal that the Spanish pilot of Dauphin Island should be forcibly removed.

August 19, 1812: New Orleans hurricane destroys U.S. Navy station at New Orleans.

February 12, 1813: President Madison signed a bill that ordered the army and navy to seize Mobile.

February 16, 1813:  Secretary of War Armstrong sent orders to General Wilkinson in New Orleans to capture Mobile.

March 14, 1813:  General James Wilkinson in New Orleans received his orders from Secretary of War Armstrong to take possession of the country west of the Perdido River and “particularly of the town and fortress of Mobile.”

April 4, 1813:  Commodore Shaw arrived at Pass Christian and picked up 30 scaling ladders built to the exact specifications needed to allow troops to climb the walls of Fuerte Carlota (Ft. Conde).

Saturday, April 10, 1813:  Some U.S. gunboats sailed through Pass Heron in present day southeastern Mobile County while Commodore Shaw crossed into the open sea between Horn and Petit Bois Island.

Saturday night, April 10, 1813:  Captain Atkinson and his detachment of U.S. troops arrived on Isla Delfina (Dauphin Island). The next, morning, Sunday, April 11, they expelled the Spanish guard on Dauphin Island and captured the pilot.

Saturday night, April 10, 1813:  Commodore Shaw on the armed boat ALLIGATOR and Lieutenant Roney’s bark captured Spanish ships in Mobile Bay.

On Saturday, April 10, 1813, near Grand Bay, the flotilla that made up the American invading force split into two divisions. The armed schooner ALLIGATOR carrying General Wilkinson and Commodore Shaw along with Lieutenant Roney’s gunboat, sailed out to sea by way of the Horn Island Channel off the west end of Petit Bois Island. The rest of the flotilla consisting of at least three gunboats and fourteen small transports carrying over 600 soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 3^rd and 7^th regiments headed toward Heron Pass.

 On the night of the 10^th, Captain Atkinson and a small detachment of American soldiers landed on what was then the Spanish island of Isla Delfina and captured the Spanish guard consisting of a corporal and six men along with the Mobile Ship Channel pilot.

When the sun came up on Sunday, April 11, 1813, it was Isla Delfina no more. For the first time in American history, the Stars and Stripes flew on the American shores of Dauphin Island and the Spaniards were placed on a galley scheduled to sail for Pensacola. In the meantime, the ALLIGATOR and other American gunboats cruised the mouth of the bay between here and what is now Ft. Morgan, blockading all ships and preventing them from entering or leaving Mobile Bay. They captured several ships including a Spanish transport carrying an artillery lieutenant, a detachment of troops and supplies destined for the Spanish fort in Mobile.

The armed schooner ALLIGATOR carrying General Wilkinson and Commodore Shaw eventually anchored off Dauphin Island and held a council of war to make plans for landing the invading force. This meeting must have included a representative from Colonel Bowyer who had brought an army unit down from Mt. Vernon. Boyer’s 200 men carried five bronze field cannon with them and had earlier crossed the delta on Mims’ Ferry and had marched from Fort Mims down the Tensaw River Road through Stockton. Boyer’s job was to dig his cannon emplacements on Blakeley Island across the river from Fuerte Carlota, the Spanish fort in Mobile.

As the sun sat on Dauphin Island’s first day as American territory, the American flotilla approached the north bank of Dog River and prepared for the invasion and capture of Mobile on Monday, April 12^th.

COMMODORE JOHN SHAW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shaw_(naval_officer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Alligator_(1813)

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF U.S. NAVY GUNBOATS http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/10/columns/austin/07/index.htm

April 11, 1813:  The Spaniards captured the night before on Dauphin Island sailed toward Pensacola.

April 12, 1813:  The galley carrying the Spanish guard from Dauphin Island rowed into Pensacola.

April 12, 1813:  General Wilkinson issued a proclamation to the citizens of Mobile and demanded the surrender of the Spanish commander of Fuerte Carlota (Ft. Conde) and ordered the immediate evacuation of all Spanish troops from Mobile.

Friday, April 15, 1813: The Spanish troops evacuated Fuerte Carlota (Ft. Conde) and boarded a ship sailing for Pensacola. The U.S. occupied Mobile for the first time.

April 17, 1813:  Colonel Carson took the west bank of the Perdido near present day Orange Beach, Alabama and was ordered to build a stockade by General Wilkinson.

April 20, 1813:  General Wilkinson visited Mobile Point for the first time and staked out a fort he called SERAF. This became Ft. Boyer and Wilkinson also recommended building a cooperating battery on Dauphin Island but this part of his plan was either ignored or abandoned.  Wilkinson then traveled via the Bon Secour River to a site on the west bank of the Perdido where he recommended building a stockade.

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.

August 10, 1814:
FROM http://www.hnoc.org/BNO/bno_timeline.html
The British government officially authorizes a secret expedition against Louisiana. Admiral Cochrane is ordered to capture the mouths of the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans. Expedition forces are to rendezvous at Negril Bay, Jamaica, no later than November 20.

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 23, 1814: The USS Carolina, a 14 gun schooner, arrived in New Orleans. The ship had been requested by Commodore Patterson for his plan to attack and destroy LaFitte's Barataria Bay headquarters which the Carolina accomplished in September. The ship stayed in the New Orleans area and was the key to the American victory in the Night Battle of December 23 which slowed the British disembarkation and set the stage for the main battle on January 8.

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 13, 1814: Commodore Daniel Patterson on board the USS Carolina embarked from New Orleans for LaFitte's Barataria Bay headquarters along with 6 gunboats and a tender.

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 16, 1814: Commodore Patterson and Col. George Ross arrived at Grande Terre and proceeded to raid and burn Lafitte's warehouses and most of the ships on Barataria Bay west of New Orleans. Patterson's U.S.S Carolina was not part of the raid as she was unable to enter the bay due to the low water of the bar. Eighty Baratarians were arrested and sent to New Orleans, along with six privateer ships. Commodore Patterson also brought 20 naval guns back to New Orleans.

FROM http://www.hnoc.org/BNO/bno_timeline.html

United States naval forces commanded by Master Commandant Daniel Patterson attack the Baratarian pirates at Grande Terre, Louisiana, capturing 80 men and 26 vessels.

Also on September 16, a group of New Orleans citizens met at Tremoulet's Coffee House and appointed a committee of defense to cooperate with the general government. Edward Livingston was appointed president of that committee.

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.

December 13, 1814: The troop frigates and transports moved up to an anchorage north of the Chandaleurs which was located in the Mississippi Sound between Cat Island and the mainland. The USS Sea Horse battled  British troop transports in water between Bay St. Louis and Lake Borgne. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_13_December_1814_(Louisiana_Campaign

image courtesy of Lossing's Pictorial History of the War of 1812http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wcarr1/Lossing2/Chap43.html




December 14, 1814: Battle of Lake Borgne U.S. Navy commanded by Thomas ap Catesby Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_ap_Catesby_Jones 

The boats of the following British ships took part in the action on Lake Borgne:
HMS TONNANT      HMS NORGE     HMS BEDFORD      HMS RAMILLIES
HMS ROYAL OAK   HMS ARMIDE    HMS SEAHORSE    HMS CYDNUS
HMS TRAAVE          HMS SOPHIE    HMS METEOR         HMS BELLE POULE
HMS GORGON        HMS ALCESTE  HMS DIOMEDE       HMS WESER

December 15, 1814: Lieutenant Peddie and  Captain Spencer put on fishermen's clothing and reconnoiter the shore around the Rigolets. They rent a boat at the Fishermen's Village near the mouth of Bayou Bienvenue and are able to travel all the way to the east bank of the Mississippi below New Orleans.(Journal of British Quartermaster Forrest). Latour gives this reconnaissance as occurring on December 20. Latour also lists the names of Spanish and Portuguese fisherman from the Fisherman's Village who betrayed the United States by helping the British in various ways.

These appear to be some of the only people in West Florida or Louisiana to help the British. This is a quote from British Quartermaster Forrester, "A second (difficulty) was the impossibility of gaining intelligence- the inhabitants had abandoned their houses, and not a single deserter came over to us- the information of the prisoners taken was vague and contradictory, that of the Negroes trifling and unsatisfactory."





December 23, 1814: The British advanced toward New Orleans along Bayou Bienvenue and made their headquarters at the Villere Plantation located near the head of the bayou at the Mississippi River south of the city. The son of the owner of the plantation was arrested by the British but he escaped to warn Jackson who immediately organized a night attack against the British camp. Shells fired in the British camp from the USS Carolina anchored in the Mississippi were a key to the American victory which slowed the British disembarkation and set the stage for the main battle on January 8.
December 23, 1814: FROM http://www.hnoc.org/BNO/bno_timeline.htmlBritish Landing and Night Battle
A British advance force ascends Bayou Catalan (Bienvenue) and Villeré's Canal to the Mississippi River, capturing 30 Louisiana militia posted in Villeré's house as well as Major Gabriel Villeré, who subsequently escapes. Jackson attacks after nightfall, stopping the British advance; the Americans fall back and begin construction of a defensive line behind the Rodriguez Canal.






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.




July 26, 1816:"By 1816 over 800 freedmen and women had settled around the fort, there were also friendly natives in the area. Following the construction of Fort Scott on the Flint River by Colonel Duncan Lamont Clinch of the United States Army, Andrew Jackson decided that to resupply the post, they would have to use the navy to transport goods via the Apalachicola through the sovereign territory of Spain without their permission. During one of these resupply missions, a party of sailors from gunboats 149 and 154 stopped along the river near Negro Fort to fill their canteens with water. While doing so, they were attacked by the garrison of the fort and all but one of the Americans were killed.[1][3]"

"It was daytime when Master Jarius Loomis ordered his gunners to open fire. After only five to nine rounds of hot shot, a cannon ball entered the fort's powder magazine. The ensuing explosion was massive and destroyed the entire post. Almost all of the occupants were killed or wounded, and just afterward, the American column and the Creeks charged and captured the surviving defenders. General Gaines later said that the "explosion was awful and the scene horrible beyond description." There apparently were no American casualties.[1][3]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Negro_Fort




1826-1860 : Raphael Semmes served in the U.S. Navy.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Semmes




1825-1860: Confederate Chief of Sea Coast, River and Harbor Defences Maury served in the U.S. Navy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Fontaine_Maury



1815-1860: Confederate Admiral Buchanan served in the U.S. Navy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Buchanan



1835-1860: Catesby ap Roger Jones served in the U.S. Navy.


1850: Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory chairs Senate Naval Affairs Committee.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Mallory









1836-1837: removed from Georgia and Alabama to eastern Oklahoma. Some were taken by a southern route to New Orleans and then by steamboats (Monmouth) up the Mississippi River to Arkansas. The Monmouth collided with the Trenton more than 300 Creeks drowned. During removal 3,500 died of the 15,000.
"A sixth detachment, consisting of relatives of the warriors who had remained behind to fight alongside federal troops against the Seminoles, were told that they would be allowed to remain in east-central Alabama until the warriors' tours of duty were over. But whites harassed the Creeks as they waited in camp, and the government moved them to Mobile Point. While at Mobile Point, the Creeks were plagued with sickness, and many died. The government then decided to move them to Pass Christian, Mississippi, which was considered healthier. In October 1837, after the warriors returned from Florida, the entire group departed Pass Christian for New Orleans, where they boarded steamboats for the trip up the Mississippi River. During the journey, the steamboat Monmouth was cut in two by another steamboat as it ascended the Mississippi, and approximately half of the 600 Creeks aboard died in the collision."

1847: (Alexander Dallas Bache) The oldest U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey marker on the Gulf Coast (1847) is inside Ft. Gaines. http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/brs/cgind19.htm