On the Frontier
As the United States declared war against Great Britain in June of 1812, the veteran 1st Infantry served on the American Frontier. The officers and enlisted men of the regiment were scattered from Detroit to Nashville and from the Missouri River to the Atlantic. The regiment was severely undermanned and many of its officers performed a wide range of staff assignments away from their companies.
Colonel of the 1st Infantry, Jacob Kingsbury, had been suffering from gout, and declined the President’s offer to lead Regulars and Volunteers to Detroit. In his place, the President chose William Hull, Revolutionary War veteran and Governor of the Michigan Territory.
By August 1812, General Hull surrendered all of the 1st Infantry that had garrisoned Detroit, including the 40 recruits under Ensign Robert McCabe. On August 15th Captain Heald’s company had been attacked outside of Fort Dearborn, the site of modern day Chicago. His garrison was massacred, losing 32 out of his 54 man company. Lt. Thomas Hamilton of Stark’s company at Fort Madison, located in present day southeastern Iowa, had successfully defended his garrison, from September 5th to the 8th, against Black Hawk’s Sac and Fox warriors. Captain James Rhea’s company held out at Fort Wayne against Indians, from September 5th to the 9th, despite the fact that Rhea was drunk throughout the siege. Rhea resigned and this company would sit out the rest of War stationed at that Post.
In 1813, the three companies, stationed west of the Mississippi River, began to consolidate. The garrison at Fort Osage, Missouri Territory, the western most military post in the country, located just east of present day Kansas City, was evacuated in May of that year. Fort Mason, on the Mississippi river, was abandoned in favor of a stockaded fort that was closer to St. Louis. The site chosen, located directly across from “Capua Grey” on the Mississippi River, was named Fort Independence by Lt. Lewis Bissell on the 4th of July 1813.
Finally, in November of 1813, the Fort Madison garrison also evacuated to Belle Fontaine, located just north of St. Louis. The garrison arrived on the 25th. At this time, Captain John Cleeves Symmes took command of the old Fort Osage company, as Eli B. Clemson had been promoted to a Major in the 1st. Despite his promotion, Clemson was not pleased. He hoped to have been promoted to Major to a different regiment. Bluntly, he informed Col. Kingsbury of his frustration, that the 1st was nothing but the recruiting depot of the Second Infantry Regiment.
On the 14th of December, Major Clemson asked Col. Kingsbury “…could not the few skeletons of Co’s of the 1st infy. be removed from the frontier where they have served for years, be united and go to the scene of action?” Clemson also began a letter writing campaign to Col. Thomas Cushing Adjutant General of the Army. With good reason, Clemson, had given up expecting Colonel Kingsbury to recruit and lead the 1st Infantry Regiment into battle. As late as October 1814, Kingsbury conspired to have the 1st removed from Canada, as the Colonel did not want to join the regiment on the Niagara frontier. He had requested that the War Department swap the 1st Infantry with the 37th who were stationed at Fort Trumball in Connecticut.
Major Clemson’s efforts to get the regiment into the War succeeded. Lt. Lewis Bissell recalled that “In the spring of 1814 our regiment was ordered to the Northern Frontier…”
In September of 1813, the 1st regiment had taken part in the Peoria Indian War. General Benjamin Howard mounted a campaign against the hostile Indians at the Peoria Lakes, located in central Illinois. The campaign culminated with the construction of Fort Clark. In December of 1813, Captain Simon Owen’s Belle Fontaine garrison company, was left to garrison Fort Clark. Owens was promoted to Major in January of 1814, leaving only 2nd Lt. John A. Shaw to command. 1st Lt. Vasquez was therefore given temporary command of Owens former company. A former Spanish citizen, Antonio Francis Baronet “Barony” Vasquez, had served as Lt. Zebulon Pike’s interpreter during his famous exploration to the Southwest. The 31 year old was fluent in Spanish, French, and still learning English. In February of 1814, Lt. Hamilton had been promoted to Captain and continued to command the former Fort Madison Garrison.
On the 23rd of March 1814, the Secretary of War, John Armstrong, wrote to Missouri Delegate Hempstead at St. Louis, Missouri Territory. The delegate was informed that the “lst infantry Regt. has been recalled from the Westward for the purpose of recruiting it.” The Madison government had decided to fill the depleted ranks, as it was reduced to a mere shadow of a regiment. General Benjamin Howard, ordered to return to St. Louis by William Henry Harrison on the 6th of April 1814, had been informed he would no longer have the 1st Regiment to command, as the “Skeleton of the 1st Regiment has been ordered to Pittsburg to be recruited.”
"On the Canada Line” The Story of the 1st United States Infantry at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, July 25th 1814
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© Copyright 2005 by Rich Barbuto.
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