United States in the War of 1812

The War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain began formally on June 18, 1812. It involved about 60,000 U.S. Army forces supported by 470,000 militia and volunteer troops. To end the war, the treaty of Ghent was signed 24 December 1814, however another battle was fought 8 January 1815 at New Orleans. The U.S. Congress ratified the treaty on 17 February 1815, formally ending the war.

When war was declared, the Regular Army had about 10,000 men, and about half of those were new recruits. "Each Regular Army infantry regiment was recruited from a particular state (or states). Rifle, artillery, and dragoons were recruited at large...Most, but not all, of the men recruited for a particular infantry regiment were from the state of recruitment."

[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/827221? David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, editors Encyclopedia of the War of 1812.Santa. Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, 1997. FHL 973 H26he]

Map of the.

United States Federal Military Units

 * Military Laws and Rules and Regulations for the Army of the United States 1814
 * Military Laws and Rules ans Regulations for the Army of the United States 1816
 * Rules and Regulations... Dated December 1814. 1817
 * John C. Fredriksen. The United States Army in the War of 1812 : concise biographies of commanders and operational histories of regiments, with bibliographies of published and primary sources. Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Co., 2009. FHL 973 M2fjc

Not all men enrolled in state militia units. Men also enrolled in federal (US) units. The records for the federal units are more extensive than those for the state militia units. United States (Federal) Units U.S. Infantry U.S. Rifles U.S. Cavalry U.S. Artillery and Engineers U.S. Navy and Marines

For a list showing the regimental recruiting districts, see William A. Gordon, A Compilation of the Registers of the Army of the United States from 1815 to 1837, 1 (Washington, DC: James C. Dunn, 1837). Digital version: Internet Archive.

Military Districts

 * Military District No. 1: Massachusetts and New Hampshire
 * Military District No. 2: Rhode Island and Connecticut
 * Military District No. 3: New York, from the sea to the Highlands, and East Jersey
 * Military District No. 4: West Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
 * Military District No. 5: Maryland and Virginia
 * Military District No. 6: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
 * Military District No. 7: Louisiana, Mississippi Territory, and Tennessee
 * Military District No. 8: Kentucky, Ohio and the Territories of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and MIssouri
 * Military District No. 9: New York, north of the Highlands, and Vermont

State and Territorial Militia Units
Many men enrolled in state or territory militia units. The records for these men were kept by the state or territory. Check a state or territory below:


 * See also:C. Edward Skeen. Citizen soldiers in the War of 1812. Lexington, Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky, 1999. FHL 973 M2scs

Battles

 * List of War of 1812 Battles on Wikipedia
 * Campaigns of the War of 1812-1815, Against Great Britain, Sketched and Criticised; with Bief Biographies of the American Engineers, George W. Cullum.
 * The Fight for a Free Sea: a Chronicle of the War of 1812. 1920. Ralph Delahaye Paine. New Haven Connecticut, Yale Univeristy Press, 1920)

Individual Battles
 * Battle of Queenston Heights, Queenston, Ontario (British victory) - 13 October 1812
 * The Canadian Encyclopedia
 * Wikipedia
 * American Battlefield Trust
 * The Battle of Queenston Heights - by Ernest Cruikshank on Archive.org

Battle of Lundy's Lane - 25 July 1814; Both sides claimed victory; one mile from Niagara Falls
 * Battle of Frenchtown(British victory) - 22 January 1813 at what is now Monroe, Michigan on the Raisin River
 * Battle of Lake Erie (Wikipedia) [[Image:Battle Lake Errie 1813.jpg|right|200px|Battle Lake Errie 1813.jpg]](United States naval victory) - 10 September 1813
 * Battle of the Thames (Wikipedia) (Both sides claimed victory) - 5 October 1813 at Moraviantown, on Thames River, Kent County, Ontario
 * The Battle of Lundy's Lane by Ernest Cruikshank on Archive.org
 * Battle of Lundy's Lane

Battle of Plattsburg - 11 September 1814
 * Centenary of the Battle of Plattsburg, vol. 2
 * Centenary of the Battle of Plattsburg, vol. 3


 * North Point and Fort McHenry, September 12 & 13, 1814
 * Battle of New Orleans (United States victory) (after peace treaty was signed) 8 January 1815

Published Books Online

 * War of 1812 Newspaper Clippings and Pictures. 1966. Frankfort, Kentucky, Kentucky Historical Society.
 * The Pictorial Field-book of the War of 1812: or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the Last War for American Independence. c2009. by Benson J. Lossing. Salt Lake City: Digitized by the Genealogical Society of Utah. FamilySearch Digital Library
 * Additional list of published books online at various websites

Published Books

 * 1812: War with America. c2007. by Jon Latimer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press. 637 pages. ;
 * Citizens in Arms : the Army and Militia in American Society to the War of 1812. c1982. by Lawrence Delbert Cress. Chapel Hill, North Carolina:University of North Carolina Press. ;
 * The Coming of the War of 1812: An Account of the Remarkable Events Leading to the War of 1812. c1960. by Albert H.Z. Carr. Garden City, New York:Doubleday.
 * Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. c1997. by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. 636 pages. ;
 * The Naval War of 1812: a Documentary History. 1985-2002. by William S. Dudley. Washington, District of Columbia, Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy 1985-2002. ;
 * Officers of the War of 1812 with Portraits and Anecdotes: the United States Army Left Division Gallery of Honor. c1989. by John C. Fredriksen. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press. ;
 * The Republic in Peril: 1812. c1971. by Roger H. Brown. New York: Columbia University Press, c1964; reprint ed., New York: W.W. North and Company.
 * Resource Guide for the War of 1812. c1979. by John C. Fredriksen. [S.l.]: J.C. Fredriksen. ;
 * The Twilights Last Gleaming. c1977. by Kate Caffey. New York: Stern and Day, c1977.
 * The United States Army in the War of 1812: Concise Biographies of Commanders and Operational Histories of Regiments, with Bibliographies of Published and Primary Sources. c2009. by John C. Fredriksen. Jefferson, North Carolina. ;
 * The War of 1812, a Forgotten Conflict. 1989. by Donald R. Hickey. Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. 457 pages. ;  
 * The War of 1812. 1969. by Reginald Horsman. New York, New York, Alfred A Knophf. 286 pages. ;
 * The War of 1812: a Compact History. 1969. by James Ripley Jacobs and Glenn Tucker. New York, New York, Hawthorn Books copyright. ;


 * American Privateers in the War of 1812 : the Vessels and their Prizes as Recorded in Niles' Weekly Register. c2012. by Timothy S. Good, ed. Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Co. ;


 * Campaign Niagara Frontier 1812
 * Notices of the War of 1812 Volume I
 * Notices of the War of 1812 Volume II
 * War of 1812, FamilySearch Catalog


 * Malcomson, Robert. Historical Dictionary of the War of 1812. (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2006). 701 pages.


 * Mahon, John K. The War of 1812. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, c1972).


 * Perkins, Bradford. Prologue to War: England and the United States,1802-1812. (Berkeley: University of California Press, c1961).


 * Pratt, Julius W. Expansionists of 1812. (New York: MacMillan, c1949).


 * Rules and Regulations... 1815


 * Schweitzer, George K. War of 1812 Genealogy. (Knoxville, Tennessee, 1983). Includes general history of the war, the types of records created, and the titles of those records.


 * Skeen, C. Edward: Citizen Soldiers in the War of 1812 (Lexington, Kentucky: Universtiy Press of Kentucky, c1999). Includes description of the militia system in the states before the War of 1812, how the militia was combined with the regular army, and what happened. Bibliography: p. 215-220. Includes index. 229 pages..


 * Weber, Gustavus A. The Bureau of Pensions: Its History, Activities and Organization. (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, c1923).


 * War of 1812 Newspaper Clippings and Pictures (Frankfort, Kentucky, Kentucky Historical Society, 1966).


 * Sites of Interest for War of 1812 Enthusiast. (accessed 22 June 2012)

National Archives Catalog

 * War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, ca. 1871 - ca. 1900
 * Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, ca. 1800 - ca. 1900
 * Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files
 * Indexes to the Carded Records of Soldiers Who Served in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, 1899 - 1927
 * Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, 1899 - 1927
 * Muster Rolls of Volunteer Organizations During the War of 1812, 6/18/1812 - 2/17/1815
 * Dept. of the Treasury. Customs Service. Collection District of New London, Connecticut. War of 1812 Petitions
 * U.S. District Court. Southern District of New York. War of 1812 Prize Case Files, 1812 - 1816

Soldiers' Claims

 * Higgins, Francis J. "Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812" (Baltimore, Maryland, 1969, 1994)


 * Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812, compiled by the New York Adjutant General's Office. The following list is an index of claims presented by members of Indian tribes primarily in New York mustered into the service of the United States in the War of 1812. Information is presented as follows: Claim number, name of warrior, claimant and amount awarded.

Timelines

 * National Society Daughters of the War of 1812, Great Timeline of the events of the war.


 * Causes and events of the War of 1812: a Timeline - includes political events, military events, and military events in Europe.


 * War of 1812 Timeline

Websites

 * War of 1812 - US Army Infantry, Rangers and Riflemen


 * National Society Daughters of the War of 1812, has a free search of its Ancestor Database and a list of other War of 1812 sites. It also has possibly the best library on the War of 1812.


 * NARA, War of 1812 Discharge Certificates, has an explanation of the records, and the following appendixes: Appendix I: List of Units and Subunits Appendix II: List of Company/Detachment Commanders Appendix III: List of Soldiers by Name Appendix IV: List of Soldiers by Unit


 * The USGENWEB Project has a special project relating to the War of 1812. Look under the state your ancestor came from and then click on military records.


 * Wikipedia contributors, War of 1812 Article


 * US Navy and Marines, Bicentennial of the War of 1812, especially the history section.


 * War of 1812 Resources - list of resources available in the Newberry Library.


 * Society of the War of 1812 The purpose of this page is to providelinks to other websites that relate to the War of 1812.


 * Illinois Society War of 1812


 * Online War of 1812 Indexes and Records


 * War of 1812


 * Ely Parker's List of Oneida Indian Volunteers, War of 1812


 * Major William McIntosh’s Company of Creek Indians, Creek War of 1814


 * Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command, Officers of the War of 1812, Marine Corps Officers


 * Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command, Officers of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in the War of 1812


 * Cyndi's List


 * Olive Tree Genealogy, War of 1812 Genealogy and History


 * Sites of Interest for War of 1812 Enthusiast. (accessed 22 June 2012).


 * The Man Who Captured the White House - Brief histories of the activities of General Ross, including the burning of the White House and the events for the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Related FamilySearch Historical Record Collections

 * United States War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815
 * United States War of 1812 Index to Pension Application Files, 1812-1910
 * Louisiana War of 1812 Pension Lists, 1812-1815