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."

Map of the.

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.

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

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

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:

Battles

 * Queenston, Ontario (British victory) 13 October 1812
 * Battle of Queenston Heights (Wikipedia)
 * Battle of Queenston Heights (Archives of Ontario)


 * Battle of Frenchtown (Historyofwar.org) (British victory) - 22 January 1813 now Monroe, Michigan on the Raisin River


 * Battle of Lake Erie (Wikipedia) (United States naval victory) 10 September 1813


 * Battle of the Thames (Wikipedia) (Both sides claimed victory) - Moraviantown, on Thames River, Kent County, Ontario 5 October 1813


 * Batle of Lundy's Lane (Historycentral.com) (Both sides claimed victory) - about one mile from Niagara Falls 25 July 1814


 * North Point and Fort McHenry, September 12 & 13, 1814


 * Battle of New Orleans (Historycentral.com) (United States victory) (after peace treaty was signed) 8 January 1815


 * Campaigns of the War of 1812-1815, against Great Britain, sketched and criticised; with brief biographies of the American engineers, George W. Cullum,


 * Paine, Ralph Delahaye, The fight for a free sea: a chronicle of the War of 1812 (New Haven Connecticut, Yale Univeristy Press, 1920)


 * Battle of Queenston Heights
 * Campaign Niagara Frontier 1812
 * Battle of Lundy's Lane
 * Centenary of the Battle of Plattsburg, vol. 2
 * Centenary of the Battle of Plattsburg, vol. 3
 * Notices of the War of 1812 Volume I
 * Notices of the War of 1812 Volume II


 * Alphabetical List of Battles 1754-1900

Documentaries

 * PBS The War of 1812 Website is a documentary about the war.


 * PBS, The War of 1812, has a short video with information about the war. It also has lists of historic sites with short histories of each.


 * History.com, War of 1812, has several short videos about the war as well as a brief written histories of the war and a few prominent people.


 * Galafilm, War of 1812, has brief histories of events, historical maps, a bibliography, and lists of links to other War of 1812 sites.


 * Naval History and Heritage, Bicentennial of the War of 1812, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guard, has videos, biographies, etc.


 * United States Navy, Bicentennial of the War of 1812, videos

Additional Resources

 * War of 1812, FamilySearch Catalog


 * Brown, Roger H. The Republic in Peril: 1812. (New York: Columbia University Press, c1964; reprint ed., New York: W.W. North and Company, c1971).


 * Caffey, Kate. The Twilights Last Gleaming. (New York: Stern and Day, c1977).


 * Carr, Albert H.Z. The Coming of the War of 1812: An Account of the Remarkable Events Leading to the War of 1812. (Garden City, New York:Doubleday, c1960).


 * Coles, Harry L. The War of 1812. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c1965).


 * Fredriksen, John C. The United States Army in the War of 1812: Concise biographies of Commnaders and Operational Histories of Regiments, with Bibliographies of published and primary sources. (Jefferson, North Carolina: c2009)..


 * Fredriksen, John C. Officers of the War of 1812 with portraits and anecedotes: the United States Army Left Division gallery of honor. (Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, c1989)..


 * Fredriksen, John C. Resource Guide for the War of 1812.([S.l.]: J.C. Fredriksen, c1979)..


 * Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, c1997)..


 * Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29,1789 to March 2, 1903, (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903). 2 volumes. Abbreviations, vol. 1, page 9. Army organization, vol. 2, page 560. Artillery and Engineer Regiments, vol. 1, page 50. Forts and soldiers homes, vol. 2, page 475. Battles, vol. 2, page 280, 298, 301, 391. Cavalry Regiments, vol. 1, page 65. Dragoon Regiments, vol. 1, page 79. Fencibles and mounted riflemen, vol. 1, 143. Infantry, vol. 1, page 81. Legion, vol. 1, page 139. Rangers and riflemen, vol. 1, page 141. Voltigeurs and Sea Fencibles, vol. 1, 143. War with Great Britain, vol. 281. Officers of Regular Army, killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, vol. 2, page 13. Quartermaster's Department, vol. 1, page 40. Record and Pension Office, 1892, vol. 1, page 45. Topographical Engineers, vol. 1, page 43. Digital versions on Internet Archive and . Also available and.


 * Hickey, Donald R. The War of 1812, a Forgotten Conflict (Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1989)..


 * Horsman, Reginald The War of 1812 (New York, New York, Alfred A Knophf, 1969)..


 * Jacobs, James Ripley and Glenn Tucker, The War of 1812: a compact history (New York, New York, Hawthorn Books copyright 1969)..


 * Latimer, Jon: 1812: War with America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, c2007)..


 * Lossing, Benson J. 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 (Salt Lake City: Digitized by the Genealogical Society of Utah c2009). View a great digital version.


 * 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..


 * Smelser, Marshall. The Democratic: 1800-1815. (New York: Harper &amp; Row Publishers, Inc., c1968).


 * Tucker, Glenn. Poltroons and Patriots: A Popular Account of the War of 1812. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c1954). 2 vols.


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


 * White, Patrick C.T. A Nation on Trial: America and War of 1812. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, c1965).


 * Williams, T. Harry. The History of American Wars: From Colonial Times to World War I. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, c1981).


 * 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)

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.

African Americans
During the War of 1812, many African Americans fought in the U.S. armed forces, especially in the Navy. Many others fought on the side of the British.


 * Van Thienen, Erik, The War of 1812, 1812-1815, (Yahoo! Answers, accessed 29 May 2012), has a good explanation of the role of African Americans in the War, including the names of over 20 soldiers. It also gives several sources for more information.

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 Genealogical Research has links to various War of 1812 websites.


 * 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.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Louisiana War of 1812 Pension Lists (FamilySearch Historical Records)