New York in the War of 1812

Introduction
During the War of 1812, New York supplied 63,790 infantry men, 2,415 cavalry men, 8,830 artillery men, and 2,861 men in miscellaneous troops for a total of 77,896 men. Two thousand of those soldiers were African-American. Members of the Six Nations Confederacy (Haudenosaunee/Iroquois) fought on both sides of the war.

Online Resources

 * U.S., War of 1812 Papers, 1789-1815 at Ancestry.com — index & images, ($)
 * at FamilySearch — digital book
 * at FamilySearch — digital book
 * Prize and Related Records for the War of 1812 of the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York at FamilySearch — digital book
 * War of 1812 in the Buffalo Area - A digital project featuring selected original and published letters, journals, artist's conceptions, diaries, scrapbooks, reminiscences, news clippings, and other ephemera from the collection of The Buffalo History Museum

Service Records

 * at FamilySearch — index & images


 * Access Genealogy. New York War of 1812 Military Records, includes pensions, bounty lands, payrolls and rosters of selected counties. (Free).


 * General Society of the War of 1812, The Constitution and Register of Membership of the General Society of the War of 1812 to October 1, 1899]. (Philadelphia, Dewey &amp; Eakens, Makers 1899). Family Search. contains registers for eight states and District of Columbia. Descendant Members of the New York Society identifies veteran ancestor by name, his rank, unit in which he served, dates of service, etc., page 199.


 * Ancestry. War of 1812 Service Records.($). This database gives name, company, rank at time of induction and at time of discharge of men mustered into the armed forces between 1812 and 1825.(Accessed 11 May 2012).


 * Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, 1783–1821 contains military commissions, arranged by year and then by county. Since militia were organized locally, knowing the unit a soldier served in can help you determine where he was from. Index in volume 4. Volume 3 shows which county each unit was from. ).


 * Abstracts of Payrolls for New York State Militia from the New York State Archives. Consists of payroll cards for soldiers of the New York militia. Each card lists: name; rank; "organization" in which the soldier served, including the specific company name; amount paid; dates paid; and "remarks," which generally provides the payroll and/or voucher number that corresponds to the soldier and other information on his military service. Free access to residents of New York State.


 * New York: Index of Awards On Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812 (Ancestry) ($) - index of claims by soldiers for clothing and equipment provided by the soldier and which were depreciated, worn out, lost or destroyed in service for which he had not received payment.


 * New York, War of 1812 Certificates and Applications of Claim and Related Records, 1858-1869 at Ancestry.com — index & images, ($)


 * Prize and related records for the War of 1812 of the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York (Washington, District of Columbia: National Archives and Records Service, 1973). FHL Digitized Films.

Pension Records
A soldier may have been recorded in state records (see below) or in federal records (see US War of 1812 Pension Records).


 * at FamilySearch — index & images
 * War of 1812 Pension Files at Fold3.com — images, ($)

Histories

 * Guernsey, R.S. New York City and vicinity during the War of 1812-15 New York, New York : Charles L. Woodward, 1889-95. FHL Digital Book


 * Haen, Virginia John Grant, War of 1812 (Salt Lake City, Utah, Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah 1992). John Grant enlisted in New York and ended up in Wisconsin where he applied for a pension. FHL Film 1838581 Item 3


 * Maps of the Principal Battles in the War of 1812, courtesy of West Point Military Academy.


 * New York (State) Plattsburgh Centenary Commission. The Battle of Plattsburgh: What Historians Say About It. (Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon: 1914). This is a centennial history of the battle with several maps and comments by historians. Digital version at Internet Archive.


 * War of 1812 in the Buffalo/Niagara Area - A bibliography from The Buffalo History Museum
 * War of 1812, 1812 to 1815 has lists of general books and documentaries, as well as a list battles with links to web sites about the battles, and other information not tied to one country.

Cemetery Records

 * War of 1812 Cemetery Committee, Town of Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York. War of 1812 Cemetery, lists 205 soldiers buried buried between 4 August 1814 and 16 July 1815. It gives regiment, name, commanding officer's name, cause of death, date entered hospital, date died.
 * War of 1812 Cemetery, Town of Cheektowaga, Erie County, New York at wnyroots.tripod.com — index

Important National and International Sources

 * United States in the War of 1812 has lists of records, books, etc. for the United States, not just one state. The federal records are listed here rather than on each state page. Two of the most important are:


 * FamilySearch Historical Records Collection On line Database:
 * FamilySearch Historical Records Collection On line Database: