The Petersburg company was with a detachment of about 600 sent out on the evening of February 9, to attack an estimated 200 Indians reported to be some 15 miles down the Maumee. Marching on ice for most of the way, the area in which the Indians were supposed to be was reached about 4 o’clock in the morning, and in battle order, they quietly advanced.” I could hear the men cocking their pieces,” wrote one of the Volunteers, “our company to a man, were even at that moment cheerful and gay! fear was far distant from our ranks.” Much to their disappointment, the Indians had left and after a pursuit of about eight miles, the detachment, the Indians had left, and after a pursuit of about eight miles, the detachment, the Indians had left, and after a pursuit of about eight miles, the detachment gave up and returned to Fort Meigs.^[53] Again, on March 4, Captain McRae’s company was sent out, this time with a party which was to cover the retreat of an unsuccessful expedition fitted out from the fort on February 26 to burn the British brig Queen Charlotte at Malden. They met the expedition at the mouth of Lake Erie, and returned with them to the fort on the following day.^[54]

In late January, the Petersburg Volunteers and two companies of twelve months volunteers from Pennsylvania, were organized into a battalion under Major John B. Alexander, who was promoted from captain of the Greensburg Riflemen, a small company of about 23.^[55] The other company was Captain James R. Butler’s Pittsburgh Blues, which had a total strength of about 39.^[56] The two Pennsylvania companies, both of which had seen action at the battle of Missineway, November 18, 1812, did not reach Fort Meigs until March 18.^[57] Major Alexander, wrote one of McRae’s company, “is a fine fellow as I ever knew–The most perfect harmony exists between the Pittsburgh company and ours…a generous emulation exists among them,…officers and men mingle together; we visit each others tents of an evening, sing, tell stories, play music, and drink grog, when we can get it; which by-the-by, is not often the case, suttlers not being permitted to sell spirits in the camp.^[58]

Soon after their arrival at the Rapids the Volunteers suffered their first loss, Private Andrew Andrews who died from “diseases of a severe climate.”^[59] Conditions within the camp were far from healthful, with mud and water covering the ground, even within tents. Worse still, was the lack of wood for fires. As the timber had been cut for a long distance around the fort, wood had to be collected and hauled in by teams, for which there was “not a bushel of forage.” On March 8, Private Edmund S. Gee, died, and a companion who was present wrote: “I saw him breathe his last–we consigned him to his mother earth will all the decency our circumstances would permit… All the battalion attended the funeral–likewise general Leftwich, who requested the chaplain to perform a funeral service, a thing not done on any similar occasion.”^[60] Corporal James Stevens died on March 17, and two days later Captain Cushing noted in his journal: “Our men are very sickly; no wonder lying in mud and water and without fire; not less than two or three men died every day, and I expect the deaths to increase unless the weather changes very soon.”^[61]

The advance to Malden set for early February was abandoned, and with the departure of the Kentucky and Ohio militia, whose terms of service had expired, there was no hope for a campaign until spring. Harrison left on March 5 to make arrangements for more troops, and, on the same day, his engineer officer, Captain Eleazer D. Wood, went to superintend the building of fortifications at Lower Sandusky. General Leftwich, now in command, was charged with completing Fort Meigs, but Wood, who returned on March 18, found that “…this phlegmatic stupid old granny, so soon as General Harrison left camp, stopped the progress of the work entirely, assigning as a reason that he couldn’t make the militia do anything, “and that Leftwich had even permitted the timber brought in for building blockhouses to be used as fuel.”^[62]

The strength of the garrison was seriously depleted on April 2, when Leftwich and his brigade, with most of the Pennsylvania militia, left for their homes, their terms of service having ended. Wood wrote, “…and away went every Virginian belonging to the drafted militia, without the least concern as to what became of those they left behind, or caring whether the enemy or ourselves were in possession of the camp, so long as they could escape from the defense of it.”^[63] With Leftwich’s departure, the command of Fort Meigs devolved upon Major Amos Stoddard, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, veteran of the American Revolution, lawyer, and former acting governor of Louisiana.^[64]

A 15-gun salute on April 12 welcomed the return of Harrison with 200 regulars and militia. More arrived later, and by April 23, the garrison had an effective strength of about 1,600.^[65] Work continued feverishly on completing the fort, and readying it for the siege, which was now more than a possibility. It had been known for several weeks that Colonel Henry Proctor was collecting his forces at Malden and Detroit, and on April 18 word came that the attack would be in about 12 days.^[66] The forces which embarked at Malden on April 24 numbered slightly over 2,000, including 413 of the British 41st Regiment of Foot, 468 Canadian militiamen, and about 1,200 Indians.^[67] Landing at the mouth of the Maumee, they moved down the north bank of the river, and established their main camp about two miles below Fort Meigs. While battery positions were being prepared nearly opposite Fort Meigs, the Indians crossed the river, and surrounded the fort in the rear and on the flanks.

Inside the fort, Harrison put his men to work throwing up the “grand traverse,” which could be erected only after determining the location of the enemy batteries. It was an earthen embankment 12 feet high, and extended through the middle of the fort, where the tents of the garrison were pitched, and parallel with the batteries across the river. The tents which had been left to conceal the construction of the traverse, were removed, and bombproofs were dug in its base on the sheltered side. As the men were completing the traverse, and removing the tents, the batteries played on the surrounding Indians with grape and canister, and bombarded the British at work on their emplacements across the river.^[68]

The British on the night of April 30, towed a gunboat up the river near the fort, and after firing 30 rounds, which were ineffective, withdrew before daylight. Late on the morning of May 1, the batteries on the opposite shore opened, and during the day expended about 250 rounds, but without much injury to the fort. Not more than two were killed, and four were wounded. During the night the firing was just enough to keep the garrison from rest. A heavy fire from all four of the enemy’s batteries began on the morning of May 2, and, with the Indians firing from the tree tops nearest the fort, continued all day. Harrison’s losses were four killed and seven wounded.^[69]

Working largely at night, the British established a battery consisting of a light gun and a mortar on Harrison’s side of the river, in a broad ravine about 300 yards on the right of the fort. With these pieces, and the batteries across the river, Fort Meigs was subjected to a galling cross-fire. Some 516 rounds were sent at the fort on May 3, but the garrison suffered few losses. On May 4, Harrison refused Proctor’s demand for a surrender, and late that night he received the good news that General Green Clay’s Kentucky brigade of 1,200 would soon arrive.^[70] With the day, there came a loss to the Petersburg Volunteers, Second Lieutenant Gary, who died suddenly who died suddenly after a lengthy illness.^[71]

May 5 was the momentous day of the siege, and is the date upon which the fame of the Petersburg Volunteers largely rests. On Clay’s arrival, 846 of his brigade, under Colonel William Dudley, landed on the north side of the river, and captured the enemy’s batteries, which were without support of infantry. Instead of returning to the fort after spiking the guns as ordered, the Kentuckians lingered about, some going in pursuit of the fleeing Indians. Three companies of the 41st Regiment, some Canadian militia, with Tecumseh and his Indians rallied, and drove in between Dudley’s men and the river, killing and capturing the entire force save about 170 who managed to escape to Fort Meigs.^[72] While the British batteries were being spiked, the remainder of Clay’s brigade on the south bank of the river, fought their way to Fort Meigs, arriving in time for three companies of the Kentuckians to join a sortie on its way out to engage the Indians on the left flank of the fort. A detachment from Alexander’s battalion, comprised of McRae’s company and the Pittsburgh Blues, was included in the sallying party. The Indians were driven back into the woods, a half a mile or so, but the pursuing troops became reckless, over confident, and came very near experiencing the diameter like that suffered by Dudley’s men on the north bank.^[73]

A sortie against the battery in the ravine on the right of the fort was ordered by Harrison. In support of the battery Proctor had the grenadier and light infantry companies of the 41st Regiment, two companies of Canadian militia, and Tecumseh with some 500 Indians; in all, about 850.^[74] Under the command of Colonel John Miller, 19th U.S. Infantry, the sortie consisted of detachments from seven companies of the 19th and 17th U.S. Infantry regiments, Captain Uriel Sebree’s company of Kentucky militia, and Major Alexander’s battalion of volunteers. The Petersburg Volunteers was the largest of the battalion’s companies, with 64 under First Lieutenant Tisdale, commanding in the absence of Captain McRae who was ill as were many others in the company.^[75] The Pittsburgh Blues, led by First Lieutenant Matthew Magee in place of Captain Butler, who was indisposed, numbered about 25.^[76] No more than a dozen or so of the Greensburgh Riflemen, under Lieutenant Peter Drum, participated.^[77] In all, Miller had about 350 men.

The troops were assembled in a small ravine just outside the southeast face of the fort, out of the enemy’s sight. Lieutenant Tisdale, nicknamed “Old Sluefoot” by the men, paced back and forth in front of the company, urging them to rush forward with a tremendous shout. Harrison, after passing through the ranks offering encouragement, took a post at a nearby battery to observe the attack. The word was given, and moving out of the ravine at trail arms, they advanced up a hill in full view of the enemy. As they reached the top, the companies of the 41st Regiment opened fire, but inflicted few casualties. Miller’s lines moved out on a plain some 200 yards in width, and after advancing about 50 yards, halted, closed ranks, and, with the Petersburg company on the right flank, charged, firing as they went. The Indians firing from the woods with the considerable effect, came very near turning the right of Miller’s line and getting into the rear, which could have been disastrous. As they were driving the enemy back in confusion, and spiking the gun and mortar in the battery, Sebree’s company, outflanked by the enemy, became locked in a hand-to-hand struggle, which ended when Harrison sent in a company of regulars. About noon the fighting ceased, and Miller, his objective accomplished, returned to the fort with 42 prisoners.^[78]

The casualties of the sortie were reported as 30 killed, and about 90 wounded, of which Alexander’s battalion had two killed, both members of the Pittsburgh Blues, and 29 wounded.^[79] Seventeen of the Petersburg Volunteers were wounded, most of them slightly, but three proved fatal. On May 10, Nicholas Massenburg died, George Booker died on May 12, and George Clough on May 18.^[80] The company’s number of casualties was largely attributed to their exposed position on the right flank during the assault.^[81]

Harrison wrote of the “intrepidity” of the Petersburg Volunteers in his report of May 9, and Captain Wood noted in his journal: “The company of volunteers from Petersburg (Virginia) particularly distinguished themselves by their intrepid and cool conduct, while approaching the batteries under a heavy fire of musketry.^[82] No lesser tribute, however, was paid the Volunteers by an unknown post rider, who declared that they “fought like devils.”^[83]

Sergeant John Henderson of the Petersburg Volunteers had charge of a battery served by others of his company. One of the, John Shore, formerly captain of a merchant vessel, and who was said to have been largely responsible for the organization of the company, was wounded by a splinter and died of lock jaw on May 8. A letter to his brother in Petersburg disclosed that the battery was “…manned by the Petersburg Volunteers–a Battery, my dear sir, that did more execution among the enemy than any other at Fort Meigs.”^[84] Harrison in his report on May 9 wrote that “The battery managed by Sergt. Henderson was as the enemy confessed–managed with peculiar efficacy & effect with respect to the sorties which were made on the 5th inst.” Henderson was recommended for promotion by Harrison, and was commissioned a lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment of Artillery. In July, one of the fort’s batteries was named in his honor.^[85]

The end of the siege on May 9 left Fort Meigs with 81 killed and 189 wounded. Along with many who were too sick for active duty, the wounded suffered much from the extreme wet and cold. Many of them lay on rails to keep above water until they could be placed in the blockhouses converted into temporary hospitals.^[86] Dysentery prevailed in the fort, and on May 20, it was said that not more than 20 of the Petersburg Volunteers were fit for duty. Dysentery prevailed in the fort, and on May 20, it was said that not more than 20 of the Petersburg Volunteers were fit for duty.^[87] Cushing wrote on May 22 that several of the sick had died, and “…not more than could be expected, considering the fatigue and the badness of the weather they have experienced for the last thirty days.”^[88] At the end of the month the rolls of the Petersburg company noted 41 men as sick. John Cureton died on June 13, Corporal John Perry on the 14th, and three days later, William Lacy and George P. Raybourn died. On June 16, Captain McRae, who seems to have been sick for much of his time in service, with several of his company, Lieutenant Magee of the Pittsburgh Blues, and some fom Cushing’s artillery company, left for Cleveland, where it was hoped they would regain their health.^[89]

On July 21, Proctor, now a major general, returned for another try at Fort Meigs, then under command of General Clay, and found the fort stronger than before. A ruse to draw the garrison from the fort into the open, to be ambushed, failed, and on July 28, the “second siege” was lifted. Proctor then moved down the Maumee, along Lake Erie, and up the Sandusky River, to attack Fort Stephenson at Lower Sandusky, ten miles from Harrison’s main supply depot at Seneca Town. Harrison moved his forces closer to the depot, leaving in command of Fort Stephenson 21-year old Major George Croghan, 17th U.S. Infantry, who had been distinguished himself in Miller’s sortie at Fort Meigs.^[90] Croghan had only 160 men, and one iron 6-pounder, to defend the fort, which was attacked on the first of August.

A severe cannonade by the British on the first day had little effect on the fort. The 6-pounder occasionally replied, and was shifted about to give the impression of more artillery. Late on August 2, the 41st Regiment advanced 400 strong, with an assault column coming within 50 yards before they were discovered. Musketry sent their lines into confusion, but they rallied, and swarmed into the ditch just outside the palisade. A masked port was opened, and the 6-pounder sent forth a deadly fire of grape and slugs into the ranks of the redcoats. Another assault was attempted, and again with the same result. Proctor gave up, and left that night for Malden with almost 100 casualties. In the fort, there had been one killed, and seven slightly wounded. Petersburg’s link with the determined defenses of the fort and the 6-pounder, later dubbed “Good Bess,” is found in Harrison’s report of the action, which in part read: “A young gentleman private in the Petersburg Volunteers, of the name of [Edmund] Brown, assisted by five or six of that company and of the Pittsburgh Blues, who were accidently in the fort managed the six pounder which produced such destruction in the ranks of the enemy.”^[91] Another of the Petersburg company with the 6-pounder was Edward Mumford.^[92]

After Fort Stephenson, Harrison began organizing his forces for an offensive against Malden by water, the success of which depended upon the control of Lake Erie. Fort Meigs was reduced in size, and leaving 300 men there, including about 20 of the Petersburg Volunteers under Lieutenant Tisdale, General Caly on August 18, marched with the balance to Harrison’s headquarters at Lower Seneca Town.^[93] There, on August 28, Alexander’s battalion was broken up when the Pittsburg Blues and the Greensburg Riflemen were discharged, their terms of enlistment having expired. Within a period of three weeks, when the Petersburg Volunteers were at Fort Meigs and Camp Seneca, the ranks of the company were reduced by the deaths of Samuel Miles, William Lanier, William P. Rawlings, and Samuel Williams, who had been among the wounded on May 5.

The Petersburg company was now attached to Lieutenant Colonel James V. Ball’s squadron of about 400 “chosen men,” selected to be the first to land on the Canadian shore. In a letter from Camp Senson on September 10 one of the Volunteers said: “I now write you for the last time (in all probability) from this place, as we shall move from this post in four or five days for Malden…Ours troops, throughout the whole camp, are in high spirits, and pant for the moment when they shall encounter the enemy.” Another of the company wrote: “I merely wish to inform you, the time has at last arrived, when we have to march for Canada…should I come off even as well as at Fort Meigs, I would be contented.”^[94] Tisdale’s detachment left Fort Meigs on September 7, and on the 11th rejoined the company at Lower Sandusky. En route, on Lake Erie, they had been within a short distance of the two fleets during the famous battle of September 10, which ended in Commodore Oliver Hazard Petty’s defeat of the British, and opened the way for Harrison’s invasion of Canada. Several of the Petersburg company had answered to the call for volunteers to serve with the fleet. Private John H. Smith was one of them, and the other was one of the two Harrisons, but which of them, William or Nathaniel, is undetermined. Former Sergeant Henderson, then a second lieutenant in the 2nd Artillery, also volunteered, and was posted in the tops with a musket. All three escaped injury.^[95]

The army embarked on September 20 for the rendezvous points at Put-in-Bay Island, Bass Island, and Middle Sister Island, about 12 miles off the Canadian shore. On board Perry’s ship, the schooner Ariel, late in the evening, the officers, having dined, were on deck enjoying the cool breeze. Major John Chambers, volunteer aide to General Harrison, and future governor of the Iowa Territory, was approached by one of the Petersburg Volunteers, who asked if it would be possible to obtain a cup of coffee, saying that he was still weak from malaria, and had been unable to eat the cold and coarse rations issued to the company. Chambers felt powerless to grant the request, but within a half an hour, and to his gratification, the entire company was relishing an excellent hot supper, thanks to Commodore Perry, who, after overhearing the conversation, had ordered its preparation.^[96]

Late in the afternoon of September 27 Harrison’s army landed about three miles below Malden, which was occupied the same day. Sandwich and Detroit, just across the river, were entered on September 29. With his forces increased by the arrival of Colonel Richard Johnson’s Mounted Regiment of 1,000 Kentuckians, Harrison went in pursuit of the enemy. The victory at the Battle of the Thames, 56 miles east of Detroit on October 5, ended in the disgrace of Proctor and the death of Tecumseh, but, more important, it brought to an end the fighting in the northwest. The Petersburg Volunteers, in the rear guard, did not arrive in time to share in the fighting. “I for one was right glad of it,” Lorrain recalled, “for our time of service was now expired, and the word ‘home, sweet home,’ seemed to gather additional charms every day.”^[97] The release of the volunteer troops in the army began soon after their return to Detroit. There on the public parade ground, the Petersburg company was discharged by the following order:

Muskets were turned in, and the company began its long journey homeward. They waited for about a week in Cleveland, expecting to received their final pay, but when the paymaster, John G. Chalmers, a member of the company, failed to appear, the Volunteers broke up into “little social bands, in different routes,” Lorrain recalled, for Petersburg.^[99] A number went to Pittsburgh, still hoping to meet Chalmers, but after about ten days they started for home. Lorrain and three of his intimate friends, who do not appear to have been with the group at Pittsburgh, traveled to Petersburg by way of Winchester and Fredericksburg. From Petersburg on November 12, it was announced that three of the company had arrived on the 9th and “nearly all the rest, we understand, are on the way, by different routs, and may be shortly expected to arrived. With the exception of Captian McRae, the Members of the Company generally…enjoy good health.”^[100]

The firing of cannon at dawn and sunrise on January 8, 1814, opened the festivities honoring the returned Volunteers. Three guns fired at noon brought the militia companies, the Volunteers, and many citizens, to Centre Hill, where after salutes were rendered to the company, the procession left for Poplar Spring, within the grounds which later became known as Poplar Lawn. There Postmaster Thomas Shore, brother of the lamented John Shore, who died at Fort Meigs, delivered the oration, in which he declared: “The pride of Sparta were the heroes of Thermopylae, the pride of Virginia the heroes for Fort Meigs.” Appropriate selections were rendered by the band, and all joined in the singing of patriotic airs. The ball in which the dinner was held that afternoon was bedecked with a variety of flags, “among which waves conspicuously the war worn banner of the heroes of Fort Meigs.”^[101] This was not the only observance that year in connection with the Petersburg Volunteers. A number of the veterans who had removed to Richmond borrowed two field pieces from the state, and on May 7, The Enquirer reported: “We understand that the National Salute fired in this city on Thursday [May 5] was to commemorate the Anniversary of the sortie from Fort Meigs.”^[102]

Traditionally, President Madison reviewed the company on its way home in 1813, and at the time, conferred upon Petersburg a sobriquet, “The Cockade City of the Union,” which is usually shortened to “The Cockade City.” Madison, searching for something complimentary to say, possibly thought of the leather cockade ornamenting the soldiers’ hats. Thus, Petersburg is furnishing the volunteer company which had served so well at Fort Meigs, was the ornament, or cockade, of the Union. There seems to be some historical basis for this cherished legend, but contemporary evidence as to exactly when the incident occurred is lacking. As the Volunteers traveled homeward in separate groups Madison could not have reviewed the company in its entirety, but it may have been that some of the returning soldiers stopped to see him in Washington. Another possibility is that the sobriquet was conferred at the time McRae was in Washington during July 1814 settling accounts with the War Department.^[103]

Whatever may have been the circumstances of its origin, the sobriquet does not seem to have come into general usage until several decades after the war. On March 14, 1817, President Harrison, upon special invitation by the citizens of Petersburg and the veterans of the Volunteers, was honored with a public dinner at Poplar Spring. Many toasts were given, but nowhere in them, or in the lengthy press accounts of the occasion do we find mention of “The Cockade City of the Union.”^[104] Lafayette visited Petersburg on October 29-30, 1824, and at the ball following the banquet given in his honor on the first night: “A crowd of the Canada volunteers from Petersburg, were by name introduced to him. He received them with a soldier’s hand, and looked upon them with a soldier’s eye.” Another dinner was given him at Niblo’s Tavern on the second night, and immediately after a toast was drunk in his honor, the 67-year old general rose, and gave the following: “The Petersburg Volunteers and the Petersburg Canada Company in the late war.”^[105] Again the newspaper accounts of these events covering two days, we find no mention of the “Cockade City.” There were other occasions where, seemingly, Petersburg’s appellation would have been mentioned. Finally, on July 4, 1838, a toast was drunk to the town of Petersburg: “The Cockade of the Union, a proud cognomen won by her gallantry in the late war; may she maintain it to the last moment of her existence.”^[106] The sobriquet, “The Cockade of the Union,” was phrased the same in 1843, 1846, and in 1848, and throughout this period there are references to the “Cockade Town” in the press.^[107] “City” first appears in the sobriquet after 1850 when Petersburg became a city, and to this day it has continued as “The Cockade City of the Union.”

Interestingly, it is “The Cockade City of the Union” on the monument to McRae and the Petersburg Volunteers erected in Blandford Cemetery in 1857. Apparently, no one questioned the inscription.^[108] The story of this imposing monument begins with the tragic death of McRae, who had left Petersburg for Washington on May 29, 1854. On June 1, after a squall, his body was found floating in the Potomac at the mouth of Aquia Creek. There were wounds about the head, and foul play was generally suspected, but the mystery has never been resolved. He was interred in Blandford Cemetery with military honors on June 4. Funds for a monument were raised by popular subscription in 1856, and on January 12, 1857, the marble shaft was erected, not only to honor McRae but as a memorial to his company. The gilded eagle with spread wings on top of the shaft, and the iron fence ornamented with military trophies, were added a little later.^[109]

Superlatives for the Petersburg Volunteers would have to include John F. Wiley, Thomas Bell Bigger, and Reuben Clements. Wiley, who had been among the wounded at Fort Meigs, represented Amelia County in the House of Delegates, 1835-1837, 1840-1841, and in 1843, was elected councillor of state. He was reelected in 1846, and as senior councillor in 1848, Wiley was lieutenant governor. In 1849 he was again elected and served until the expiration of his term in 1852.^[110]

Thomas Bigger removed to Richmond after his return from the war. In 1844 he was appointed postmaster, and served until his resignation in 1862. He joined the Richmond Light Infantry Blues in 1820, and was captain of the company from 1832 until 1839, when he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 19th Regiment, Virginia Militia. He was later made colonel of the regiment, add in 1845 resigned his commission. Bigger was among those who accompanied the remains of Captain McRae from Richmond to Petersburg in 1854. When he died at the age of 86 on May 5, 1880, the 67th anniversary of the sortie at Fort Meigs, the Daily Dispatch declared him as the last survivor of the Petersburg Volunteers.^[111] This was erroneous for in Petersburg former corporal of the company, Reuben Clements, was still very much alive and quite active.^[112]

On August 5, 1848, Clements and Captain McRae, the only survivors of the company then left in town, had been guests of honor at the dinner given for Petersburg’s two companies just returned from Mexico, and among the many toasts was one to them as “The representatives of another age, and other scenes–an age and scenes that won glory to our country…”^[113] Clements was custodian of the flag carried by the Volunteers, and in 1854 he loaned it to Captain Joseph V. Scott of the Petersburg Grays, to be carried in a parade. It was a tragedy, to say the least, when the flag was destroyed in a fire which swept through Scott’s rom on Bollingbrook Street.^[114] Clements saw in 1861, companies of Petersburg youth march away for the second war since his own, 49 years before. Not long after the death of Bigger in Richmond, the old veteran had a fall and suffered complications which eventually led to his demise on October 7, 1881,at the age of 91 years. On Sunday, October 9, the Petersburg Grays, Petersburg Artillery, Old Grays Association, and the Association of Mexican War Veterans, turned out to bury in Blandford Cemetery with military honors, the remains of the last known survivor of the Petersburg Volunteers.^[115]

Footnotes:

1. A court martial found Hull guilty of cowardice and neglect of duty, and sentenced him to be shot. President Madison, because of Hull’s services in the American Revolution, spared his life. Hull was dropped from the army, and spent much of his remaining years writing in defense of his campaign; see Dictionary of American Biography V (New York, 1932), pp. 363-364.
2. William Eustis, Secretary of War, to Gov. James Barbour, Sept. 1, 1812, Executive Papers (September 1812), Virginia State Library, Richmond, Va.; The Enqurier, Richmond, Va., Sept. 8, 1812. All of the named counties are now located in West Virginia.
3. Virginia Argus, Richmond, Va., Sept. 3, 1812. Leftwich was elected by the General Assembly, Jan. 19, 1809, as brigadier general of the 12th Brigade, Virginia Militia Calendar of Virginia State Papers X, p. 43), which was composed of regiments in the counties of Bedford, Patrick, Franklin, Campbell, and Henry.
4. Brig. Gen. Joel Leftwich to Governor Barbour, Oct. 12, 1812, Excutive Papers (October 1812), Virginia State Library.
5. Virginia Argus, Sept. 17, 1812, Nathanile Friedn was mayor Petersburg, 1812-1813, and Edward Pescund, secretary of the meeting, served as mayor, 1818-1819.
6. Virginia Argus Sept. 10, 1812.
7. Ibid., Sept. 14, 1812.
8. M. Barbour to Governor Barbour, Sept. 15, 1812, Executive Papers (September, 1812), Virginia State Library.
9. Petersburg Republican quoted in The Enquirer, Sept. 29, 1812; Virginia Argus, Oct. 1, 1812. They returned with the commissions of the company’s four officers. The commissions were made out about Sept. 21, but, from the compiled service records in National Archives Record Group No. 94, the date of the appointments for these officers was back-dated to Sept. 12, 1812, the date on which they were elected.
10. Virginia Argus, Oct. 1, 1812.
11. Ibid., Sept. 14, 1812.
12. Reprinted in the Virginia Argus Oct. 12, 1812.
13. Ibid., Oct. 12, 1812.
14. The Enquirer, Oct. 23, 1812.
15. Compiled service records, Capt. Richard McRae’s Co., filed under “Major Alexander’s Independent Battalion Virginia Volunteers (War of 1812),” National Archives, Record Group No. 94. The file heading is curious in that Alexander’s battalion consisted of only one Virginia company, McRae’s, and two from Pennsylvania. A roster of the company may be found in the Petersburg Intelligencer, Oct. 23, 1812. A broadside in commemoration of the Petersburg Volunteers, 8″ x 11″ , of an undetermined date prior to 1845, in the Centre Hill Mansion Museum in Petersburg, features a roster of the company, with the omission, however, of Pvt. John McCellah, who was enlisted between May 31 and Oct. 16, 1813. The roster on the broadside was reproduced in Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Virginia (Charleston, S.C., 1845 [reprinted, 1969] pp. 245-246. Another broadside, 13″ x 18″, in commemoration of McRae’s company, printed by James Monroe Hamilton Burnet of Petersburg in 1849 is displayed at Center Hill. It is similar, including the same roster, but more elaborate, than the older one, and is printed on silk.
16. Benjamin Watkins Leigh (1781-1849) attended the College of William and Mary, and in 1802, began law practice in Petersburg. He was first lieutenant of the Petersburg Republlican Light Infantry from 1805 until 1807, when he was elected captian. Leigh had resigned October 1812 (The American Constellation), Petersburg, Va., Oct. 7, 1834). After serving in the House of Deleages, 1811-1813, he removed to Richmond; see Dictionary of American Biography, VI, pp. 152-153.
17. The Enquirer, Oct. 27, 1812. An ensign, the lowest commissioned rank in the infantry, was charged with carrying the unit’s colors.
18. The Senior Volunteers, apparently composed of citizens over military age, was organized at the outbreak of the war as a home guard company, and still existed in 1814. The Petersburg Republican Light Infantry was a volunteer militia company attached to the 39th Regiment Petersburg), was organized in 1805.
19. Ware Bottom Church built in 1723 and has long since disappeared, A rough boulder marks the approximate site, south of the present road (Route 10) to Hopewell, about 300 yards east of the railroad overpass.
20. Petersburg Intelligencer, Oct. 23, 1812; The Enqurier Oct. 27, 1812.
21. The Enquirer, Oct. 27, 1812.
22. James Lee (1758-1816) was a Methodist zealot before he was drafted in to the army in 1780. Refusing to bear arms throughout his three months of service, Lee served as a wagon driver, sergeant of prisoners, and acted as an unofficial chaplain. He labored for Methodism for the remainder of his life, and has been ranked near Bishop Francis Asbury. Relations between the two were intimate, but they did not always agree. Lee was the author of A Short History of the Methodists in the United States, published in 1810 (Dictionary of American Biography, VI, pp. 112-114).
23. Alfred M. Lorrain (1791-1863) was born in Chester Town, Kent County, Maryland, and while an infant, his family moved to Petersburg, Virginia. In 1804 he went to sea as a cabin boy, and was a sailor for seven years, ending his nautical career as a second mate. After his service with the Petersburg Volunteers during the War of 1812, Lorrain was converted to Methodism, and in New Orleans, in 1822, he was licensed to preach. He moved to Xenia, Ohio, the same year, and from 1824 to 1861, traveled on almost all of the Ohio circuits. He was a frequent contributor to the Ladies Repository, and from 1854 to 1855 edited the Western Seamans’ Pilot. At the request of the conference held in Springfield, Ohio in 1861, he wrote his autobiography, The Helm, The Sword and The Cross: A Life Narrative., published in 1862. He was also the author of two volumes of “sea sermons” (Minutes of the Annual Conference, M.E. Church, Cincinnati Conference, 1863; William Coyle, ed., Ohio’s Author and Their Books [Cleveland, 1962], p. 395.)
24. Alfrred M. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword and the Cross: A Life Narrative, (Cincinnati, 1862), pp. 100-102.
25. The Richmond Washington Volunteers under Capt. Richard Booker (1790-1853) left Richmond in July 1813, and was subsequently attached to the 20th Regiment of U.S. Infantry, which participated in the St. Lawrence Campaign. On Dec. 29, 1813, Major General James Wilkinson, commanding the Northern Army, with headquarters at Malone, N.Y., published orders expressing appreciation for the services of the Volunteers, and ordered them to march for Richmond, Va., to be discharged from the service ( Virginia Argus, Nov. 19, 1812, July 15, 1813; Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, pp. 5-6; “Thanks in General Orders To The Richmond Volunteers, War of 1812,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, II [1894], pp. 94-95; Certificate No. 11066WC, Mrs. Selena Booker, Pension Files, National Archives, Record Group No. 15).
26. Capt. Richard McRae to Governor Barbour, Oct. 11, 1812; Governor Barbour to Captain McRae, Oct. 12, 1812; filed in the compiled service record of Capt. Richard McRae, Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Va. Vols (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94.
27. McRae to Thomas H. Cushing, Adj. Gen. Of the U.S., Oct. 27, 1812; filed in compiled service record of Captain McRae, National Archives, Record Group No. 94.
28. The Enquirer, Oct. 30, 1812; Cushing to McRae, Oct. 31, 1812, filed in compiled service record of Captain McRae, National Archives, Record Group No. 94.
29. The Enquirer, Nov. 3, 1812.
30. McRae to James Madison, July 5, 1814, Madison Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress.
31. The Enquirer Nov. 17, 1812.
32. Lorrain, The Helm, The Swor and The Cross, p. 103. Two contemporary accounts, however, state that the entire company, and not just the officers were entertained by Jefferson (The Enquirer, Nov. 20, 1812; Niles’ Weekly Register, III, p. 202).
33. Petersburg Intelligencer, in The Enquirer, Jan. 7, 1813.
34. “Scene at Point Pleasant,” American Pioneer II (April, 1843), pp. 174-175. The article was published annonymously under “Clio,” with an editor’s note that “The gentleman who communicated the above, could not be induced to have his proper name inserted. He is a respectable citizen of Cincinnati at this time,” (ibid., p. 175). The Point Pleasant story also appears in Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Virginia, pp. 246-247.
35. The Supporter, Chillicothe, Ohio, Dec. 26, 1812; Niles’ Weekly Register, III, p. 282; The Enquirer, Jan. 5, 1813.
36. Robert B. McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western Country 1816), (Bowling Green, Ohio, 1919), pp. 159, 182-191, 209-213.
37. The Enquirer, Jan. 7, 1813.
38. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword, and The Cross, p. 107.
39. Harlow, Lindley, ed., Captain Cushing in the War of 1812 (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 1944), p. 76. This publication includes Cushing’s Orderly Book, several letters, and a roster of his company, cited hereinafter as Lindley, ed., Cushing.
40. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword, and The Cross, p. 107.
41. Alexander A. Meek to General John S. Gano, Jan. 18, 1813, in “Selections from the Gano Papers, III” Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, XVI (1920), p. 28.
42. Alexander A. Meek to General John S. Gano, Jan. 18, 1813, in “Selections from the Gano Papers, III” Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, XVI (1920), p. 33.
43. Lindley, ed., Cushing pp. 77-78.
44. Ibid., pp. 78-79.
45. Ibid, p. 79.
46. Letter from a private in McRae’s company to a friend in Petersburg, March 28, 1813, published under “Picture of a Soldier’s Life,” in Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, pp. 166-168.
47. Ibid., , p. 167.
48. Ibid.,
49. McAfee History of the Late War in the Western Country pp. 259-260.
50. “Journal of the Northwestern Campaign of 1812-13,… Bvt. Lieut. Colonel Eleazer D. Wood, Capt. Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army,” in George W. Cullum Campaigns of the war of 1812-5 against Great Britian, Sketched and Criticised: With Brief Biographies of the American Engineers. (New York 1879) pp. 370-373, citred hereinafter as Wood’s “Journal.”
51. The origin of Governor Meigs’ singular name is discussed in Benson J. Lossing The Pictoral Field Book of the War of 1812 (New York, 1868), p. 255n.
52. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword, and the Cross, P. 124.
53. Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 87, “Picture of a Soldier’s Life,” Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 167.
54. Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 89-90, “Picture of a Soldier’s Life,” Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 167.
55. Greensburgh, (Pa.) Gazette, quoted in The Enquirer, Feb. 9, 1813; Pittsburg Gazette, Jan. 29, 1813; compiled service record of Capt. John B. Alexander, Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Vols. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94; Muster roll, Capt. John B. Alexander’s Co. Volunteer Riflemen (Pennsylvania); Dec. 31, 1812, National Archives, Record Group 94 (Entry 55, Muster Rolls of Volunteer Organizations: War of 1812).
56. Muster Roll, Capt. James R. Butler’s Co. Light Infantry (Pennsylvania), Jan. 18, 1813, Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Vols. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94 (Entry 55). For a history of the Pittsburgh Blues, see John Niebaum, “The Pittsburgh Blues,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, IV, (1921) pp. 110-122, 175-185, 259-270, V (1922) pp. 244-250.
57. Lindley, ed. Cushing, p. 88; Niebaum, “The Pittsburgh Blues, Part III,” Western Pennsyvlania Historical Magazine, IV (1921), p. 261.
58. “Picture of a Soldier’s Life,” Niles Weekly Register, IV, p. 167.
59. Letter by Richard McRae, April 20, 1854, filed with the compiled service record of Pvt. Andrew Andrews, Captain McRae’s Co., Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Va. Vols. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94.
60. “Picture of a Soldier’s Life,” Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 167.
61. Lindley, ed., Cushing, pp. 91-92.
62. Wood’s “Journal”, pp. 378-397.
63. Ibid. Letters were received from Harrison on March 29, urging the Virginia and Pennsylvania brigades to stay a few days longer, and Cushing, who does not appear to have shared Wood’s harsh opinion of the Virginians, wrote: “These calls and invitionas will not do; the government has not been punctual enough in paying their troops for them to stay longer.” Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 94). In February 1822 Leftwich was appointed major general, 1st Division, Virginia Militia (Calendar of Virginia State Papers, X, p. 502). He died on April 20, 1846.
64. Stoddard was wounded during the siege, and died on May 11 ot tetanus; see Dictionary of American Biography, IX, pp. 51-52.
65. Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 125.
66. Ibid., pp. 96. 100.
67. Alexander C. Casselman, ed., Richardson’s War of 1812 (Toronto, 1902), pp. 165-166.
68. Wood’s “Journal,” pp. 389-390; Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 102.
69. Ibid., pp. 102-103.
70. Green Clay (1757-1826), a native of Powhatan County, Va., migrated to Kentucky about 1777. He had little schooling, but with a knowledge of surveying, and by acquiring land, accumulated a fortune. He served in both houses of the legislature, and became a major general in the Kentucky militia at the outbreak of war in 1812 (Dictionary of American Biography, II, pp. 172-173.
71. The Enquirer, June 4, 1813.
72. McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western Country., pp. 291-295.
73. Ibid., pp. 288-289. Niles’ Weekly Register IV, p. 210; Neibaum, “The Pittsburgh Blues, Part III,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, IV (1921), p. 261; Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword and The Cross, p. 133.
74. McAfee, History of the Late War in the Western Country., p. 290.
75. The Enquirer, June 4, 8, 1813; see also Muster Roll, Captain McRae’s Co., May 31, 1813, Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Vols. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94 (Entry 55).
76. Niebaum, “The Pittsburgh Blues,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine,, IV (1921), pp. 181-182; Muster Roll, Capt. James R. Butler’s Co., Feb. 28, 1813-May 31, 1813, Alexander’s Ind. Vol. Bn., (War of 1812), National Archvies, Record Group No. 94 (Entry 55).
77. Muster Roll, detachment of Volunteer Riflemen under command of Lieut. Peter Drum, May 31, 1813, Alexander’s Ind. Vol. Bn. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94 (Entry 55).
78. Wood’s “Journal,” pp. 399-400; Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword, and The Cross, pp. 133-136.
79. Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 192; Wood’s “Journal,” p. 400.
80. Muster Roll, Captain McRae’s Co., Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Va. Vols. (War of 1812), Feb. 8-May 31, 1813, National Archives, Record Group No. 94 (Entry 55). The others wounded in the sortie were Sergeant Herbert C. Lofton (promoted March 17, 1813); Corporals Joseph Scott, Thomas G. Scott; Musicians Jackson; and Privates Blick, Cooper, Chives, Drumond, Leigh, Thomas Perry, Stith, Thomas Scott, Samuel Williams, and John F. Wiley. The muster roll does not substantiate the wounding of the following as indicated on the broadsides in the Centre Hill Mansion Museum: Musician Eshon, and Privates Edmund Brown, Joseph Mason, and Samuel Stephens. An ode to the memory of George Booker by “J.T.W.” of Amelia County, June 30, 1813, appeared in the Virginia Argus, July 8, 1813.
81. The Enquirer, June 3, 4, 8, 1813.
82. Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 211; Wood’s “Journal,” p. 400.
83. The Enquirer, June 4, 1813.
84. Ibid., May 29, 1813. “Captain Jack Shore,” wrote Lorrain, was “the darling of our crew,” and as a kinsman of General Harrison, “had more than once taken tea with his distinguished cousin, ‘sub rosa,’ in the grand marquee.” (The Helm, The Sword, and the Cross,, pp. 138-139).
85. Ibid., June 8, 1813; Lindley, ed. Cushing, p. 47; compiled service record of John Henderson, Captain McRae’s Co., Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Vols. (War of 1812), National Archives, Record Group No. 94. Henderson was described by the Petersburg Intelligencer as a “true honest son Hibernia,” who had “served for many years in the floating dungeons of Britain,” and had “migrated to this land of liberty, in search of those blessings and privileges denied of him in the country of his nativity. He entered the ranks here with all that zeal and devotion so characteristic of the Irish,” (Virginia Argus, May 31, 1813). He was commissioned on June 20, 1813, but his career in the regular service was not especially commendable. At Fort Meigs, July 21, 1813, he was tried, but acquitted on six charges, which involved, “Unexemplary & disorderly conduct,… being in a evident state of inebriety,” (Lindley, ed., Cushing, pp. 52-53). Henderson was dismissed from the service on April 2, 1818 (Charles K. Gardner, A Dictionary of the Army of the United States, 2nd ed., [New York, 1860], p. 224), and is believed to have been the John F. Henderson who died in New Orleans, La., in 1858 (Petersburg, Va., Daily Express, June 5, 1858).
86. Wood’s “Journal,” pp. 401-402.
87. Virginia Argus, June 3, 1813.
88. Lindley, ed., Cushing, p. 108.
89. Ibid., p. 112.
90. George Croghan (1791-1849), a Kentuckian, attended the College of William and Mary, 1809-1810. At the battle of Tippecanoe he served as a volunteer aide-de-camp to Harrison, who recommended his appointment as captain in the Regular army; see Dictionary of American Biography, II, p. 557.
91. Niles’ Weekly Register, IV, p. 389.
92. Gen. Orders, Headquarters, Seneca Town, Aug. 8, 1813, in Lindley, Ed., Cushing, P. 55. Since 1850 “Good Bess” has occupied a position on the site of Fort Stephenson in the heart of Fremont, Ohio; see Julia M. Haynes, “Fremont in History,” Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, X, (1901-1902), pp. 49-66, and Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812, p. 507n.
93. Virginia Argus, Sept. 8, 1813.
94. Ibid., Sept. 27, 1813.
95. John Cook Wyllie, ed., “Observations Made During a Short Residence in Virginia,” (Letter from Thomas H. Palmer, May 30, 1814) Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, LXXVI (1968), p. 409; Virginia Argus, Sept. 30, 1813.
96. James Cooke Mills, Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie (Detroit, 1913), p. 174.
97. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword, and The Cross, p. 153.
98. The Enquirer, Nov. 16, 1813.
99. Lorrain, The Helm, The Sword and The Cross, p. 154. Chalmers was alleged to have lost the money gambling. Finally, forty years after the Petersburg Volunteers had been discharged, Congress, on March 3, 1853, appropriated $10,334.31, to be paid to the survivors, or their heirs. The provision was included in the act making an appropriation for the support of the army for the year ending June 30, 1854; see George Minot, ed., The Statutes at Large and Treaties of the United States of America From December 1, 1851 to March 3, 1855. X, Boston, 1855, p. 217.
100. Virginia Argus, Nov. 14, 1813.
101. Ibid., Jan. 17, 1814; The Enquirer, Jan. 11, 1814.
102. Executive Papers (May 1814), Virginia State Library.
103. The Madison Papers (Library of Congress) include two letters written by McRae while in Washington in 1814, but there is no evidence that he met the President. It is plausible that the sobriquet was conferred before the company left for the war, when McRae and Tisdale visited Washington in September 1812, at which time they did see Madison. Had the company been reviewed at any time by Madison, it is unlikely that Alfred Lorrain would have failed to record the event in The Helm, The Sword and the Cross: A Life Narrative.
104. The Enquirer, March 25, 1817.
105. Ibid., Nov. 5, 1824.
106. The American Constellation, July 6, 1838.
107. The Republican, June 26, 1843, Dec. 4, 1846, Aug. 9, 1848. The Little Cockade, a newspaper edited by Supple and Ellyson, appeared in January 1841, but was short-lived. An edition dated Jan. 26, 1841 (Vol. I, No. 3) is the collections of the Petersburg Public Library.
108. The inscriptions on the monument, now weather-worn and barely legible in places, are fortunately recorded in M. Clifford Harrison’s, Home to the Cockade City, (Richmond, 1942), pp. 32-34.
109. Daily South-Side Democrat Petersburg, Va., June 2, 1854; Daily Richmond Enquirer, June 5, 6, 7, 1854; Daily Express Petersburg, Va., May 19, June 17, 1856, Jan. 13, 1857, March 3, 5, 1857; James G. Scott and Edward A. Wyatt, IV., Petersburg’s Story A History (Petersburg, 1960), p. 128.
110. Earl G. Swen and John W. Williams, A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia 1776-1918 (Richmond, 1918), pp. 139, 141, 149; The Republican, Aug. 9, 1848.
111. Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 6, 1880.
112. Clements was promoted to corporal sometime between May 31, and Oct. 16, 1813 (Compiled service record, Reuben Clements, Alexander’s Ind. Bn. Va. Vols. [War of 1812] National Archives, Record Group No. 94).
113. The Republican, Aug. 9, 1848. The Brunet broadside lists twelve survivors of the Petersburg Volunteers, July 4, 1849: Richard McRae, Reuben Clements, Petersburg; Thomas B. Bigger, John Bignall, Richmond; John Wiley, Amelia Co.; Edward H. Cogbill, Chesterfield Co.; John H. Saunders, Powhatan Co.; Alfred O. Eggleston, Cincinnati, Ohio; Shirley Tisdale, Thoams Clarke, Ala.,; Nathaniel H. Wills, Tenn.; and Anthony Mullen, whose residence was unknown. Alfred Lorrain, however, was still living, in Ohio, and John Henderson is belived to have been still alive. Pension files in the National Archives (Record Group No. 15) show that Saunders left Powhatan County in 1852 for Richmond, where he died on April 23, 1861, Thomas Clarke died in Marengo County, Ala., on Feb. 3, 1851, and Nathaniel H. Wills died on Dec. 6, 1857, at Jonesboro, Tenn.
114. Index-Appeal, Petersburg, Va., Oct. 8, 1881. Joseph V. Scott, son of Joseph Scott, who was wounded at Fort Meigs, and died at the age of 60 on March 16, 1846, served as captain of the Petersburg Grays, 1847-1860. In April 1861 he was elected captain of the Cockade Rifles, which became Co. E, 3rd Regiment of Virginia Volunteers (1861-1865). He was promoted to major on Nov. 6, 1861, to lieutenant colonel on April 27, 1862, and was mortally wounded on June 30, 1862.
115. Index Appeal, Oct. 11, 1881.