War of 1812 - What happened this week - June 24 - June 30?

Laura Secord warning Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon of an impending American attack, June 1813

The Illinois State Genealogical Society is proud to support the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ “Preserve the Pensions” campaign. As a part of this campaign we will be posting a bi-monthly blog that shares a few details about War of 1812 events that happened two hundred years ago this week.

June 24, 1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams

The Battle of Beaver Dams was fought on June 24, 1813. On June 23, American soldiers left Fort George and occupied the village of Queenstown. While in Queenstown a number of American officers took refuge in the home of James and Laura Secord. Laura Secord overhead the officer’s plans to carry out a surprise attack on Beaver Dams. Mrs. Secord snuck out of the village that night and headed for Beaver Dams to warn the British. She was intercepted by Native American warriors and taken to Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon. Fitzgibbon sent Native American scouts out to ambush the Americans as they approached.

The American’s later surrendered to the British. For more information on the Battle of Beaver Dams visit: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1800s/p/beaverdams.htm.

June 28, 1814 – Major Benjamin Forsyth is Killed

Maj. Forsyth was an American officer who served in the U.S. 1st Rifle Regiment. He was involved in many well-known battles such as the Raid on Gananoque, Battle of Ogdensburg, Sackett’s Harbor, Battle of York, and the Battle of Ft. George. Maj. Forsyth was killed in action during a clash at Odelltown on June 28, 1814.

ISGS $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge

In support of this digitization project the ISGS announces the ISGS $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge. ISGS will MATCH any contribution (up to the first $10,000) made to the Preserve the Pensions project before December 31, 2012. For instance, if you donate $100, the ISGS will match your contribution for a total of $200! In addition, Ancestry.com has announced it will also match ALL ISGS contributions which would mean any contribution you make will actually be QUADRUPLED! Your $100 contribution would become a $400 contribution! Any size contribution is welcome! A $10 contribution equals about 80 pages of Pension files digitized as part of the Preserve the Pensions project.

The goal of the “Preserve the Pensions” campaign is to raise the $3.7 Million needed to digitize the War of 1812 Pension Application Files that are currently stored in the National Archives and make them freely available onlineThe pages are being digitized as funds become available and some of these files are already viewable by visiting http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions/.

To make a contribution via Pay Pal or for more information visit our web site at http://ilgensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=268 . Or mail a check, made payable to Illinois State Genealogical Society (Put “War of 1812” on Memo line), to: Illinois State Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 10195, Springfield IL 62791-0195.

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