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 publishing a bi-monthly blog post that shares a few details about War of 1812 events that happened during the war this week.
July 3, 1814 – Capture of Fort Erie
On July 3, 1814 American forces led by commanders Major General Jacob Brown, Brigadier General Winfield Scott, and Eleazar Wheelock Ripley worked their way thru the darkness and fog to attack Fort Erie. At the time, Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond, the British commander, had turned over command of Fort Erie to Major Thomas Buck. Lieutenant General Drummond hoped that this would buy him some time so that he could concentrate his forces against the Americans.
However, as the American troops approached Fort Erie Major Buck ordered only a few shots to be fired, then he quickly surrendered the Fort to the Americans.
July 5, 1814 – Battle of Chippewa
Just two days after General Brown and Brigadier Generals Winfield Scott and Eleazar Ripley secured Fort Erie they were off to Chippewa. Their force was made up of 2,400 infantry, 200 artillerymen, 600 Pennsylvania volunteers, and 600 Indians. The American force successfully forced the British troops back to Fort George. For more information on the Battle of Chippewa visit: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_chippewa_river.html
ISGS $10,000 War of 1812 Challenge Progress
Thank you to all of our kind donors! So far we have collected over $2,500! We still need your help to reach our goal of $10,000!
$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 online. The 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.
Photo: People engaging in reenactment of battles at Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, via MediaWiki Commons.
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