250 and Counting

Category: War of 1812

  • March 12, 1775: Henry Eckford, Shipbuilder

    Cover art for March 12, 1775: portrait of Henry Eckford, probably painted by John Wesley Jarvis

    Henry Eckford was born in Scotland on this day in 1775 and died in Constantinople in 1832. In between he spent a great deal of time in the Thirteen Colonies and then the United States, primarily in New York.

    Eckford also dabbled in politics, serving in the state legislature and as a delegate to the Electoral College, before moving to the Ottoman Empire to assist with rebuilding the fleet there. He died quite suddenly there, probably of cholera, and his body was brought back to America, where he was buried in the graveyard at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead, L.I., along with his wife.

    Coincidentally, many years ago I attended a wedding in that church. The weird bumps you make with history when you live on the East Coast, I tell you what.

    (At right: Eckford’s grave; picture via findagrave.com)

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  • February 18, 1775

    Cover art for February 18, 1775: the grave of William Henry Winder, in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore MD.

    Maryland has a peculiar place in most of America’s major events. During the Revolution, the Continental Congress hid out there for a while. During the Civil War, the state mostly sat out the war because it was a “Southern” state occupied by the Union throughout.

    But the War of 1812? Well, that was Maryland’s time to shine, and today we meet one of the military men who fought in that war, though he wasn’t especially successful in the Battle of Bladensburg.

    We did have a portrait of Winder we were going to use in the cover art until we realized that Winder is buried in Greenmount Cemetery, in Baltimore, a short distance from Claude’s home. So he ran out and snapped a photo. Several famous historic figures are buried there, including John Wilkes Booth (it’s probably the best-known unmarked grave in America), so there may have to be a few more trips over there.

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  • February 12, 1775

    We realize that this is going to come as a huge surprise to you, but when the future Louisa Catherine Adams met her future mother-in-law, it was not an auspicious occasion.

    This delayed—but did not prevent—Louisa from marrying John Quincy Adams, but Abigail Adams didn’t have a lot of respect for Catherine for many years.

    In the meantime, she and John Quincy had some ups and downs in their marriage, but in the end it appears that they were able to reconcile all the rough patches until the very end.

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  • February 11, 1775

    Cover art for February 11, 1775: portrait of Governor William Hall of Tennessee, by Washington B. Cooper.

    There are many events in the life of William Hall that could be ascribed to just plain luck on his part, and others which could conceivably tied to some shrewd timing on his part. But in the end, we think we’re going with luck.

    If he hadn’t survived two Cherokee ambushes, if he hadn’t been an officeholder previously, if he hadn’t been the Speaker of the Senate when a scandal broke out…things could have turned out very differently for our friend William.

    But William was also smart enough to walk away when the walking was good, and he lived to a ripe old age (81).

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  • 250 and Counting: January 28, 1775

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    Cover art for January 28, 1775: portrait of James Brown Mason.

    It’s Cake and Candles today for James Brown Mason, a doctor in South Carolina and then his home state of Rhode Island.

    Later on he began a career in politics as one of the last of his political party to take office in Congress. We think Mike had too much fun making this episode.

  • 250 and Counting: January 8, 1775

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    Cover art for January 8, 1775: "The defense of Baltimore, assembling of the troops, September 12, 1814" by Thomas Ruckle

    It’s Cake and Candles today for Brigadier General John Harrison, born this day in 1775 in Pennsylvania.

    Harrison became a local official in his home county until the War of 1812, when he enlisted and his company was sent to defend Baltimore against the British in one of the war’s biggest victories for the American side.

  • 250 and Counting: January 5, 1775

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    Cover art for Janaury 5, 1775: The USRC Benjamin Rush

    Daniel Dobbins was born this day in 1775. We’re pretty sure that’s the date; listen in and find out why.

    Dobbins spent most of his time on the waters of Lake Erie. He—and most of the people in the Lower Peninsula of modern-day Michigan—didn’t even know that the War of 1812 was going on until he and his ship were captured by the British.

    He managed to escape and an interesting coincidence saved his life. Eventually he became a Sailing Master in the US Navy and redesigned the gunboats so they’d handle better in the Great Lakes. After the war his career took some interesting turns that had literally nothing to do with him.