The War of 1812 is likely not considered to be part of Texas history since the area now known as the State of Texas was controlled by Spain at the time. It predated both the rise of Mexico to control the area and the Texas Revolution. However a number of individuals who served in the war went on to become known in the early days of Texas. Coming so close to the American Revolution, it is not difficult to overlook this event.
Like the American Revolution, the War of 1812 was fought between the forces of Britain and the United States. By then the United States consisted of 18 states: Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788) ,Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788) (including present-day Maine, which remained part of Massachusetts until 1820), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789) and Rhode Island (1790) plus Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803) and Louisiana (1812) which was added only weeks before the war began. The reasons usually given for the war include these: British naval personnel would “shanghai” U. S. sailors and conscript them into the Royal Navy, Britain (at war with France) enacted trade restrictions that interfered with U. S. trade with France, Britain was able to forge alliances with native tribes as U. S. people started desiring territories and possible resources west of the 18 states, leadership of the U. S. looking at the lightly defended Canada as an area for future expansion.
The United States Congress approved a declaration of war in 1812 after which United States forces invaded Canada. Early on, U. S. forces fought a number of mostly unsuccessful battles against British Regulars and a coalition of native tribes. A key leader of the the tribes was the Shawnee leader Tecumseh.
Tecumseh was estimated to be about 50 years old when the war began. He had grown into the role of a leader over the years. His main motivation was most likely to preserve and defend his tribe’s land against European encroachment, rather than simply to aid the British. Various biographical sketches of Tecumseh note that he traveled thousands of miles prior to the outbreak of the war to recruit the assistance of other tribes unrelated to the Shawnee. One of his trips in the fall of 1811 took him to the American south where he met with representatives of the Creeks in a gathering in what is now Alabama. He had a family connection to them, since his mother was said to be of the Creek tribe. When the war began, his Shawnee forces were influential in turning the tide in favor of the British. He returned to the north and was active in numerous battles early on but was killed in the fall of 1813 near the Canadian border. His influence continued when a faction of the Creeks became active in the south.
When Tecumseh came to interact with the Creeks, he brought with him as gifts a supply of red sticks. The Creeks were divided as to whether to support Tecumseh and the British or be conciliatory toward the Americans. Some accounts also credit Spanish colonial officials and British traders for furnishing the sticks to the Creeks who were previously had not possessed advanced weapons.
The Creeks were divided as to what position to take, apparently according to their geographic location. The Upper Creeks or Red Stick Creeks were mainly settled to the north of the Lower Creeks. The Red Sticks generally were agreeable to align with the British whereas the Lower Creeks were not. They had natural enemies in other area tribes including the Choctaw and Cherokee. A large part of the Creek War grew out of conflicts between these traditional tribal factions. The British had been supplying weapons to the Red Sticks whereas the Choctaw and Cherokee were aligned with the Americans. When the various alliances settled out, the Red Sticks fought primarily on their own against the Tennessee militia under Andrew Jackson, the Georgia state militia, the Mississippi territorial militia, the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes and the Lower Creek faction. The British were not involved early on and probably saw this matter as a way to spread out the American forces who were already fully occupied in the north. There were several key battles before the British finally committed troops to the south and they were defeated soon afterward in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 with the final engagement being the Battle of New Orleans early the next year.
A number of individuals, better and lesser known, were engaged in one way or another in the War of 1812 and found their way to Texas. They either enlisted where they lived and fought in the northern theater before moving to Texas or they resided in Georgia or other parts of the south and also came to Texas afterward. A rough estimate of the total number who served might be somewhere around 1,000 men, more or less. The most notable among this group might include the following:
Sam Houston served in the United States Army in the 39th Infantry. Houston enlisted in 1813 at age 19. Serving under Andrew Jackson, he is said to have distinguished himself for bravery in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. At that engagement, he received serious wounds from arrows and gunfire. He and Jackson may have been acquainted with each other already, but Houston’s action that day were notable.
David Crockett was a member of the Tennessee militia as a scout. Crockett served from 1813 to 1815 also under Andrew Jackson in action against the Creeks in engagements in Alabama. He did not take part in the Battle of New Orleans.
Probably more typical of those who served was Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor for whom Baylor University is named. He enlisted in the Kentucky Volunteer Militia shortly after being admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1812. So, rather than begin a law practice, he entered the militia. As a member of the 10th Regiment, Light Infantry, he served during the entire war, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel when the war ended. His regiment served in the north as part of the Ohio Campaign, engaging the British and various native tribes under the leadership of Tecumseh. The regiment also took part in the defense of Fort Meigs in 1813 and the successful Battle of the Thames in October of that year, the battle in which Tecumseh was killed. Baylor and his regiment continued on to take part in the unsuccessful campaign to take control of Upper Canada.
The following three people are sometimes said to be veterans of the War of 1812, but were likely too young to have served: Edward Burleson, Thomas J. Rusk and Mirabeau B. Lamar.
The General Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Texas was organized on May 3, 1987 although it had been informally operating for about 28 years. It is one of twenty state societies that are affiliated with the General Society of the War of 1812, a national organization founded in 1814. Membership in the Texas organization is limited to males who can document their lineage to someone who honorably served during the war. The General Society is the umbrella entity for eight chapters in the state. Its website includes a listing of 1812 veterans buried around the state.
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