Women
Secondary Sources
This is the story of Kitty Knight who single handedly defended the home of an elderly neighbor from attacking British forces. delmarva-almanac.com/index.php/content/article/the_story_of_kitty_knight/ American Indian Women in the War of 1812 www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/they-also-served-american-indian-women-war-1812 Women in the Chesapeake During the War of 1812 www.nps.gov/stsp/learn/historyculture/women-in-chesapeake-during-the-war-of-1812.htm The Roles Women Played in the War of 1812 umbrigade.tripod.com/articles/women.html |
Primary Sources
Edward Gillespy, “The Daughters of Erin Emulating her sons,” The Shamrock, or, Hibernian Chronicle, September 3, 1814. New-York Historical Society Library.
wams.nyhistory.org/building-a-new-nation/american-woman/daughters-of-erin-in-america/ Summary Some Irish immigrant women were helping the 1,500 Irish immigrant men who were building forts to defend Washington, D.C, When someone asked why she was there, one woman replied “to help serve my country! I am the wife of Bernard Kennedy and I am proud of what I am doing!” We are happy to identify one of these women. We believe that she is an example of how all Irish immigrant women feel about their new country. Document Text: During the time, while 1500 of the sons of Erin were lately working at the forts erecting for the defence of this city, some women were observed busily employed in laying sods and driving pickets. One of them being asked, “what brought you here!” she replied, “to assist in serving our country, I am the wife of BERNARD KENNEDY, I glory and boast of my employment.” We are happy to be thus able to designate one of these patriotic females; believing, as we do that the flame which warms her breast, burns also in that of a great majority of her country-women. |
African Americans
African Americans in the war of 1812: various articles, videos, newspaper excerpts
www.princegeorges1812.org/?page_id=647 The role of Maryland African-Americans in the War of 1812 Sources: Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball. A Black Man (Lewistown, Pa. 1836); Amongst my best men: African-Americans and The War of 1812 by Gerald T. Altoff (Ohio: The Perry Group, 1996); Baltimore American & Commercial Daily Adv., May 18, 1814; Military Collector & Historian, vol. 41, No.1, (Journal, The Company of Military Historians, Spring, 1989; Baltimore American & Commercial Daily Adv., May 25, 1814; George Cockburn Papers, Library of Congress. Baltimore City Archives, RG 22. War of 1812 Collection. maryland1812.com/2011/03/31/african-americans-citizen-soldiers-of-maryland/ Series: Fighting for Freedom: African Americans and the War of 1812 In June 1807, the United States and Great Britain appeared on the verge of conflict: after the frigate Leopard fired on the US warship Chesapeake, British sailors boarded the American vessel, mustered the crew, and impressed four seamen -- Jenkins Ratford, William Ware, Daniel Martin, and John Strachan -- whom they claimed were deserters. The damaged Chesapeake limped back to Norfolk with three dead and 18 wounded. Historian Gene Allen Smith examines the inauspicious beginnings to the war. www.nps.gov/articles/series.htm?id=FC704658-FFDB-BE94-5AA2B317D11D7958 USS Constitution Museum: Black Soldiers During the War of 1812 (Article) At the beginning of the nineteenth century, free black men from the northeastern United States, struggling to make their way in a highly discriminatory American society, went to sea in the merchant marine and the U.S. Navy, including aboard USS Constitution. By no means did shipboard life completely extract them from the prejudices of a white-dominated culture, but it often provided them with better opportunities than they had on land. Like their fellow white sailors, black seamen in the Early Republic could count on stable pay with the benefit of room and board. For many, sea service and its pay provided a path to a better life ashore. ussconstitutionmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Black-Sailors-During-the-War-of-1812.pdf |