Veterans of the 'First Forgotten Conflict'

Minnesota in the War of 1812

by David M. Grabitske

What follows is the text of a small exhibit I put together for the observance of Veteran's Day 2001 for the State Historic Preservation Office.

After an Unpopular War
For the men and women who struggled through 'Mr. Madison's War' 1812-1815, getting on with their lives was important. However, they could not forget what they had done and sacrificed. Showing that the democratic tradition had taken root, Marshall Durkee, a former enlisted man in the old Fourth Infantry, petitioned the 27th Congress for redress in 1842.

Durkee enlisted in 1809 for five years. He pointed out in his petition that he had done more for the government for much less than those who enlisted for the duration in the closing months of the war. In 1814 and 1815 enlistment bounties were considerably higher, in addition the government also gave land warrants. All Durkee wanted was for the government to provide land equally to all of its former soldiers, the difference in bounty notwithstanding. He was successful in his petition.

Anonymously in Minnesota
In the years after the war, many veterans and their families moved west. More than 1,000 American veterans moved to Minnesota, most arriving during the territorial period. Most veterans simply were following their grown children and trusting in their health and luck to get them through the frontier experience.

The majority of 1812 veterans living in Minnesota did not fight for America. Voyageurs and Dakota and Ojibwe men mostly sided with Great Britain. Voyageurs fought not for the King, but to protect their jobs, which they felt were threatened by Americans moving in from the south. Often the largest contingent among British forces, the Ojibwe took part in most of the battles in the Midwest, from Ohio to Wisconsin. Of the Dakota, only Red Wing refused to fight America, for he had a prescient vision that and Eagle and a Lion fought to no conclusion, and afterwards the Lion went home.

One 1812 veteran was Francis Bliss. He wore a headdress much like the one before you. He was an elite 'light' infantryman from Connecticut in the 25th Infantry, and was wounded at the hard-fought Battle of Chippawa, July 5, 1814. He followed his children to Minnesota in 1854, and quietly farmed land bought with a war patent near Raven's Creek, outside of Belle Plaine in Scott County.

The Pensioners of 1883
In 1883 the Senate made a list of pensioners on government rolls. In Minnesota there were about 120 men and widows drawing $8 per month as a result of the war. The veterans and widows lived throughout Minnesota, in little towns and on farms.
While most Minnesotans recall with pride their soldiers of the Civil War, the War with Spain, and the wars of the 20th Century, few recall the veterans who served during the 'Late War with Great Britain,' on either side.