Samuel R Brown, Forgotten Veteran of the War of 1812

The confused records of the War of 1812 often lead to some intriguing mysteries. One such are the several books produced by Auburn, New York newspaper editor Samuel R Brown. Auburn is in upper state New York, far from the scene of fighting during the War of 1812 in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Upper Canada. As early as 1814 and 1815, publishers in the United States were churning out histories of the recent events of the war, especially such events as the Battle of Tippecanoe, the surrender of Detroit, the Siege of Fort Meigs and the American victory at the Battle of the River Thames.

During this time there was a major newspaper boom in America-- every county seat and town, no matter how far into the frontier, seems to have had its local print shop and daily or weekly newspaper. The Miami Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), the Trump of Fortune (Warren, Ohio), Freeman's Chronicle (Franklinton Ohio), and Intelligencer (Worthington, Ohio) are a few of Ohio's frontier newspapers of this era. They seemed to be beneficiaries of the postal system of the era, which allowed newspapers to be easily disseminated. News from Europe, the globe, and the eastern United States was mingled with local news, letters from people attached to the armies during the War of 1812, and even poems and amusing stories. They also served a vital community role-- they were paid for mostly by classified ads usually taking up the last page, which grant us a window into the early shops, tradesmen, and legal actions going on in frontier towns. There was also usually a list of people for whom mail had arrived-- the postal system did not use stamps, but rather the recipient of a letter had to pay the postmaster for it. Therefore letters tended to pile up for people who needed to pay for them!

Samuel R Brown set himself up in Auburn sometime in 1813 or 1814, and remained there until his death at age 42 in 1817. He published the Cayuga Patriot, which outlived him being printed until 1819. We have a glimpse at the man and his business and family life because his apprentice printer, Thurlow Weed, later became a prominent Albany publisher and newspaper editor. Weed recalled:

Nor shall we ever forget the upper story of a wagon-maker's shop, where the "Cayuga Patriot" was first printed; for there we worked, and laughed, and played away most of the winter of 1814.  Samuel R. Brown, who published the "Patriot", was an honest, amiable, easy, slip-shod sort of man, whose patient, good-natured wife was 'cut from the same piece.'  Mr. Brown, the year before, had been established at Albany, with a paper called the "Republican, " under the auspices of Governor Tompkins, Chief-Justice Spencer, and other distinguished Republicans, with whom Mr. Southwick, of the "Register", and then State printer, had quarreled.  The enterprise, like everything in our old friend Brown's hands, failed. and he next found himself at Auburn, then a small village, without a sidewalk or a pavement, and, save for Sackett's Harbor, the muddiest place we ever saw.  Mr. and Mrs. Brown were originals.  Neither of them, so far as we remember,ever lost their temper or ever fretted.  the work in the office was always behind-hand, and the house always in confusion.  The paper was never out in season, and neither breakfast nor dinner were ever ready.  But it was all the same.  Subscribers waited for the paper till it was printed, and we waited for our meals till they were cooked.  The office was always full of loungers communicating or receiving news; and but for an amateur type-setter, Richard Oliphant, late editor of the "Oswego County Whig" and brother of the editor of the "Auburn Journal", to whom we became much attached, and who, though a mere boy, used to do a full share of the work, the business would have fallen still further behind-hand.

 For small town newspaper publishers, the newspaper was only one aspect of business. They handled all sorts of printing jobs for locals, including blank forms, journals and stationary. It's not surprising that such a man would branch out into writing books about current events and geography. There was a huge demand for books about the recent events of the war, but also for guides for settlers immigrating into the vast lands that had been opened up in large part due to the settlements between the US Government and the Indian nations of the Northwest and Southeast frontiers. Between 1814 and 1817 Samuel R Brown wrote and published Views of the Campaigns of the Northwestern Army (1814), Views on Lake Erie (1814), two volumes of An Authentic History of the Second War for Independence (1815), and the Western Gazetteer, or, Emigrant's Directory (1817). Many of these books relied on Brown's own travels throughout the western frontier, or on first hand accounts he had examined from correspondents. There are a number of stories or descriptions in his books on General William Henry Harrison's campaigns in 1813 which contain odd details, and lead me to believe they are based on his own direct experience, even though his books are usually listed under the category of secondary works in most historiography of the War of 1812. Another veteran of the war, writing in the 1870s, accused Brown of printing "camp rumor" rather than a objective history.

As a War of 1812 historian, the question for me remained-- was Samuel R Brown present during the Siege of Fort Meigs, the aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie, or the Battle of the Thames? How could he have been involved in all these events and yet, seemingly without missing a beat be peacefully back in his print shop above the wheel wright's in Auburn, with his wife and six kids and working on his newspaper and book manuscripts?

As to the nature of his service, there is only a small hint in his obituary:
"Mr. Brown was a rational lover of our free, Republican Institutions; warmly attached to the
best interests of his country, and ever vigilant and prompt to promote it's prosperity, and
defend and enhance it's glory.  On the tented field he was a patriotic soldier.  In the heat of
battle, he stood a hero, undismayed by the crash of arms, unappalled by the sight of blood,
and, proud and fearless in the front of danger, he did breast himself against..."

"In the late War, Mr. Brown evinced the spirit of a freeman, under the immediate command of Col.
Johnson of Kentucky.  Not until Proctor was vanquished and Tecumseh slain upon the battlefield
did the unfortunate Brown quit the frontiers of his country and return to the bosom of his
family, his kindred and his friends."

But there is nothing to suggest that Samuel R Brown was attached as a volunteer to the famous Regiment of Mounted Riflemen led by Colonel Richard Johnson. The answer, seems instead to come from the modern brute-force technology of Googling, because a my search for his name and the term "War of 1812" pulled up a hit on a muster roll of Captain James A McClelland's company of Volunteer Light Dragoons, which in turn served under Major James V. Ball throughout the 1813 campaign. This supports his own account, because almost as an aside Brown mentioned that he was attached to McClelland's company throughout the campaign.

He was definitely present with Ball's dragoons during the siege of Fort Meigs:

Notwithstanding the incessant fire of the enemy, the men were obliged to go to the river for water every night--the well not being finished... Their 24 pound shot passed through the pickets without cutting them down. Our gunners silenced one of their pieces several times. They did not fire so rapidly as the enemy, but with a better aim...

One reason why our troops did not sustain a greater loss in the fort, was because the men had contrived a kind of bomb proof retreat all along the ditch immediately behind the pickets. They would watch the enemy's fire and knew when to squat into their hiding places. By this means many valuable lives were saved.

Vast quantities of rain fell during the siege--the soil within the pickets is clay, and the constant treading of the men and horses caused the whole area of the fort to become a perfect bed of mortar, half leg deep--the frequent bursting of shells caused it to fly in every direction, covering officers and men with mud. 

Brown's pamphlets and histories are a valuable primary account of the campaign, especially the events which he was present to witness, including the siege of Fort Meigs, and as we shall see, the aftermath of the Battle of Lake Erie, the amphibious landings near Fort Malden, recapture of Detroit and the Battle of the Thames.