I was at the National Army Museum recently for a lecture on the life of the rather splendidly named Shadrack (or Shadrach) Byfield. He was a private soldier in the War of 1812 and he wrote a memoir of his life in the army. Unusually for the period, he wrote it himself, rather than having it written for him by one of his officers. The lecture was more about his life after leaving the army rather than the memoir itself, which should make interesting reading. He spent years arguing about the pension he should have received and did eventually get compensation for the loss of his arm during the war. It was a fascinating view of how soldiers returned to civilian life.
After the lecture I explored what I could find on the War of 1812. To be honest, there wasn’t much, but I’ve not found anything on previous visits, so I was happy to turn up an “Indian contract pistol”. Burke and the War of 1812 has Burke supplying native Americans with muskets, ostensibly for hunting but, in reality, so that they can attack American settlers. This was ahead of the outbreak of war when the British were anxious not to be seen as arming the natives. By 1814, we were openly arming the tribes that were, by then, actively fighting with us, and this is an example of a weapon specifically intended for this. There was clearly no pretence that this was a hunting weapon.
An important character in Burke and the War of 1812 is the Shawnee war chief, Tecumseh, so I was excited to find his powder horn on display. Tecumseh was an important British ally, killed by the Americans in 1813.
BURKE AND THE WAR OF 1812
Burke and the War of 1812 is the latest of the series of books about James Burke, a real-life spy for the British, though most of his adventures in my books are made up. I sent him to North America because someone who enjoys the books kept on telling me what a great background the War of 1812 would provide and he was right. It’s a story that sees Burke negotiating with native tribes to forge alliances ahead of the war, spying in Washington to discover American plans and, at the climax, joining the attack on Detroit that ended up with the town in British hands.
There’s more on Substack
I’m cutting back on this blog because I am moving to Substack. My Substack posts include everything I post here plus some different stuff. This week, there’s an article on Napoleon’s return to France in 1815 and a very beautiful church in London that’s easily overlooked.
It free and you can read it at https://tomcw99.substack.com/p/what-napoleon-did-next