War of 1812 Papers, 1812W

The War of 1812 Papers is composed of original archival materials documenting the state of North Carolina's role in the War of 1812 (1812-1815). This group of records is composed of muster rolls, pay and receipt rolls, account books, and miscellaneous materials. These materials are not complete sets of records, but individual materials that has come in piecemeal over the years. Many of the records are believed to have been removed from an unidentified state government records group between the 1920s and 1960s. The records constitutes what survives that came to the State Archives. The current war records group is arranged in 11 boxes.

The State Archives North Carolina does not have service records for any of the militiamen who served in the War of 1812. However, it does have pay records for the 7,000 volunteers of the 1813 requisition for service individuals, and for the fifteen companies that assembled at Wadesboro, N.C., in 1815. There are also pay records of other soldiers and for the service records of all of the 1812 army and militia volunteers from North Carolina. Many of these records are copies compiled by Dr. Sarah M. Lemmon, a researcher who collected the materials from the National Archives and Library of Congress for use in preparing the publication North Carolina and the War of 1812.

The papers are currently arranged as follows in the subseries and boxes:

Box 1

Muster Rolls, 1813-1815: This subseries includes rolls for the field and staff officers and for the detached militia companies from the various counties of the state. Information given about the individual soldier includes: name, rank, when service began and ended, distance traveled, total term of service, and remarks.

Boxes 2-6

Pay and Receipt Rolls: This subseries includes the rolls for the pay and receipt records of the companies of detached militia from the several counties of the state of North Carolina which were called into the active service of the United States in 1813, 1814, and 1815. The records usually include the following information: type of service (infantry, artillery, etc.), period of service for which payment is made, and name of company commander. Individual soldiers are often described in the records as follows: number of receipt, name, rank, term of service, pay per day, number rations per day, price of rations, amount received, signatures, witness, and remarks. Duplicate pay and receipt rolls are frequently included.

Box 7

Account Books, 1813-1819: This subseries contains allowances by the auditors of North Carolina for pay, rations, and forage for the members of the detached militia companies from the various counties of the state. Information given about the individual soldier in the records includes: number of claim, name of claimant and rank, term of service, rate of pay per day, number of rations per day, price of rations, forage rate per day, servants hire per day, servants rations per day, total amount, and remarks. Only several of the original account books survives, as follows: Books 1-4, Book 6, Book 8, and Book 12.

Boxes 8-9

Account Books and Miscellaneous Materials: This subseries contains miscellaneous original records and account books documenting North Carolina militia and their supplies from 1812 to 1815. Such items included in this subseries are: an account book of transportation and supplies furnished the
detached militia of North Carolina and not sent to the War Office before February 1817 for services from 1813-1815; accounts for transportation and supplies furnished the troops ordered to Gates Court House and Hillsborough in 1814, and to Wadesborough in 1815; and militia claims paid over by the Public Treasurer of North Carolina from 1817-1818. There are miscellaneous accounts for individual militia members, officers' commissions, rosters of officers with certain regiments, muster rolls, prisoner lists, troop reviews, and other materials.

Boxes 10-11

Miscellaneous Copied Materials: This subseries is composed of photocopies of original recordss housed in the National Archives and Library of Congress, collected and donated by Dr. Sarah M. Lemmon. The materials were collected and used for her publication North Carolina and the War of 1812. Box 11 is composed of oversized photocopies.

In comparison to the attention given to the American Revolution, the War of 1812 is often under-researched in North Carolina. However, it was the War of 1812 that actually concluded the Revolution. Under the Treaty of Ghent that was signed in 1814, trade concessions were granted by Great Britain that had been withheld after the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Because of this, the United States found itself to be a genuine maritime power that had to be taken seriously by the governments of Europe. When the U.S. Congress declared war on Great Britain for the second time in June 1812, the six divisions of North Carolina militia were 50,000 men strong. Of these, the United States requisitioned 7,000 who were to be volunteers serving under officers of the U.S. Regular Army. Once the 7,000 militiamen had volunteered and had been organized, they would be known as "detached militia." Men in the detached militia were to wait at home until a need for their service arose, at which time they were to be mustered in the presence of an officer of the U.S. Army or a federal inspector appointed for that purpose. The officer or the inspector was to certify the muster roll for pay purposes.

Only when the rolls were properly certified were the expenses of arming, clothing, subsisting, and paying the detached militia on active duty to be borne by the United States. During the course of the war, the North Carolina militia furnished 7,000 volunteers in the summer of 1813, and another 7,000 in 1814. 15 companies of the troops raised in 1814 were called out after the Treaty of Ghent, and ordered to rendezvous at Wadesboro, N.C., in 1815 preparatory to marching to the Gulf Coast. When news of Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans rendered their assistance unneeded, the militiamen at Wadesboro returned home without marching. Nearly 1,000 regular Army volunteers served with Col. James Wellborn's 10th U.S. Army Regiment. A regiment of Army volunteers from the western counties of North Carolina served under Andrew Jackson in the expedition against the Creek Indians in Alabama

1. Muster Rolls, 1813-1815

2. Pay and Receipt Rolls, 1813-1815

3. Account Books, 1813-1819

4. Account Books and Miscellaneous Accounts, 1813-1821

5. Miscellaneous Material, 1812-1817

6. Miscellaneous Material, 1812-1822

7. Miscellaneous Materials (Oversized)

Although the precise details of the accession of these records are unknown, it is probable that most of the muster rolls were records of the Adjutant General's Department, and that the payrolls and accounts were records of the Treasurer and Comptroller.