Friday, March 30, 2012

My name is Robert Register and for over twenty years I have studied the formative years of the Gulf Coast in earnest. I am writing to you because I am particularly interested in contacting others who have a significant interest in honoring the Deep South's role in the War of 1812 and in rediscovering the fascinating stories of the lives of those who first planted the American Flag upon the shores of the Gulf of Mexico 200 years ago. Not only do we have a chance to clarify some of the more complex issues associated with the War of 1812 but the promotion of this bicentennial celebration of the people, places and events of THE WAR OF 1812 promises to have a lasting impact through the benefits associated with increased heritage tourism in the Deep South.

With NOLA NAVY WEEK (Tuesday, April 17-Sunday, April 22) fast approaching http://nolanavyweek.com/, only a two week window of opportunity now exists to promote this inaugural event in the celebration of THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE WAR OF 1812. We on the Gulf Coast should be honored that the first of 2012's six Tall Ship Regattas http://www.opsail.org/ will be held in New Orleans this April. We have a once in a lifetime chance to see the types of ships that shaped world history two hundred years ago during the War of 1812 and one, the HMS Hermes, has now rested below the water off Alabama's Ft. Morgan Peninsula for almost 198 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(1811).
Beginning on Tuesday, April 17, visitors to New Orleans can see the tall ships similar to the ones that sailed our waters two centuries ago http://www.opsail.org/tall-ships-gallery.php and are the basis for recent major motion pictures such as 2003's MASTER AND COMMANDER starring Russell Crowe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E794rTPa4nA&feature=related

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Well Folksiz, there's a first time for everything and Old Robertoreg has now been immortalized on a PROFESSIONALLY PRODUCED WEBSITE! Check out the Mayor of ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA, Robertoreg, on B'ham's WELD FOR BIRMINGHAM'S website!MUCHAS to Courtney Haden!http://weldbham.com/blog/2012/03/28/bicentennial-fever-revisited/

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The WAR OF 1812's enduring legacy is found in the etymology of the names of many of Alabama's counties.


Barbour County is named for James Barbour who was Governor of Virginia during the War of 1812. Barbour was called "The War Governor." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barbour

Bibb County was named after William Wyatt Bibb who was a U.S. Representative from Georgia to the 12th Congress which declared war on Great Britain in 1812. In 1813, Bibb was elected U.S. Senator from Georgia and served in the 13th Congress which met in its third session in Washington, D.C., in 1814 after the city was burned by the British. The 13th Congress also ratified the Treaty of Ghent which ended the war in 1815. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wyatt_Bibb


Blount County is named after Willie Blount who as Governor of Tennessee sent Andrew Jackson and the Tennessee Militia to present day Alabama in October of 1813 after the Red Stick attack on Ft. Mims.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Blount

Butler County is named after William Butler who served in the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812 and fought the Creeks during the Creek War of 1813-1814 under the leadership of General Floyd. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Butler_(militiaman)

Calhoun County was named after John C. Calhoun who in 1812 was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina & chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. On June 3, 1812, Calhoun's committee called for a declaration of war in ringing phrases. This episode spread Calhoun's fame nationwide.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun

Chambers County was named after Henry Chambers who served as surgeon on General Andrew Jackson's staff during the War of 1812. http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/ArticlePrintable.jsp?id=h-2943

Cherokee County was named after the Cherokee Indian Tribe. The Cherokees refused to go to war against the U.S. during the War of 1812. Approximately 400 Cherokees served under General Andrew Jackson in the Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812 and they participated in the Hillabee Massacre and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1087

Choctaw County was named after the Choctaw Indian Tribe. The Choctaws refused to go to war against the U.S. during the War of 1812. Appoximately 150 Choctaws served under General Claiborne of the Mississippi Territory Militia during the Battle of Holy Ground. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1811

Clarke County was named after General John Clarke who was appointed Major General of the Georgia Militia during the War of 1812 but his appointment occurred too late for him to serve in the field. http://archive.org/stream/menofmarkingeorg02nort/menofmarkingeorg02nort_djvu.txt

Clay County was named after Henry Clay who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was the guiding spirit behind the "War Hawk" faction that pushed the declaration of war through the House and Senate in 1812. He also served as a peace commissioner and helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Clay

Coffee County was named after General John Coffee who served under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War and General Coffee commanded U.S. troops during the Battle of New Orleans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coffee

Colbert County was named after George Colbert who commanded 350 Chickasaw warriors as part of General Andrew Jackson's Tennessee Militia during the Creek War. Colbert went on to serve under Jackson in in the U.S. Army for the remainder of the War of 1812.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Colbert

Conecuh County is named after the Conecuh River which was the area of present day Alabama where the Creek War began in 1813. The first battle of the Creek War was on Burnt Corn Creek which flows into the Conecuh River. http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-3081

Coosa County is named after the Coosa River which was the route General Andrew Jackson and his Tennessee Militia took after they crossed the Tennessee River and began fighting the Red Sticks in 1813. Ft. Strother near the Coosa River was Jackson's base of operations during the Creek War. http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/alnorth.html#strother

Covington County is named after General Leonard Covington. Covington served in the Northwest Indian War under Anthony Wayne, where he distinguished himself at Fort Recovery and the Battle of Fallen Timbers and in the War of 1812. Covington was mortally wounded in the Battle of Crysler's Farm and died three days later at French's Mills, New York.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Covington

Crenshaw County is named after Anderson Crenshaw who served as aide-de-camp to South Carolina Governor Alston during the War of 1812.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=62016597

Dale County is named after Sam Dale who participated in the first battle of the Creek War at Burnt Corn Creek and served during the entire War of 1812 up to the time he carried a message from Georgia in only eight days to General Jackson in Chalmette just before the Battle of New Orleans. His achievements during the War of 1812 gave him almost mythic status among Alabamians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Dale

Dallas County is named after Alexander Dallas who was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Madison in 1814. Dallas was faced with a bankrupt Treasury depleted by the War of 1812. http://www.treasury.gov/about/history/pages/adallas.aspx

Elmore County is named after General John Archer Elmore. Elmore served in the War of 1812 as a Brigadier General of State Troops of Alabama. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Archer_Elmore


Escambia County is named after Escambia Creek which is a tributary of the Conecuh River. This is the area where conflict with the Red Sticks started at the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek at the beginning of the War of 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Burnt_Corn

Jackson County is named after General Andrew Jackson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson

Jefferson County is named after President Thomas Jefferson. After the British burned the Library of Congress in 1814, Jefferson offered to sell Congress his own library of almost 6,500 books to replace the lost volumes. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflib.html

Lauderdale County is named after James Lauderdale. In 1813, he joined a unit of cavalry militia under General John Coffee. He later served under General Andrew Jackson, and was wounded during the Battle of Talladega in what was called the Creek War. He was then commissioned as a colonel but died during the first Battle of New Orleans in 1814.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39012155

Lawrence County is named after James Lawrence. James Lawrence (October 1, 1781 – June 4, 1813) was an American naval officer. During the War of 1812, he commanded the USS Chesapeake in a single-ship action against HMS Shannon (commanded by Philip Broke). He is probably best known today for his dying command "Don't give up the ship!", which is still a popular naval battle cry, and which was invoked by Oliver Hazard Perry's personal battle flag, adopted to commemorate his dead friend.[1][2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lawrence

Lowndes County is named after William Jones Lowndes (1782-1822), a lawyer, planter and statesman from South Carolina was a United States Congressman from that State (1811-1822) and an earnest supporter of the War of 1812. Henry Clay called him the wisest man he had ever known in the Congress. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowndes_(congressman)

Macon County is named after Nathaniel Macon who was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina who was an advocate of THE WAR OF 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Macon

Madison County is named after James Madison who was President of the United States during the War of 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison

Marshall County is named after Chief Justice John Marshall who presided over the US Supreme Court during the War of 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marshall

Mobile County was named after Mobile Bay. The port of Mobile and the portion of present day Mobile County below Ellicott's Line (the first U.S. Southern Boundary) was the only territory to come into the possession of the U.S. as a consequence of The War of 1812.
http://independentmonitor.blogspot.com/2011/10/walter-i-want-to-thank-you-so-much-for.html

Monroe County was named after James Monroe who held the critical roles of Secretary of State and the Secretary of War under President James Madison DURING THE WAR OF 1812.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Monroe

Montgomery County was named after Lemuel P. Montgomery who was killed in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuel_P._Montgomery

Perry County was named after Oliver Perry who at his request was given command of United States naval forces on Lake Erie during the War of 1812. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton had charged prominent merchant seaman Daniel Dobbins with building the American fleet on Presque Isle Bay at Erie, Pennsylvania, and Perry was named chief naval officer.[1][2][9] On September 10, 1813, Perry's command fought a successful fleet action against a task force of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie. It was at the outset of this battle that Perry famously said, “If a victory is to be gained, I will gain it.”[10] Initially, the exchange of gunfire favored the British. Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence, was so severely disabled in the encounter that the British commander, Robert Heriot Barclay, thought that Perry would surrender it, and sent a small boat to request that the American vessel pull down its flag. Faithful to the words of his battle flag, "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP" (a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, the ship's namesake and Perry's friend),[11][12] Perry ordered the crippled Lawrence to fire a final salvo and then had his men row him a half-mile (0.8 km) through heavy gunfire to transfer his command to the USS Niagara. Once aboard, Perry dispatched the Niagara's commander, Captain Jesse Elliot, to bring the other schooners into closer action while he steered the Niagara toward the damaged British ships. Breaking through the British line, the American force pounded Barclay's ships until they could offer no effective resistance and surrendered. Although he had won the battle aboard the Niagara, he received the British surrender on the deck of the recaptured Lawrence to allow the British to see the terrible price his men had paid.[10] Perry's battle report to General William Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."[11]
This was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron had surrendered, and every captured ship was successfully returned to Presque Isle.[13] Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to possible invasion, while simultaneously protecting the entire Ohio Valley.[2][14] The loss of the British squadron directly led to the critical Battle of the Thames, the rout of British forces by Harrison's army, the death of Tecumseh, and the breakup of his Indian alliance.[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry

Pickens County is named after Andrew Pickens who was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives 1800-1812 and declined the nomination for governor of South Carolina during THE WAR OF 1812.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Pickens_(congressman)

Pike County was named after Zebulon Pike who was killed in present day Toronto, Ontario, during the War of 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Pike

Randolph County was named after John Randolph who was a U.S. Representative from Virginia during THE WAR OF 1812. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Randolph_of_Roanoke

Russell County was named after Gilbert C. Russell who was the commander of the 3rd regiment of the United States Army in present day Alabama during THE WAR OF 1812. His soldiers reinforced Fort Claiborne and, in December 1813, launched an invasion of the core of the Creek Nation which culminated in his victory over the Creek around the village known to the American soldiers as Holy Ground Town. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_C._Russell

Shelby County was named after Isaac Shelby who was Governor of Kentucky during the War of 1812. He accomplished so much during the war that he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Shelby

Talladega County was named after The Battle of Talladega which was a fought between the Tennessee militia and the Red Stick Creek Indians during THE WAR OF 1812.

Tallapoosa County was named after the Tallapoosa River. A curve in the Tallapoosa River gave the BATTLE OF HORSESHOE BEND its name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend_(1814)

Wilcox County was named after John Wilcox who was tomahawked and scalped by a group of Creek warriors near the Alabama River on January 15, 1814.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Wilcox