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Vermont and the War of 1812

This guide idenitifies resources about Vermont and the War of 1812.

Primary Sources

Vermont Centinel.
Published in Burlington, Vermont by Samuel Mills, the weekly newspaper was pro-war and pro-Jeffersonian party. It provides coverage of the Embargo, smuggling, economic conditions, political responses, military activities in the Champlain Valley and the northern theater of the war.
Call number: Paper issues are available in Special Collections. Online access available to UVM affiliates and walk-ins.

Colonel Isaac Clark Papers.
Clark (1742-1822) of Castleton, Vermont, led the Vermont troops during the War of 1812. The Colonel Isaac Clark Papers consist primarily of personal and military correspondence from 1812 to 1821. Clark's letters relate to troop activity in the Champlain Valley, while his son Isaac Jr.'s letters provide some details of recruiting efforts and troop life in the northern outposts. The papers also contain materials pertaining to political issues before and during the War of 1812.
Finding aid
Call number: Manuscripts (Special Collections).

Haswell, Nathan B. Reminscences of the War of 1812. Burlington Free Press, August 13-19, 1858.
Call number:

Huntt, Henry. "An Abstract Account of the Diseases which Prevailed among the Soldiers Retired into the General Hospital at Burlington, Vermont during the Summer and Autumn of 1814." American Medical Recorder 1 (1818): 176-179.
Dr. Henry Huntt was in charge of the military hospital in Burlington 1814-1815.

Parker, Wilmond W. "Letters of the War of 1812 in the Champlain Valley." Vermont Quarterly 12 (1944): 104-113.
Includes letters written by A.S. Cogswell, a soldier stationed at Burlington in 1813, and Nathaniel Kendrick, a Baptist minister from Middlebury who witnessed a deserter's execution.
Call number: F46.V55 (Special Collections)

U.S. Army, Thirtieth Infantry. Orderly book.
Two-volume orderly book for troops stationed in Burlington, Vermont during the War of 1812 includes general orders, courts martial and disciplinary actions, copies of communications from the Army. November 1814-June 1815.
Call number: Large bound manuscripts (Special Collections).

Secondary Sources

Benedict, George G. "The Battery and Battery Park." Vermont Antiquarian Society Proceedings 1 (1898): 64-74.
Call number: F59 .B9 V5 (Special Collections, closed stacks)

Burlington, Vermont War of 1812 Military Cantonment and Soldiers' Burial Ground. University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program.

Campbell, Karen S. "Propaganda, Pestlience, and Prosperity: Burlington's Camptown during the War of 1812." Vermont History 64 (1996): 133-158.
Call number: F46.V55 (Special Collections)

Clark, Byron. A List of Pensioners of the War of 1812. Burlington, VT: Research Publication Company, 1904.
“With an Appendix containing names of Volunteers for the defence of Plattsburgh from Vermont towns, a description of the battle from contemporaneous sources, the official statement of losses, and names of United States officers and soldiers at Burlington, Vermont, as shown on army pay and muster rolls recently brought to light.”
Call number: E359.4 .C62 (Special Collections)

Gallup, Joseph. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont. Boston: Printed by T. B. Wait & sons, 1815.
Includes his report on the devastating "lung fever" epidemic that erupted among the troops stationed in Burlington.
Call number: RA807.V5 G2 (Special Collections). Online access available to UVM affiliates and walk-ins.

Kenny, Kate. Burlington's War of 1812 Soldiers' Burial Grounds. Center for Research on Vermont Research-in-Progress Seminar 190, Sept. 13, 2005.
Report on excavations undertaken in Burlington's Old North End 2002-2005.
Recording may be available online through RETN.

Mann, James. Medical Sketches of the Campaigns of 1812, 13, 14. Dedham, MA: H. Mann and Co., 1816.
Mann was Chief Surgeon of the Northern Army. Includes information about military hospitals, including the one in Burlington.
Call number: RD203 .M2 (Special Collections). Online access available to UVM affiliates and walk-ins.

Picard, Ken. Lost and Found. Seven Days, April 14, 2010.
Article about identification of skeletons of American soldiers who died during the War of 1812 and were buried in Burlington.