Hello Irene You have mentioned that you have a fair amount of background material now on the War of 1812 from visiting some of the old forts. There are a number of fascinating books written on the War of 1812 in Canada and the US that contain much material that would be of interest to anyone with a British military or naval ancestor.  I have no personal acquaintance with the author mentioned below. I can strongly recommend several by Robert Malcomson (note only one ‘L’ in his surname and he is not married to Patricia) which are well-documented and illustrated and interesting to read. I have, as yet, read only “Lords of the Lake”, which is on the Canada-US battles for naval control of Lake Ontario, and “A Very Brilliant Affair: The Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812” His descriptions of the lead-up to the battle, and the battle tactics are wonderful and make me anxious to read his last book “Capital in Flames: The American Attack on Fort York, 1813”. The Canadian Military Journal, in an article by Major John R. Grodzinski, CD, MA, reviewed a number of 1812 books. One of his comments on the 2nd of those mentioned above:  “…The battle itself is covered in some 40 pages. The nine appendices are gems, and they offer detailed orders of battle, casualty lists, and other information, while several specially commissioned maps help the reader follow the narrative.“  Major G.  mentions a number of other authors, whom I have not (yet) read including one for the female perspective of war:  “In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women in the War of 1812” by Dianne Graves. I found the best variety of articles on War of 1812 books was found by putting the words “what books did Robert Malcomson write” into Google. This gives more info on RM and War of 1812 books other than just booksellers. Susan ----- Original Message ----- From: Irene Marlborough <[email protected]> Date: Monday, January 9, 2012 8:14 am Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] SOG-UK Foundlings in the Army To: [email protected] > Hello Blair: > > Thank you seems to be an inadequate response to your helpful > findings. I am > amazed at this information. How interesting it all is. It > certainly puts > Joseph's service into perspective. I think I can now assume that > Joseph was > not a teenager when he married in 1819. He was probably in his > early > twenties at Waterloo (from your quoted statistic from Mark > Adkin). I think > he may well have been a similar age to his wife and therefore > born about > 1790 +/- 5 years or so. > > The info about carrying the lash and wielding it is very > surprising. It is > nice to have confirmation that he may well have continued his > drumming > duties well after Waterloo until the job description changed. > > The description of the battle is terrifying but Joseph seems to > have come > through OK. All this has got me fired up for really finding out > more about > him. I had already learned quite a bit about barracks life for > British > soldiers in Canada during and after the War of 1812. I visited > several forts > in Ontario a couple of years ago and realised that this > lifestyle probably > applied to Joseph in the years spent in Nova Scotia in the > 1820's. However, > the wartime experiences must have defined the man - how could it > be > otherwise? > > Many, many thanks for your help, > Best wishes, Irene > >   > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOG-UK- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hello Susan: I'll be sure and look out for the books by Robert Malcomson at my library. Just this week I was able to watch a 2 hour TV program about the War of 1812 on our local Public TV channel. I don't know if the books give the same impression but I gathered that the various battles were mostly lost by poor tactics and sheer incompetence rather than won by intelligence and valour. Perhaps it is always so.... Best wishes, Irene