Hi All Can anyone tell me what the age of enlistment would have been in the 1812 War? I have a family story that says my ancestor Isaac Tripp ran away from home to enlist in the war, was tracked down by his father and taken home. A military record for an Isaac Tripp who enlisted in Captain Samuel banks Company, Hobby's regiment New York Militia on Sept 8, 1813 and was discharged six days later tends to support the story. At the time I believe Isaac would have been twenty years old. (His age is taken from census records) The story continues that Isaac ran away again and enlisted under his mother's maiden name and had no further contact with his family. Unfortunately I do not know who his parents were. In a pension application Isaac says he was a sergeant in Capt. John Handy's Company of New York Volunteers under General Porter. He enlisted in Rochester for a term from April 1814 to August 1814. He was wounded at Fort Erie by a musket ball passing through his abdomen. He was in hospital at Buffalo six weeks and was discharged in October 1814. He made an application for land and a pension soon after enlistment but was told he was dead and there was no record of his service. He made a second unsuccessful application in 1850. The story says he forgot he had enlisted under his mother's name and made the application under his surname. I would be interested in any information about Hobby's regiment and Porter's regiment. Cheers Marianne Marianne Tripp Punshon Victoria Australia Researching: Aughey, Fleetwood, Stewart, Tripp in Australia Aughey, Newton, Miller in Ireland Tripp in New York State, Ohio & Oregon, USA: Manitoba, Canada Lawson in New York State, USA: Scotland and Canada

Marianne: I can't actually answer your question, but you should of course know that back then people did not have birth certificates, let alone driver's licenses or social security cards :-). In other words, a person could claim to be any age that they could get away with, and military recruiters were probably not too fussy if they had a quota to meet. For some types of occasions, such as a marriage bond, people sometimes had to produce a witness to verify their claim to being "of age", but again this was not always enforced. In any case, your ancestor's story is certainly interesting, and like many family legends it may well contain more than a grain of truth. Doug Gordon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marianne Punshon" <mipunshon@optusnet.com.au> To: <WARof1812-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 8:21 PM Subject: [WARof1812] Age of enlistment > Hi All > > Can anyone tell me what the age of enlistment would have been in the 1812 > War? I have a family story that says my ancestor Isaac Tripp ran away from > home to enlist in the war, was tracked down by his father and taken home. > > A military record for an Isaac Tripp who enlisted in Captain Samuel banks > Company, Hobby's regiment New York Militia on Sept 8, 1813 and was > discharged six days later tends to support the story. At the time I > believe > Isaac would have been twenty years old. (His age is taken from census > records) > > The story continues that Isaac ran away again and enlisted under his > mother's maiden name and had no further contact with his family. > Unfortunately I do not know who his parents were. > > In a pension application Isaac says he was a sergeant in Capt. John > Handy's > Company of New York Volunteers under General Porter. He enlisted in > Rochester for a term from April 1814 to August 1814. He was wounded at > Fort > Erie by a musket ball passing through his abdomen. He was in hospital at > Buffalo six weeks and was discharged in October 1814. > He made an application for land and a pension soon after enlistment but > was > told he was dead and there was no record of his service. He made a second > unsuccessful application in 1850. > > The story says he forgot he had enlisted under his mother's name and made > the application under his surname. > > I would be interested in any information about Hobby's regiment and > Porter's > regiment. > > Cheers > Marianne > > > Marianne Tripp Punshon > Victoria > Australia > > Researching: Aughey, Fleetwood, Stewart, Tripp in Australia > Aughey, Newton, Miller in Ireland > Tripp in New York State, Ohio & Oregon, USA: Manitoba, Canada > Lawson in New York State, USA: Scotland and Canada >

There were no minimum age limits on soldiers in those days. Drummer boys were often enlisted as young as 8 years old. Children of soldiers followed their parents all over the world so they were often added at a young age. A boy could join up as a regular soldier as soon as he could pass muster. Even worse was the officer corps. Officers could purchase their commisions and many military fathers purchased commisions for their very youthfull sons. One veteran of the Revolution- Thomas G. Anderson was only days! old when he joined the regiment as a "Major". His brother served for something like 68 years! Since you got paid and promoted based on years of service this was a very good way to get ahead in life. Corruption ruled! Muster roles are often very inaccurate 10-15% of the men on the lists often never existed - or were women, town drunkards and boys. Officers got pay and rations based on the number of men in the Regiment. Adding a few extra souls to the payroll never hurt anyone. This is why armies have inspections by the "Big Brass" Just to keep things real.! Nelson Denton

Thank you, Nelson, for the very informative reply! It explains some of the things I've heard over the years. I would really appreciate it if you could send the source(s) of the information--especially if it's one the Internet. I would love to add the information to my Ohio ALHN military pages (http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/ohio_alhn/military.htm), and adding links would be even better. Leona L. Gustafson GenealogyBug@gustafson.net ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Ohio American Local History Network (ALHN) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/ohio_alhn/ohio.htm Franklin County, Ohio ALHN http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/franklin_county/franklin.htm Franklin County, Ohio Gravestone Photos &c. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rocky/Franklin_Cemeteries/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "nelson denton" <ndenton@cogeco.ca> To: <WARof1812-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 1:42 AM Subject: Re: [WARof1812] Age of enlistment > There were no minimum age limits on soldiers in those days. Drummer boys > were often enlisted as young as 8 years old. Children of soldiers followed > their parents all over the world so they were often added at a young age. >

"True Blue - The Loyalist Legend " By Walter Stewart Collins Publishers 1985 Toronto ISBN 0-00-217468-5 It should be available on discount shelves. or at www.abebooks.com It focuses mostly on the Revolution but also deals with the War of 1812 since both involved the exact same people. The author pulls no punches in describing some of our famous but less than stellar ancestors Another very fine book to read is "Life of a British Soldier" by Thomas Faughnan. It was published in the 1870's but it was a best seller. Copies are still around at places like www.abeboooks.com for about $20.00 The book focuses on the day to day life of a British Sergeant from his enlistemnt in Ireland to his retirement in Ontario. The Crimean War covers half of the book. - It deals with a period a bit later than 1812 but the day to day life and anecdotes are most fascinating and are appropriate for our period A must read for any military history buff. Look for the expanded later editions they are much better. Lots more " campfire tall tales". Nelson