Your Guide: Free Presentation on Marblehead in the War of 1812

Here

1,000 Marbleheaders in the War of 1812

What : Free harborside presentation

When: Sunday, August 18 4 to 5 pm

Where: at the very end of Fort Sewall, north-west tip, facing Cape Ann and Little Harbor / Gerry’s Island

If rain: Meet at the covered benches up at Fountain Park, on Orne St., opposite entrance to Old Burial Hill (formerly Fort Washington, on Bailey’s Head )

Occasion:

The August 19 battle that earned the frigate USS Constitution her famous nickname “Old Ironsides” in 1812

The presentation will discuss the 1,121 men & boys from Marblehead

( America’s tenth* largest town 1750s to 1790s ~ population 5,900

in 1790, with approx. 1,000 families living in about 600 homes )

who served, suffered, and died in the three-year War of 1812 ~

many of them on the Constitution. (* possibly even 6th largest in 1760s)

Info: 781-631-1762 or MarbleheadTours@aol.com or www.MarbleheadTours.com

Content:

Why the war happened,

how Marblehead felt about it,

and the experiences of more than 1,000 Marblehead seamen

(from a population of 6,000) in that 3-year war, which ended in 1815

Included:

 USS Constitution seeking shelter in Marblehead harbor ~ April 1814

 a warship battle not far offshore ~ USS Chesapeake vs. HMS Shannon ~ June 1813

which ended badly for the U.S. and which some people watched from Marblehead

 privateering on the high seas  American prisoners of war  the history of Fort Sewall

Also:

3 key Marbleheaders elected or appointed to high public office

in Massachusetts and in Washington City (now DC),

which had just been established in 1791, less than a generation before the war

 While they served there, the White House and new Capitol were burned by the British 

Those three were:

Vice President Elbridge Gerry (March 1813 until his death in November 1814)

(he was in Washington when the White House was burned)

U.S. Supreme Court A. J. Joseph Story (1811, at age 32 until his death in 1845)

(the youngest ever, still to this day ; he served for 25 years)

and Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court

(until his death in June 1814 ; Fort Sewall was named after him,

and he owned and lived with his family in the King Hooper Mansion after Hooper’s death)

 Special Feature: 

Captain John Bailey ~ Commander of Fort Sewall in the War of 1812

His portrait returned to Marblehead this year,

and will soon be displayed in Abbot Hall

Info: 781-631-1762 / MarbleheadTours@aol.com or www.MarbleheadTours.com