Boat Builders at Fort Amanda - Charles Pellam

 


If you've ever read anything about Fort Amanda, you know that boats were built there during the War of 1812. What I'll bet you didn't know (nor did I until recently) was, "Who built them?"

If you remember, it was Lt. Col. Robert Pogue's regiment of Kentucky Mounted Militia who built and first garrisoned Fort Amanda. The quartermaster for Pogue's regiment was Major Thomas Bodley. Bodley was a an interesting individual so I've included a short bio on him at the end of this blog.

One of Bodley's jobs was to ensure everyone got paid. The document shown below is an authorization to pay 5 soldiers for building a 30 dugout canoe at Fort Amanda.

Transcription:

The United States
To Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings, Robert Stewart, Charles H. Pelham and Benedict H. Hobbs.
For digging one canoe thirty feet long and of width sufficient to receive a flour barrel say burthen* nine barrels of Flour (ordered in Public Service by General Payne) at one dollar per barrel
                                                     Charles H. Pelham
I certify that the foregoing men of my company dug an excellent canoe of description and burthen* as stated above which was put in public use by the order of Brigadier General Payne. Given under my hand at Fort Amanda, January 25, 1813.
                                                 Joseph C. Belt, Capt. 2nd Battalion                                                                              4^th Regt. Kentucky Vol. Militia
Received of Thomas Bodly, quartermaster general for the Kentucky volunteer militia, nine dollars in full for the above account and price of said canoe. Having signed duplicate hereof.
Fort Amanda                                                      

Charles H. Pelham            Jan. 25, 1813   

* The term "burthen" is an old English word meaning "tonnage" or weight. What they're saying is that the canoe was built to the correct specification regarding size and weight.

This letter is particularly interesting in that tells us several things:

they built dugout canoes at Fort Amanda, some 30 feet long

• the names of the men who built the large canoe.
• It suggests that soldiers doing special work may have received extra pay.
• that men from other companies (Capt. Belt's)were sent to Amanda to work on boats.
• that a 30 foot dugout canoe was large enough to transport 9 barrels of flour (24" dia x 36" high).
• nine barrels of flour 24" in diameter would take up 18 lineal feet in the canoe.

A Bonus

The group was paid $9 for their work. Divided equally among the five man, each would have received $1.80. The pay for private soldiers at the time was $8 a month or 26 cents a day indicating that it took them about a week to build the canoe.

What does a 30 foot dugout canoe look like?



 
A 30 foot dugout canoe could weigh as much as 1000 pounds.

Its' unlikely dugout canoes were used for transporting troops. In fact, from what Ensign Schillinger tells us, in addition to being quite large, construction was pretty sophisticated.

We know that some of the boats must have had lath sides. Those boats were probably built upside down on some kind of rack or sawhorses.Schillinger wrote several times that when the boats were finished they were "turned." They then took the boats over to the river and purposely sunk. This was done so the wood would swell and help seal the joints. When he wrote "turned" he likely meant that when they took a boat off the rack they "turned" it upside down to carry it to the river. Anyway that's my guess.

Boat before being "turned"

How large were the boats used to transport troops?
Again, we rely on Ensigns Schillinger's journal notes. On April 27, 1813 he wrote;

“The boats 7 in number pushed of at 9 A.M. commanded by Capt Price of the regulars.”

Schillinger was referring to a company of soldiers led by Captain Price that had loaded onto boats and left Amanda that day. The number of men in a company varied throughout the war but the average seems to have been between 70 and 100 privates. Using an average of 85 plus 5 officers, means we’ll assume Price left Amanda with 90 men. Note, he said used 7 boats. There was no need to carry large amounts of food because they’d be stopping at forts along the way, (Jennings and Brown) before they got to Defiance, so they probably only needed 1 boat for supplies. This leaves 6 boats to transport 90 men or in all likelihood each boat carried 15 men.



If they used the type boat shown above, with in the front and one in the rear with push poles, there would have been approx. 6 men on each side of the boat. Now figuring 3 feet space for each man, this means the boat would have to have to have been at least 30 feet long. Plus this configuration aligns with what Schillinger wrote about "turning the boat."

The Auglaize Armada
On April 8th, 1813 General Harrison and 300 of his troops arrived at Fort Amanda on their way to Fort Meigs. Schilliner wrote:

"All hand busyly employ,d preparing to Desend the River, Making oars, etc. at half past 11 A.M., all Embark,d. on one company of Regulars one of riffle men and two of infantry makeing in all about 300 Men."

Using the same equation used for Price’s boats (15 men per boat) suggests Harrison needed at least 20 boats to transport his 300 men. Add to that at least 3 - 5 more boats for carrying supplies, ammunition, etc , Harrison would have needed between 23 – 25 boats making it the largest armada of boats to navigate the Auglaize river before or since.
So Who Were These Boat Builders?
Checking rosters I learned the 5 boat builders, Charles H. Pelham, Benedict H. Hobbs, Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings and Robert Stewart were all soldiers in Captain Joseph Belts company (Pogue's regiment) formed in Fleming county, Kentucky. Rawlings was the 1st Sergeant in the company and Pelham, Hobbs, Anderson and Jones were privates.

Charles H. Pelham (23 years old)

Note: In 1810, Charles H. Pelham was living approx. 10 miles southeast of Col. Robert Pogues home (Mayslick) in Mason County, Kentucky. Its likely the two men knew each other before the war.

Charles H. Pelham was born in 1790 making him 23 years old when he was at Fort Amanda. -He fought with the Kentucky militia in Pogues Regiment during the War of 1812 and later settled in Batesville, Arkansas. He was elected as the first Independence County Surveyor (1827-1830) and served on the first Board of Trustees for the Batesville Academy in 1836, which was the first incorporated institution of learning in Arkansas. Charles was the older brother of William Pelham who was appointed by President John Tyler as Surveyor General of Arkansas in 1841 and later appointed the first Surveyor General of New Mexico by President Franklin Pierce in 1850(http://history.cosl.org/surveyors.htm)
By 1850, Pelham (60) and his Wife Sarah (50) and family were living in Batesville, Arkansas. He is listed as a farmer with $9000 worth of real estate indicating that he had been very successful.

Benedict H. Hobbs (21years old)

Apr. 5, 1792 - Aug. 18, 1845

Hobbs wife was Mary "Polly" Howe (1796 - 1833). There 9th child Sarah died at the age of 1 year. Mary Hobbs died the same year suggesting she may have died in childbirth at the age of 37.





Son Benedict Howe Hobbs jr. (1821 -1867)



Daughter-in-Law Elizabeth (Hopper) Hobbs (1815 - 1879)
Burial:Hobbs Cemetery McCracken County,Kentucky, USA

I'm still working on learning more about Thomas Anderson, James Jones, Samuel J. Rawlings and Robert Stewart.

Major Thomas Bodley (1772 - 1833)



Thomas Bodley was born in Pennsylvania on July 4, 1772, son of William Bodley. There he met and married Catharine Harris Shiell. Bodley was a veteran of Wayne’s campaign and the Battle of Fallen Timbers and held the rank of Major as Deputy Quartermaster for Pogue’s regiment. He was a very civic-minded citizen throughout his life. In 1817, he was appointed an Elector from Kentucky (Electoral College). The following year, he became Grand Master of the Free and Accepted Masons of Kentucky. He later served, as the first Secretary of the Democratic Society in Lexington, was one of the founders of the St. Andrews Society, served as Captain of the Lexington Light Infantry, and several years as the first clerk of the Fayette County Kentucky circuit court.



Bodley House - Lexington, Kentucky

Bodley built a mansion in Lexington aptly named the “Bodley House” where it remains today among the most beautiful homes of its type in Kentucky. Bodley, once a very wealthy businessman, lost his home and most of his fortune during the financial downturn of the 1820s.

When the famous French general, the Marquis de Lafayette, visited Lexington in 1825, Bodley was appointed chaperone and guide for the general during his visit. Bodley died at the age of 61 on June 11, 1833 during a cholera epidemic that claimed over 500 lives. Both he and wife Catherine are buried in the Lexington, Cemetery, Section C, Lot 24, Lexington, Kentucky. (N38°03'40.63”,W84°30'10.68”)

Conclusion

During our last Lantern Walk at Ft. Amanda, David May and a group of re-enactors made history come alive with their portrayals of 4 men who were stationed at the fort in1813. Afterwords an individual said to me, "The next time I come to Fort Amanda I'm going to be thinking more about the men here. I thought to myself, "that's the whole point."