Extracts From
The Prize List
And Other Honours Awarded
for the Capture of Detroit, August 16, 1812.
Particularly Relating to
The 41^st Regiment of Foot.

Transcriptions with Annotations by Jim Yaworsky

Some General Observations.

The capture of Detroit by British and Indian forces led by Major-General Sir Isaac Brock was a pivotal point in the War of 1812. It marked vindication for Brock's Œforward defence' strategy (Prevost had considered abandoning Upper Canada and concentrating on the defence of Lower Canada until reinforcements arrived from Britain). The ramifications of this victory were of the first importance.

One ramification was the capture of considerable armaments and supplies from the Americans. These vital supplies were "purchased" by the British government and very well-employed in the future defence of the Canadas. The money paid by the government was distributed to the members of the victorious British army. Of course, the Indians got nothing.

The distribution of these funds was done in much the same manner as "Prize Money" was distributed to the Royal Navy for captured enemy ships and cargoes. Once the amount available was determined, each soldier, depending on his rank, was entitled to a "share" or "shares".

A single share was evidently £1 7s; this is what Privates of the 41^st received. Evidently, a sergeant was entitled to two shares hence received £2 14s. Needless to say, the numbers of shares an officer was entitled to receive went up depending on rank Brock's estate eventually received £218 which this transcriber is too lazy to do the exact mathematics for but obviously represented something like 200 shares.

It is also interesting to note that it appears from the materials for the 1^st Regiment of Essex Militia that a "militia" share was worth more money than that of the British regulars. The militia document also shows two "dividends" were paid out to militia Privates the first of £3, the second of £1 10s. This is considerably more than the Privates of the 41^st or Royal Newfoundland Fencibles received and the effect would only be magnified the higher in the ranks one goes. For example, Lieutenant John Applegarth of the Lincoln Militia vs. Lieutenant Edward Dewar of the Regulars both were on the Staff, Applegarth gets £32 8s, Dewar gets £21 12s.

It is interesting to see the language of the 1^st Essex documents: "share" and "dividend" read more like a modern corporate profits report than what we expect patriotic soldiers would be involved with.

The following table summarizes the unit affiliation and numbers of those who were entitled to a share in the prize money arising from the surrender of Detroit to the forces under the command of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock on August 16, 1812. The table was prepared by E.A. Cruikshank in the early 1900's, and can be relied upon in its broad outlines, though on its face it shows 3 officers whose Regiment was "not mentioned" and the chart might include minor mathematical or transcription errors.

	Officers	N.C.O.	Privates
General and Staff Officers	9	-	-
Field Train Department	1	1	-
Commissariat	1	2	-
Militia Staff-Officers	4	-	-
Detachment 4 B[attalio]n. R[oya]l. Artillery	1	5	24
41^st Reg[imen]t. Of Foot	13	26	263
Royal Newfoundland Fencibles	4	8	41
Provincial Marine Department	5	9	119
Militia Force, 1^st & 3^rd Reg., York Militia	4	6	77
5^th Lincoln, 2^nd York	3	3	59
1^st Regt. York Militia	2	3	19
2^nd Regt. Norfolk Militia	6	3	59
1^st Middlesex (attached to Norfolk)	1	-	-
Oxford Militia	-	2	11
1^st Regt. Essex Militia	22	32	258
2^nd Regt. Essex Militia	23	11	131
1^st Regt. Kent Militia	9	8	46
Troop of Essex Militia Cavalry	1	1	4
Indian Department	5	11	-
49^th Regiment	-	1	1
Officers (Regiments not mentioned)	3	-	-
Total	117	131	1112

Noteworthy from the chart: heavily-officered militia units, especially the 1^st Kent and 2^nd Essex!

Cruikshank's chart is published in "Documents Relating to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit 1812" Ottawa Government Printing Bureau 1912, p. 148, since reprinted in various editions. Cruikshank notes that the original list was at that time in the possession of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

This transcriber has used a photocopy made by Parks Canada and obtained from the library of Fort Malden National Historic Site, (Amherstburg, Ontario) the original (copy of a copy?) being in the Public Archives of Canada, Call Number MG24, G70. This photocopy was made on January 17, 1986, and in general is quite clear and good, enabling a very authoritative reading of its contents.

It is unknown to this transcriber whether a copy of the entire Prize List ledger is present in the Public Archives of Canada, or whether the original is still at the Royal Chelsea Hospital or is now in the Public Record Office in London, England.

What is presented here is a part of the Ledger as in a photocopy in the library at Fort Malden. This portion includes the Staff, 41^st, 49^th, Royal Newfoundland Fencibles, and two lists relating to the 1^st Essex Militia.

Note that this transcription therefore does not contain information for the Royal Artillerymen who were present; nor for sailors of the Provincial Marine and the only militia names are 22 privates from the 1^st Essex who were NOT paid their shares presumably, the other 236 were paid!

Appended to the end of this document is a list of militia members, by regiment, who received the Military General Service Medal for Fort Detroit.

Transcription Notes:

- Names appear in the same order as they appear on the ledger lists, but an alphabetical list of the members of the 41^st has been created by this transcriber and added at the end of this document.

- Names on this transcription are not always exactly as they appear on the list. On the Ledger, names usually show as "Will'm" or "Wm" instead of "William" in full; "Jos" for "Joseph", "Nathan'l" for "Nathaniel", etc. This transcriber provides the name in full for clarity.

- An "?" means the immediately preceding text was not clear enough to give a definitive reading i.e. is a "guess" by the transcriber.

The setup of the ledger itself has been simplified.

The ledger has 8 columns, titled "Names"; "Quality"; "Sum" (broken down in to individual columns for "£"(Pounds), "s"(Shillings), and "p"(Pence nobody received any pence so this column has been omitted from this transcription); "Date" (payment made on); "To Whom Paid" ; and "Witness".

"To Whom Paid" is usually an "agent": the two most common being : "J Webb(s?) for Greenwood", and "E. Bourne". I have inserted a footnote whenever it is somebody else who has received payment but have omitted reproducing this column.

Of the officers of the 41^st, only Assistant Surgeon Faulkner signed for payment made direct to himself. We know Faulkner retired from the army right after the War for health reasons so it makes sense he could attend in London to get his money personally.

Only two Privates of the 41^st attended Œin person' and were able to sign their own name Charles White and Bryan Gready (as footnoted). Several other (ex?)Privates did attend in person but could only sign by making their "mark" these too are all footnoted.

"Witness" appears to be the clerk at the government office actually disbursing the payment. I have omitted this column and therefore these flunkies' names.

This transcription contains footnotes which give extra details on some of the recipients, the information contained in them is identified as to whether it comes from the Ledger itself, and when the information is added by the transcriber.

It will quickly become apparent when viewing the list that there are many instances where no one signed for receipt of the prize share. This does not necessarily mean that the individual died in the War. See the entry for "John Nettles", for example. Other possible reasons why an individual didn't claim his prize money might include the individual emigrating out of British territory, or dying after the War but before the distribution of funds. Some of the footnotes speak further on this topic.

Conversely, mere payment of the prize money does not mean the individual survived the war. Instances where relatives/survivors signed for receipt of payment start with General Isaac Brock himself, but see the footnote for Private Patrick Russell as well.

Pages of this transcription correspond with pages in the ledger. The symbol "*" indicates the start of another ledger page, as well.

In the transcribed list, the names are grouped by rank and start with the highest rank. Note that all Privates were paid £1 7s. Once in the "Privates" part of the ledger, the names seem alphabetical; but with the 41^st, the alphabet "starts over" several times. It would appear that the master ledger list was compiled with several different company lists.

For ease in determining whether a member of the 41^st is even on the ledger, I have appended a list of the 41^st names again at the end of this document in strict alphabetical order, without regard to rank. The reader might wonder - why bother with the original "un-alphabetical" list?

The symbol "+" means the individual is listed as lost with the British Squadron at the Battle of Lake Erie September 10 1813 killed, wounded, or captured. In the strictly alphabetical list, these "Lake Erie" marks form an apparently random pattern. But in the ledger list, it can be seen that these marks are "clustered", which means the ledger list's order does have some historic meaning presumably in terms of the Company the individual belonged to. This is why it is reproduced.

Also, the Ledger would lose a certain amount of poignancy if the last name for the 41^st was that of anyone but "Shadrach Byefield". This is for reasons that will be made clear to the reader if not known alreadyŠ

In addition, Lomax's list of men who received the Military General Service medal with a clasp for Fort Detroit in 1847 is appended; this list appears on pages 106 and 107 of his work. The text of Lomax is presented in full on another part of this website. The names of those men who received the medal is marked by "M" in the Ledger list. The observation as to the use of company lists in making up the "master list" might also be born out when examining the Company affiliations as declared by recipients of the Military General Service Medal.

It is extremely interesting to note the large number of men on the 1847 medal list who do NOT appear on the Prize List. The Prize List was compiled within a few years of the capture of Detroit (payouts start in November of 1818 so the list was certainly compiled before that date) so should presumably be the more accurate document. Lomax also notes that some of the Companies listed in the 1847 list appear "wrong" but perhaps the old soldiers were right about their company, but wrong about whether it was present at the capture of Detroit! One wonders if we are seeing a Œ1200 men show up for a dinner honouring the members of the (Crimean War) Light Cavalry Brigade when only 600 were actually in the Charge' phenomenon.

On the other hand, Byfield was certainly present at the capture of Detroit and had to fight to get his name on the Prize list in the early 1840's.

It is also interesting to speculate on why three men (for sure, and up to five possible) who were on the Prize AND Medal lists, only applied for their medal and never collected their prize money was this by choice, or from lack of information?

"GM" means "gold medal", these were General or Field Officer's medals issued in 1815; the source for these names is George F. Stanley's "War of 1812- Land Operations" published by the National Museum of Canada in 1983.

On October 7 1813 Horse Guards issued instructions that officers would receive only one medal in recognition of service at a set list of actions during the wars from 1794 to 1814; they would be entitled to a clasp to be attached to the ribbon of either a "General Officers' Gold Medal" or "Field Officers' Gold Medal". This was instead of issuing a separate medal for each action.

On 28 January 1814 Horse Guards decreed that participation at actions in Canada would be eligible for the medal, and/or clasps, for actions to be designated by Governor and Commander of the Forces Prevost, who would also nominate the recipients.

Prevost decided that medals and/or clasps would be awarded for three actions: Fort Detroit, Chateauguay, and Crysler's Farm.

General Brock got a General Officers' Gold Medal for the capture of Detroit. Obviously, this was a posthumous award.

The following officers got a Field Officers' Gold Medal for the capture of Detroit:

Lt. Colonel Matthew Elliott 1^st Essex and Indian Department

Lt. Colonel John Macdonnell, Provincial Aide-de-Camp to General Brock

Lt. Colonel Robert Nicol, 2^nd Norfolk, Quarter Master General

Lt. Colonel Thomas St. George, Inspecting Field Officer, Militia

Captain John B. Glegg, 49^th, Aide-de-Camp to General Brock

Captain Peter Chambers, 41^st

Captain M.C. Dixon, Royal Engineers

Captain Adam Muir, 41^st

Captain Joseph Tallon, 41^st

Lieutenant Felix Troughton, Royal Artillery.

It seems inconceivable that the omission of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Procter (as he was at the time) was an accident, as he is the only senior officer not on this list and officers considerably junior to him are on it. Evidently, Procter was still in the "dog house" for Moraviantown when Prevost's medal nominations went in. Prevost himself, though he didn't know it at the time, was shortly to join Procter there as a result of outrage over his
"bungled" operations around Plattsburg in the fall of 1814.

To return to consideration of the Detroit Prize list transcription, it should be noted that lastly, men who were killed in the assault on Fort Stephenson are indicated by an "S" in the ledger list. The source of these names is Sandusky County Historical Society's History Leaflet No. 4, September 1967, as reproduced with permission on a Sandusky-based heritage website, http://www.sandusky-county-scrapbook.net/FtStephenson.htm. This is an excellent site for information on all aspects of the action at Fort Stephenson, including the burial sites of the 41^st casualties, and is highly recommended. The original source for the casualty list is claimed to be records in the Public Record Office in London, England.

Obviously, men killed in action later in the War were less likely to get their prize money although as noted this was not an invariable rule. Out of 20 men killed August 2, 1813 at Fort Stephenson, and 3 more who died of their wounds within a few weeks, 5 names appear on the Detroit Prize list. Four of these men never claimed their money but an unidentified person collected the prize money for one John Shanahan.

This information is the start of a project of the 41^st Regiment of Foot reenactment groups to compile a comprehensive database of information relating to the personnel of the historic i.e. "real" 41^st Regiment who served in the War of 1812.

Jim Yaworsky

Windsor, Ontario

Version 1.1 06/2003

Extracts from The Detroit Prize List:

Corps

Staff at Fort Detroit

Names Quality L S date paid

Henry Proctor [1]	Colonel	33	15	1818 18 Nov.
Lt. A.H. M.Lean[2] GM	Staff Adj[utan]t.	21	12	1819 23 Jany
Lt. Cl. J. B. St.George GM	Insp.F.O.[3]	31	10	1818 10 Nov
Lt. Edward Dewar	D.A.Q.M.G.[4]	21	12
Sir Isaac Brock[5] GM	Maj. Gen'l	218	-	1819 19 Jany[6]
John Applegarth (Lincoln Militia)	Lieut[enant]. Added by order of the Board 182[4?1?] Feb 15	32	8	1821 27 March

41^st Foot[7]	Quality	£	S	P
Adam Muir GM	Capt.	40	10		1819 9 Jany
Peter L. Chambers[8] GM	"	40	10		1818 18 Nov
Joseph Tallon[9] GM	"	40	10		1819 9 Jany
Charles Sutherland[10]	Lieut.	10	16
William Watson M[11]	"	10	16		1819 23 Jany
Harris W. Hailes	"	10	16		9 Jany 1819
Thomas Bernard M[12]	"	10	16		12 March 1818
Benoit Bender[13] M[14]	"	10	16		1818 23 Oct
Charles Lenn	"	10	16		1819 9 Jany
George Taylor	"	10	16
William Faulkner	Act. Surg.	10	16		1818 6^th Nov.[15]
James Canes	Sergeant	2	14
Leonard Smith	"	2	14
Samuel Walsh	"	2	14
William Lane[16] +[17]	"	2	14		1819 9 Jany
Robert Blaney	"	2	14		Do.
Joseph Stagnall[18] M	"	2	14		1819 6 Mar
Thomas White[19]	"	2	14		1819 9 Jany
Joseph Allen M	"	2	14		Do.
Philip Brooks	"	2	14		1819 6 Mar

41

Nathaniel Carpenter *	Sergeant[20]	2	14	1819 27 Mar
Thomas Edwards	"	2	14	1818 18 Nov
Richard Forrestal +	"	2	14
John Ivers	Corporal	2	6	1819 19 June?
Mathias Newman	"	2	6	1819 Aug 14
Henry Webb	"	2	6	1820 Mar