General John Parker Boyd
(War of 1812)
Battles of Tippecanoe
and Chrysler's Farm
General
John Parker Boyd was born in Newburyport. Masschusetts 21
December
1764, son of James and Susanna (Coffin) Boyd. He entered
the
army in 1786 as an ensign in the 2nd Regiment. In 1787 he was
appointed,
by Gov. John Handcock lieutenant of a company in Boston.
In 1789
he went to India, raised three battalions of Troops and hired
them
to the Tippo Sultan. Under Nizan Ali Kahn he was given command
in Madras,
and at one time had 10,000 men at his disposal. He obtained
favor
in India in a sort of Guerilla service. He had a natural daughter
by
Housina
at Ponah, (1797) India, who was baptised Frances by a Catholic
priest.
He had a natural son, Wallace, by Marie Rupell in 1814, cared for
by his
sister, Frances Little, and for whom he wished a military career. John
Parker
Boyd returned to America in 1808 and was appointed colonel of the
4th
Infantry Regiment, USA. He led this regiment to the Western frontier
and
encamped first on the Ohio River area of Indiana.
Battle of Tippecanoe
Indian
attacks on American settlers along the western frontier prompted
President
James Madison to authorize William H. Harrison, Governor of
the
Indiana Territory, to call out the Indiana militia and to request the
services
of the 4th US Infantry under command of Col. John Parker Boyd
to deal
with the Indians. Harrison had a conference with Tecumseh,
Shawnee
Indian chief, but Tecumseh's brother, the Prophet, gathered a force
of more
than 2,500 Indians at Prophet's Town on the Wabash River.
Gov.
Harrison issued orders at Vincennes Sept. 22, 1811, placing all the
Infantry
Regulars and Militia in a small brigade under the command of Col.
John
P. Boyd, acting Brig. General. The army under Harrison's command
numbered
about 900 men. It left Vincennes Sept. 22, 1811 and advanced
up the
Wabash River, establishing Ft. Harrison, and meeting the enemy near
Prophet's
town Nov 6, 1811. Agreement was reached with the Prophet's
scouts
to discuss the difficulties with the Prophet on the following day.
Harrison's
men established a bivouac area on an elevated triangular area
where
there was access to both wood for fuel and water. At 4 o'clock in the
morning
of Nov 11, 1811, the Indians attacked the American forces. Within
two
minutes the entire Harrison command was in position and firing on the
enemy.
Approximately 100 Indians were killed and the rest were put to flight
as soon
as daylight arrived. Gen. Harrison in his offical report of
the action
wrote:
"The Infantry formed a small brigade under the immediate orders of
Col.
Boyd. The Colonel, throughout the action, manifested equal zeal and
bravery
in carrying into execution my orders; in keeping men to their post
and
exhorting then to fight with valor."
On Nov
27, 1811, the House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory
"Resolved
that the thanks of this house be given Col. John Parker Boyd,
the
second in command, to the officers, non-commissioned officers and
private
soldiers comprising the Fourth United States Regiment of Infantry
together
with all the United States Troops under his command for the
distinguished
regularity, discipline, coolness, and undaunted valor so
eminently
displayed by them in the late brilliant and glorious battle fought
with
the Shawnee Prophet and his confederates on the morning of the 7th
of November,
1811, by the Army inder the command of His Execellancy,
William
Henry Harrison."
Battle of Chrysler's Farm (War of 1812)
General
Boyd tried to drive a wedge between the river and the British troops.
Col.
Ripley's 21st Regiment on Nov 11, 1813, emerged into Chrysler's field
near
Williamsburg, Ontario and met two British regiments under Col. Morrison.
The
order to charge was given and the English troops were driven back, but
regrouped
and counterattacked. They were again repulsed. Meantime the
Wilkinson
army passed safely by on the St. Lawrence in a flotilla of boats. Had
their
progress been impeded, armed British vessels under Capt. Mulcaster
would
have overtaken the Americans before they reached the relative safety
of the
rapids which were not navigable to the heavier war vessels.
The Battle
of Chrysler's farm resulted in nearly one-fifth of the entire forces
engaged
being either killed or wounded. The British had much the advantage
during
the battle in having possession of a stone house in the middle of the field.
Gen.
Boyd lost 400 men in the engagement, among whom was Gen. Leonard
Covington,who
was shot through his body while heading a charge. This action
has
never received the praise it deserves, because of the disgraceful failure
of the
major
campaign in Canada. Gen. Wilkinson had ordered Gen. Hampton to prepare
to attack
Montreal from the East, while the forces of Wilkinson attacked the city
from
the West. Gen. Hampton disobeyed orders and withdrew his troops southward
toward
Lake Champlain. Gen. Wilkinson therefore decided not to attack Montreal
but
to go into winter quarters at French Mills on the Salmon River. This failure
of
coordinated
effort on the part of commanders produced the wholly fruitless result.
For
this failure Gen. Wilkinson was court-martialed, but acquitted.
Following
the war of 1812, Gen Boyd was honorably discharged June 15, 1815,
and
went to England to secure indemnity for saltpeter captured by a British
cruiser.
He obtained only the first installment of $30,000. President Andrew
Jackson,
himself a general in the War of 1812, appointed Gen. Boyd US Naval
Officer
at the Port of Boston in 1830. Boyd died, however, soon after his
appointment.
He published
a pamphlet, "Documents and Facts Relative to Military Events During
the
Late War" 1816. He died Oct 11, 1830.
"History
of the Boyd Clan and Related Families" by Frederick Tilghman Boyd,
Ph.D,
1962, Regal Press, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
(Used with permission of the late author) Richard G. Boyd
Gen John Parker Boyd
Penobscot County, Maine Probate Records, 1816-1883
Pg. 20 BOYD, Gen. John Parker
of Boston MA. Will: Nov 1816 - probate 1 May
1831. Heirs: Frances Boyd
"my natural daughter by Housina a Mohametan Lady,
born in my camp in the vicinity
of Poonah India 4th June 1797"; Wallace 'my
son by Maria Russell born
Oct 1814'; bro Robert Boyd, bro Joseph C. Boyd, bro
Eben L Boyd; sis Margaret
Storer, sis Frances Little. Miss Maria Smith of
Philadelphia PA to have 100
Guineas to purchase a ring of her choice. Son
Wallace to be under the gdn
of Frances Little and should be educated for the
army or navy. Exr bros Joseph
and Eben.
BOYD, John Parker (1764-1830)
American soldier, born at
Newburyport, Mass. He entered the U.S. Army, but
took service with the Peishwa,
and the Nizam in India. He returned to the
U.S. in 1798 and as colonel
distinguished himself at the battle of Tippecanoe
(1811). He was a brigadier
general during the War of 1812 and was present at
the capture of Fort George,
N.C. (Funk and Wagnals encyclopedia,
1949.)
John Parker Boyd, b.
21 Dec 1764 Newburyport, Massachusetts, d. 4 Oct 1830.
From Dictionary of American Biography, Vol 1, ed. A. Johnson 1964.
"Soldier of fortune, was born
in Newburyport, Mass., the son of James and
Susanna Boyd. The year
following the end of the Revolution he obtained a
commission as ensign, and
rose to the rank of lieutenant. About 1789 he
arrived in India, in quest
of fortune. The conditions in that country favoured
a military adventurer.
The British East India company and the French were in
almost constant opposition,
and the native Hindu and Mohammedan princes
were frequently involved in
warfare. Boyd, like the Italian condottieri, and
other adventurers, sold his
services, now to one prince, now to another. At
one time the Nizam of Haidarabad,
acting on British suggestions, engaged
Boyd, who owned a body of
troops, "a ready formed and experienced corps of
1800 men" (Compton, p 340).
Again, he entered the employ of the Peshwa
of Poona at a salary of 3000
rupees a mouth, placed a new Peshwa on the
throne, and commanded a brigade
in the army of that native prince. "Riding
into the very heart of Tippoo's
dominions, he would strike a series of
paralyzing blows, burn a dozen
towns, exact a huge indemnity" (Powell, p 10).
"Military history presents
no more fantastic picture than that of this Yankee
adventurer spurring across
an Indian countryside with a brigade of beturbaned
lancers, and a score or so
of lumbering elephants, the muzzles of field-guns
frowning from their howdahs,
tearing along behind him" (Ibid., p 14).
"After nearly a score of years
in India, Boyd returned to the United States, and
in 1808 he reentered the army
as colonel of the 4th infantry. At the head of
this regiment he fought under
Harrison at the battle of tippecanoe in 1811. At
the opening of the War of
1812 he was commissioned brigadier-general, and
served on the Canadian border.
He led a brigade at the capture of Fort
George 27 May 1813, and at
the battle of Chrystler's Farm on the following 11
November, he was in command.
In this engagement, the climax of Wilkinson's
disastrous campaign, about
2000 Americans were defeated by 800 of the
enemy and the battle - in
the words of the historian Adams - "was ill fought
both by the generals and the
men," and "had no redeeming incident." Boyd
was discharged from the army
in 1815, and toward the end of his life was
naval officer for the port
of Boston. His character was thus described by a
fellow officer in the War
of 1812: "A compound of ignorance, vanity, and
petulance, with nothing to
recommend him but that species of bravery in the
field which is vaporing, boisterous,
stifling reflection, blinding observation
..."
(Morgan Lewis, quoted in Adams,
VII, p 162). Adams adds that Boyd was
competent only for the command
of a regiment, and that he lacked the
confidence of the army.
"Brown was said to have threatened to resign rather
than serve under him, and
Winfield Scott ... described Boyd as amiable and
respectable in a subordinate
position, but 'vacillating and imbecile beyond all
endurance as a chief under
high responsiblities' " (Adams, VII, 188).
Frances (Boyd ?), dau
of Housina, a Mahometan, b 4/6/1797 (Poona, India).
Wallace (Boyd?), son
of Marie Rupell, b Oct 1814