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An artist's portrayal of the death of Warner's "brave general," Zebulon Pike, at the Battle of York, near what is now known as Toronto. (National Archives)

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Ensign Thomas Warner

Officer's Letters from Faraway Front Offer Glimpses of War of 1812

By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist

Ensign Thomas Warner's War of 1812 correspondence to his wife Mary Ann began on a high note. He wrote that his Baltimore unit had stopped in Carlisle, Pa., en route to Lake Ontario: "The citizens of Carlisle have treated us with the greatest hospitality … they presented the whole corps with an ellegant [sic] dinner and plenty of wine to drink their healths." He asks his wife to commend the ladies who presented the unit with its "much admired" stand of colors, and asks her to excuse him for not saying goodbye, "as the trial would have been to great for me to bear … remember you are a soldiers [sic] wife."

His next letter is much shorter. "Tomorrow at 7 o'clock we embark for Canada -- consequently it will be liberty or death," Warner writes from "Buffaloe." "You must excuse me for not writing you more as I am officer of the day and guard both, therefore, I am obliged by necessity to wright [sic] at 12 o'clock tonight."

The unit remained in camp at Sackett's Harbor during the winter, and the next surviving letter from that camp is dated April 19, 1813. "We are preparing to move off from here but to where I do not know," Warner writes. "Under the circumstances I can't tell you where to direct your letters which is truly mortifying to me." He informs Mary Ann that his company is now attached to Gen. Zebulon Pike's brigade, "to embark … for some secret expedition." Warner also tells her that his company "has [been] reduced to 65 effective men out [of] all those brave fellows we started with … the British call us the Baltimore Blood Hounds."

April 29's missive is short but dramatic: "My Dear Wife, It is with sincere satisfaction that I inform you of my being well after a pretty severe engagement." He talks of his wounded fellows, and closes with "Our brave general Pike was killed."

Thomas Warner's last surviving letter, dated May 10, 1813, indicates that the company has returned to the United States. He says he is "very unwell today with the dysentery." His firsthand account ends there, but history records that in subsequent action he lost a leg.

Upon his return to Baltimore, Warner took up the family silversmith business, placing an advertisement stating, "[Warner] hopes that he has not been forgotten in light of his recent absence from home." Thomas Warner subsequently became Baltimore's first gold and silver assayer, putting into practice the elaborate system of hallmarks still relied upon today in that city.