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Richard G. and Jerri Lynn Boyd

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General John Parker Boyd

 Newburyport, MA

(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.

Gen. John Parker Boyd's Bible for sale

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 Excellancy, 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 Mohamedan 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 Chrysler'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 responsibilities' " (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
 

 NOTE: Use this data as a finding tool, just as you would any other secondary source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts in original sources.

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