Dead of War of 1812 don't lie unforgotten

[2RHPZ]

Dead men don’t lie unforgotten

Sunday, May 29, 2005
By Ruth Davenport


o one noticed when John Johnson died for his country.

There was no pomp or ceremony for the 22-year-old seaman from New York. No headstone, no 21-gun salute, no burial at sea for the young American who died June 12, 1813.

In a Halifax prison infirmary, far from friends and family, Johnson succumbed to wounds suffered in action on board the USS Chesapeake — sister ship to the mighty USS Constitution. His British captors meticulously swathed his body in canvas, neatly recorded his name, age, rank, vessel and cause of death and shipped him off to oblivion on Deadman’s Island.

Years went by. The prison on Melville Island that housed Johnson and 8,000 other prisoners during the War of 1812 became a yacht club. In the United States, heroes of the war were commemorated and immortalized, buried with honour and remembered with respect. The USS Constitution still floats in Boston Harbour, as imposing today as when she battled the daunting British navy.

Link (http://www.hfxnews.ca/news.aspx?storyID=35419)

[Para]

The timbers from USS Chesapeake where used to build a flour mill in England. It still stands to this day and is still called the Chesapeake Flour Mill.

[Mailman]

Thats a bit better than the timber from French and Spanish ships which were used to make walk ways in portsmouth :)

Mailman