New York State Adjutant General's Office War of 1812 Veterans' Claims, Affidavits of Service, and Powers of Attorney

Numerical by claim number. Claims 9862-10139 were submitted by or on behalf of Native Americans.

New York militiamen and volunteers who served during the War of 1812 became eligible to receive reimbursement for supplies, clothing, and equipment furnished for the war effort by the Laws of 1818, Chapter 270 and Laws of 1819, Chapter 117. It was not until 1857, however, that the State of New York created an administrative "board of commissioners," consisting of the Adjutant General and Inspector General, to examine and approve claims submitted by War of 1812 veterans, their widows, or other legal claimants (L. 1857, Ch. 597). Legislation passed two years later (L. 1859, Ch. 176) amended the previous law, and authorized the board of commissioners to issue certificates to claimants stating "the amount which [the commissioners] shall have found to be due." Under the 1859 law, 17,228 claims were audited and approved, and an additional 44 claims were approved in 1872.

Claims totaling $2,250,000 were eventually reviewed by the board, and certificates for about that amount were issued to the claimants by the State of New York. Despite the large sum of money owed to claimants, the State Legislature was only able to appropriate a total of $250,000 to redeem the certificates (L. 1869, Ch. 470; L. 1870, Ch. 524; L. 1874, Ch. 350), leaving a balance of about $2,000,000 to be paid. Probably as a result of the shortage of funds, the 1869 legislation provided that the Comptroller's Office make payments on certificates held by New York State residents only, pro rata, in the following order, until the federal government appropriated funds to pay off the remaining balance (State statute dating back to 1819 held that the federal government was ultimately liable to appropriate funds to pay these claims.): (1) principal on certificates held by surviving War of 1812 veterans; (2) accumulated interest due upon the certificates held by surviving veterans; (3) principal on certificates held by surviving widows of veterans; (4) accumulated interest due on certificates held by surviving widows of veterans; and (5) certificates held by legal representatives of veterans.

According to two reports, one published by the New York Assembly Ways and Means Committee (1885), cited below, and the other by the State Agent for War of 1812 Claims (1905), the State of New York never received any monies from the federal government to pay the outstanding claims. Research conducted by the Comptroller's Office as late as 1987 also confirms that funds were never received to satisfy these claims.

Citation: New York State Assembly, "Committee of Ways and Means Relative to Contingent Expenses of Volunteers and Militia of the State Called into Service of the U.S. in the War of 1812," Assembly Document No. 146, 1885.

This series is one of two that extensively document the War of 1812 claims application and settlement process. The primary difference between the two is that records in this series (A3352) consist of claim applications submitted by, or on behalf of, War of 1812 veterans who fought in New York militia and volunteer units in order to authenticate their military service and personal "expenses incurred" for the war effort (L. 1859, Ch. 176). By contrast, related series A0020, War of 1812 certificates of claim and related records, documents the review and adjustment of claims submitted to the Adjutant General's Office, which occurred after the initial claim applications were processed. Series A3352 documents claimants who resided in New York State and in other states at the time they applied for reimbursement, whereas the bulk of series A0020, because of an 1869 law requiring claimants to live within New York State in order to receive payment, documents mostly in-state claimants.

Each application form ("declaration") in this series contains the following sections: the claimant's statement relating military service during the war as well as expenses incurred for clothing, supplies, and equipment; a statement of the justice of the peace attesting to the accuracy of the information provided by the claimant; and a statement of the county clerk, attesting to the genuineness of the justice of the peace before whom the claimant appeared. The applications contain the following detailed information about the claimant and his War of 1812 service: name (if deceased, name of widow, executor, or administrator is given and a copy of court documentation is attached); age; residence (town, county, and state); rank held during war; company served in; regiment served in; commander of regiment; where the soldier served during war; dates of service; term of service; Land Warrant number and corresponding number of acres soldier received from the United States government under the federal bounty land acts of 1850 and 1855; amount expended for clothing, equipment, and supplies furnished for the war effort (broken down by item); transportation expenses; and total amount of the claim.

In addition to applications submitted by white claimants, the series also includes those submitted by Indians who served in the war and were entitled to receive reimbursement for clothing, equipment, and supplies pursuant to Chapter 176 of the Laws of 1859.

Microfilm is available at the New York State Archives.

The entire series (except Indian reservation schedules) is digitized (from microfilm) and is available to New York State residents for free on Ancestry.com New York. You must sign up for a free account to access these records without a paid subscription. To learn more, go to How to Use Ancestry.com New York

A1182 Index to War of 1812 claim certificates, indexes this series.

A0020 War of 1812 certificates of claim and related records contains related records.

A1183 Opinion of state agent for War of 1812 claims, contains related War of 1812 claims records.

B0810 War of 1812 abstracts of payrolls for New York State militia contains related records.

B0811 Transcriptions of War of 1812 payrolls for New York State Militia units, contains related War of 1812 military service records.

U.S. bounty land warrant application files, referenced by the claim applications in this series, are held by the National Archives: M848, War of 1812 Military Bounty Land Warrants, 1815-1858.

Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812 (Comptroller's Office: 1860; rev. 1969). This work has been digitized and is searchable in Ancestry.com New York.

The index to series A3352 includes the claimant's name, claim number, place of residence when claim was filed, and reference to location of records within the series.

Container and folder lists available.

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