War of 1812 comes to Norway

NORWAY — "The War of 1812 Comes to Norway," a talk by Larry Glatz, will be held at the Norway Historical Society on Tuesday, August 21, at 7 p.m.

"Hundreds of local men march for Canada!"

"Tales of bloodshed and disease on the frontier!"

"Political turmoil at home! Smugglers abound in Oxford County!"

"British capture half of Maine! Calls for statehood become shrill!"

These are just some of the headlines which would appear in the local newspaper if Norway had such an organ two hundred years ago. In fact, the strange little war which is almost forgotten by Americans of today was one of the most contentious in our history.

For every citizen who thought America's honor required the fight, there was one in the next town who believed Mr. Madison's war the errand of a madman.

Unfortunately, Norway had no newspaper in 1812. But it did have the next best things: It had citizens and soldiers of the day who wrote letters to recipients who preserved them.

The town not only had one early historian who served in the war and wrote of it afterwards, but it had a second later scribe who cherished old documents generously made them public.

In addition, important militia records managed somehow to survive in the town for two centuries; and most importantly, when Norway finally did publish a newspaper in the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was blessed with editors who gave over large amounts of column space to articles on local history.

During the war years themselves, Norway found itself in a part of the state which was particularly favorable to the war; as a result, recruiters were able to enlist many local men who were willing to risk their lives for the honor of their new country, as well as many others who agreed to leave farm and family in exchange for cash bonuses and the promise of a generous plot of bounty land in the west.

In his talk, Mr. Glatz promises to highlight the issues, personalities and events which made the War of 1812 so important locally, and he pledges to do so in a time no longer than it might have taken Captain Bailey Bodwell's company of local volunteers to parade with fife and drum down Main Street from Samuel Ames' mill to Steep Falls, on its way to the regimental rendezvous in Portland.

For its part, the Society cannot promise plots of bounty land in the west, but it does agree to serve refreshments of historical savoriness to those who remain to the end of the program.