By an examination of the roster of the soldiers of 1812 it is learned that both Norris and Tucker enlisted on March 14, 1813, in Captain John Walker's company of Colonel William E. Boswell's regiment. Their term of enlistment expired on September 4, 1813, six days before the naval battle on Lake Erie.

The enlistment of Ezra Younglove is not of record, but on the 1st of January, 1814, he re-enlisted in Captain Thomas L. Butler's company of Colonel Thomas Deye Owing's regiment of United States Infantry to serve until April 30, 1814, showing that he was both patriotic and brave.

The three others, Artus, Taliaferro, and Tucker, were all from Captain John Payne's company of Colonel R. M. Johnson's regiment and all three from Mason County, where that company was principally recruited.

Artus was fourth sergeant; Taliaferro first corporal, and Tucker a private.

If possibly all, certainly five sixths of the survivors of these riflemen in 1867 were from two companies. One of these companies of discharged men being from Boswell's regiment and three of the men from Captain Payne's company in Johnson's regiment, it is fair and reasonable to presume that a very large majority of these brave and heroic volunteers were from these two companies.

The service of these militiamen was perilous and difficult in the extreme.

The British commodore had secured a number of Indians for a like duty on the English ships, but the moving of the masts and the strange and unusual character of the work caused them to refuse to perform their appointed tasks, and they abandoned their allies.

Not so with these Kentuckians. They ascended the masts with alacrity; they sought the service. Unaccustomed to the sea, placed high above the decks, subjected to an unusual motion for landsmen, with the increased danger of death by falling or drowning, and with largely augmented chances of destruction by cannonade and shivered timbers, these gallant soldiers perched themselves in the heights of the sails and plied their work of death amid greatest perils with calm and undismayed hearts.

Captain Edward Porter Thompson, in his "Young People's History of Kentucky," assigns these heroes to Payne's and Stockton's companies.

Hatfield and Norris enlisted in the United States Infantry regiment of Colonel Thomas Deye Owings, Joseph C. Betts' company, on January 1, 1814, and Younglove in Thomas L. Butler's company same day, but this was nearly four months after the battle.

Under the conditions then surrounding them, few men who fought in the War of 1812 engaged in a more dangerous service, exhibited a higher degree of true courage, or manifested a nobler patriotism than these Kentucky riflemen who fought from Commodore Perry's masts, and who by their accurate aim inflicted a tremendous loss upon their enemies. And it is especially to be noted that at the time of their performing this patriotic duty more than one half of them had been discharged by the expiration of their time of enlistment.

The names of these men are justly entitled to a place among Kentucky's noblest heroes, and they ought to be carved on the monument which the Commonwealth has erected in its capital city to perpetuate the memory of her most illustrious sons.

The following are the resolutions previously alluded to under which these deserving heroes received their medals of honor:

RESOLUTION No. 31.

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING the GovernoR TO PROCURE AND
PRESENT TO SAMUEL HATFIELD, OF FLOYD COUNTY, A
SURVIVOR OF THE KENTUCKY VOLUNTEERS IN

THE BATTLE OF LAKE Erie, a
GOLD MEDAL.

WHEREAS, under a resolution of the Kentucky Legislature, approved February 17th, 1860, one gold medal was awarded to each of the following-named persons: One to James Artus, of Mason County, Kentucky; one to Dr. William T. Taliaferro, of Cincinnati, Ohio, but late of Kentucky; one to John Tucker, late of Mason County, Kentucky, and one to John Norris, of Boone County, Kentucky; and whereas, under a resolution approved March 9th, 1867, a similar gold medal was awarded to Ezra Younglove, all of whom were survivors of the Battle of Lake Erie; and whereas, Samuel Hatfield, of the county of Floyd, was present and assisted in achieving the glorious victory of the 10th of September, 1813; therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: That the Governor be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to procure a suitable gold medal, with appropriate inscriptions and devices, and, in the name of the State of Kentucky, to present the same to said Samuel Hatfield as a token of the grateful recollection in which the people of the State hold his brave and patriotic services on that day, and the imperishable renown which that brilliant victory achieved for our country; said medal not to exceed in cost the other medals awarded for similar services; and that the auditor be directed to draw his warrant on the treasury for the amount of the cost of the medal hereby awarded.

Approved March 9, 1868.

RESOLUTION No. 44.

RESOLUTION IN RELATION TO THE GOLD MEDALS AWARDED

TO JAMES ARTUS AND OTHERS.

WHEREAS, Under a resolution of the Legislature of Kentucky, approved February 17, 1860, the Governor has procured and has now ready for delivery, four gold medals: One for James Artus, of Mason County, Kentucky; one for Dr. William T. Taliaferro, now of Cincinnati, Ohio, but late of Kentucky; one for John Tucker, late of Mason County, Kentucky, and one for John Norris, now of Boone County, Kentucky, survivors of the Kentucky Volunteers who, at the request of Commodore Perry, with such ready alacrity and heroism, repaired on board his fleet and assisted in achieving the glorious victory of 10th of September, 1813, over the British fleet on Lake Erie; and whereas, the Auditor of Public Accounts declines to issue his warrant for the cost of said medals, because the journals of the two Houses do not show that said resolution was passed in the manner prescribed by the Constitution; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: That the Auditor of Public Accounts draw his warrant on the treasury for the sum of four hundred and forty dollars, the cost of said medals, in favor of the Governor, and to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Approved January 24, 1867.