Obituaries from Orange County
General W. G. Belknap
from The Whig Press
Wednesday, January 14, 1852
A St. Louis paper thus speaks of General Belknap, formerly of Newburgh, in this county;
"We announced a few days since the death of Brevet Brigadier General W. G. Belknap, Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifth United States Infantry, near Preston, Texas, November 10, 1851. An old friend of the General has been kind enough to furnish us with a brief account of the military career of this distinguished officer, for which we are pleased to find space in our columns.
"General Belknap entered the service as a third Lieutenant of the twenty-third Regiment of Infantry, U. States Army, in April 1813, and accompanied the expedition of that year down the St. Lawrence under General Wilkinson. Her served during the campaign of 1814, on the Niagara frontier with great distinction, and especially on the occasion of the attack of the British army on Fort Erie, on the 15th of August, of that year.
"Lieutenant Belknap commanded a picket guard of one hundred men on that night, which was thrown out one mile or more in the direction of the enemy. He was met at the point with a heavy assaulting column of two thousand men, under the command of Lieut General Drummond, and although obliged to retreat before this large force, kept up a constant and unremitted fire, until they arrived at the defences of Fort Erie. Lieutenant Belknap received a severe wound on this occasion. At the peace establishment in 1815, he was retained in the second regiment United States Infantry, (Colonel Brady) where he continued, until the reduction of the army, in 1821, when he was transferred as senior First Lieutenant of the third United States Infantry, in which regiment he continued as Lieutenant and Captain more than twenty years, and until promoted to a majority in the eight Infantry, in 1842.
"He was brevetted a Lieutenant Colonel in 1842 for his services in Florida. In the battle of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, he commanded a Brigade with much gallantry and distinction, and received the brevet of Colonel. At the siege and capture of Monterey, he was Acting Inspector General of Gen. Taylor's army, and at the battle of Buena Vista he was brevetted a Brigadier General, having served under General Taylor in every battle fought by him during the Mexican war."