I'm always on the lookout for veterans of the War of 1812 who made it as far as the south of Iowa before passing to their final rewards, so was gratified to find the following report of Hazen Rollf's 1866 death at Corydon. Published originally in a long-vanished edition of The Corydon Monitor, it was republished in The Woodstock (Illinois) Sentinel of April 5, 1866, and so turned up in a digital archive.
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DEATH OF A VETERAN --- The Corydon (Iowa) Monitor chronicles the death of a veteran patriot as follows:
"Died, in Corydon township, over one hundred years of age, Mr. Rolf, the oldest man in our county, and perhaps one of the oldest in the United States. He had served in 1790 with Harmar (Lt. Col. Josiah Harmar), and was with General Wayne ("Mad Anthony Wayne") when he defeated the Indians on the 20th of August, 1794, at Presque Isle, on the Maumee river. The death of this old patriot recalls a circumstance that occurred in Corydon in 1856. On the day of the election the Republicans raised a pole in the public square, when father Lancaster, Sutton and Hayes, all of them old war-worn heroes, the youngest of them over sixty years of age, advanced to the pole, tied the rope to the flag, and handed it to Mr. Rolf, who then ran up the first Republican flag ever raised in our country."
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There are a couple of complications here. Mr. Rollf seems actually have been about 91 when he died, not "over one hundred ...." And his surname is spelled various ways in various places --- Rollf, Rolf, Rolfe and Rolph among them.
The 1856 state census of Corydon suggests that his son, Hazen Jr. (died 1893), blazed the trail from Indiana to Iowa about 1854 and was followed two years later by Hazen Sr. and other family members.
And then there's the fact that an 1861 attempt to win a War of 1812 pension for Mr. Rollf failed because the record-keepers in Washington, D.C., couldn't confirm his account of service that year, let alone stories of earlier engagements.
This does not mean necessarily that Mr. Rollf was playing fast and loose with his military history. War of 1812 records involve countless state and local militia units and can be very difficult to track down. Hazen also may have misremembered details, or forgotten them. And he had no discharge or other document that might have launched a paper trail.
The slim file that contains documents related to the rejection includes this letter from Corydon attorneys Estele and McClanahan, written in a futile attempt to aid the aged veteran:
Corydon, Iowa
Sept. 23, 1861
To the Commissioner of Pensions at Washington City, D.C.
Dear Sir,
You will excuse me for the manner in which I address you. And the reasons therefor I will show you to be as follows:
1st. I have an application to make for a Pension for an old soldier of 1812, to wit, Hazen Rollf.
2nd. Mr. Rollf is in such circumstances that it is no light or trifling matter but one that should arouse the sympathies of every good lover of his country & her honor.
Mr. Rollf was a Volunteer in the Indiana Militia in 1812, was elected Orderly Sergeant under Capt. Spencer Wiley & Lieut. Thomas Breckenridge under Col. W. Smith, commanded by General W. H. Harrison, was called out to guard the frontiers of Indiana in Dearborn County on "White Water" & while in actual service in said service above having the command at a certain time where all the other officers of the Company were absent he received a wound in the right thigh or rather in the right groin.
He was with Gen. Wayne some 4 years of his life & from the wound and other exposure he has been an invalid for over 40 years, has lost his eye sight entirely, cannot walk without assistance & has for a number of years been entirely dependent upon the charities of the world which, at best, is but cold.
He is now 86 years of age, entirely helpless as a child, although vigorous in mind. To give you a minute detail of the old gentleman would take too long. I have only to plead with you for the old gentleman to do for him what you can and send us some instructions necessary for to procure him a Pension the remainder of his days which at best can be but short. He is a truthful man & can prove his assertions by Able Webb, living in this county, who was a Private also in his company.
Yours Fraternally
Estele & McClanahan, Attys
Corydon, Iowa
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Hazen Sr. lived for five more years after his attempt to obtain a pension failed. His son, Hazen Jr., died during 1893 and is buried in a marked grave in the Corydon Cemetery. It seems likely that his father is buried in an unmarked grave nearby.
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