During the war of 1812 John, afterwards the Honorable John Snyder, of the thirteenth district, then a boy of nineteen, raised a company, and marched with them as captain to Baltimore. They arrived at Harrisburg before daylight, and were halted before the Governor's door. He arose from his bed, and welcomed them, and with stirring words complimented their bravery. He always said, in speaking of the circumstance, he never before had felt so proud of his son John.

[See his step-mother Mary Slough Scott’s notes for her letter to his sister Amelia, written on the day of, and in anticipation of his wedding.]