convinced Fay to take Weed on as a second apprentice. His first tasks included cutting wood and stoking fires, as well as preparing the sheepskins used in making ink balls. Weed soon began to take on additional responsibilities, including building and maintaining files of newspapers with which the Lynx exchanged stories, which enabled Fay to develop a network of affiliated newspapers. In 1812, Fay left the newspaper after a dispute with his creditors; Weed printed a handful of issues to publish advertisements that had already been paid for, after which the Lynx became defunct. He then moved to Scipio, where he worked briefly on another newspaper, the Tocsin, before it too went out of business. Weed then returned to the forge in Onondaga, the owner of which had received a contract to produce round shot iron cannonballs for use by U.S. forces during the War of 1812. After earning enough money to resume searching for work as a printer, Weed traveled to Utica, where he was employed in the printing shop of Seward & Williams. Military service In February 1813, Weed was working for and residing in the home of William Williams in Utica, New York. During the War of 1812, he joined a volunteer militia company that Williams commanded as a captain, which responded to threat of a British invasion from Canada, and briefly served near Sackets Harbor. The alarm soon passed, and Weed returned to Utica, where he began work on the Columbian Gazette, a newspaper published by Thomas Walker. When the militia again called for recruits to respond to the threat of an invasion from Canada, Weed obtained Walker's permission to go, and joined a company in the regiment commanded by Elijah H. Metcalf, which performed duty in and around Sackets Harbor. When the second alarm passed in October 1813, Weed returned to Utica. He soon left for Albany, where he was employed at Webster & Skinner, book publishers and publishers of the Albany Gazette. When his work in Albany ended, Weed lived briefly in Herkimer, then moved to Cooperstown, where he continued to work as a printer. After several months in Cooperstown, he returned to Herkimer to take charge of his former employer's business while the owner traveled to Connecticut to attend a political convention. In October 1814, Weed again joined the militia and was appointed quartermaster sergeant of the 40th Regiment of the New York